Telecommunications

Acquisitions, Distribution and Management of Cellular Services Procedures and Procedures for Obtaining Approval

Requests for basic wireless voice service(s) may be initiated by a user completing a Cellular Service Agreement form, obtaining the signature of the immediate academic or administrative officer and submitting the form to the appropriate Vice President for approval. The Vice President’s office will forward the form to the Telecommunications Office, if approved, or back to the originating office, if declined. Additional procedures are required when the end user is requesting both cellular voice and data service with a smart device. The requestor must attach a memorandum to the Vice President explaining the reasons that justify the substitution. Due to the higher cost of the equipment and the additional monthly fee for a data plan, the academic or administrative officer must also identify the source of funding to support the purchase of the equipment and verify the availability of funds to cover the monthly voice and data plan. If approved the form will be forwarded to the Telecommunications Office for processing. Any requests received in the Telecommunications Office that do not include the signature of a Vice President shall be returned to the originating department for completion.

Compliance

All wireless equipment purchase and service contracts shall comply with Tennessee Tech’s purchasing policies and shall be in accordance with all state and federal regulations.

Monthly bills for wireless services will be submitted to the appropriate academic or administrative officers for review and reconciliation. In the event personal overage charges are identified, immediate reimbursement to Tennessee Tech shall be required of the employee to whom the device is assigned. Failure to comply with this requirement shall result in the immediate termination of the cellular service contract.

All invoices for wireless services, employee requests for services, and vendor bills containing call detail shall be subject to review by internal audit, at any time, to insure compliance with all Tennessee Tech, state and federal regulations.

Service Plans and Standard Allowances

A sufficient variety of monthly service plans and features shall be provided to offer the greatest economy to end users.

All voice plans will include nationwide coverage with a standard allowance of approximately 400 to 600 anytime minutes, the total plan minutes will be determined according to the options available at the time the contract is awarded. Additional options may be included, but these options may vary as new contracts are awarded. Users shall apply for the standard allowance unless circumstances warrant a higher plan allowance.

The standard service plan allowance may be increased to the next level for any member serving on Tennessee Tech’s Emergency Committee. This also pertains to athletic coaches and/or coaching staff, and network security administrators. These employees have been given prior approval to increase the number of minutes in the monthly plan allowance, if the academic or administrative officer determines the request to be within the scope of the departmental budget.

Other requests for exceptions to the standard allowance should be included with the Cellular Agreement Form. The employee shall provide an explanation or the reason a larger plan allowance is required to fulfill the requirements of the position.