Legal

Below are the guidelines and authorities with placing orders through ECA/A/M, Vienna Satellite Office as described in STATE 70196, July 10, 2012.

Funding:

Prior to submission of acquistion request to ECA/A/M, Vienna Satellite Office, hereafter referrered to as "American Spaces eShop," funds must be certified by post's Financial Management Office (FMO) as being available for the intended procurement. In accordance to 4FAH-3 H-134.1, a. the officer responsible for certifying of funds must approve all funding requests. Each post has its own local standard operating procedures on how to certify funding when making inter-agency Procurement Request. Practices vary locally for certification of availability of funds, and some posts require submission of Request to GSO procurement for documentation. With the recent implementation of submitting procurement requests to ILMS Ariba, local procedures vary, so it is best to check with the PAO, GSO and FMO at post regarding how funding should be certified at post before using the American Spaces eShop. When post is required to submit local ILMS Ariba request to obtain fisca data, select Vendor() "eShop, American Spaces."

Customers:

The American Spaces eShop is available to posts worldwide to order Public Diplomacy program materials. American Spaces eShop is maintained for acquiring materials to develop multi-media collections at American Corners (American Spaces), Information Resource Centers, Student Advising Centers and English Teaching and to support other PD programs. Posts should be aware that the Vienna Satellite Office is branch office of the Department's ECA/A/M. To place orders through the eShop, posts should create their wishlist with us to determine their total order amount + shipping and submit a request for FD via Ariba. The post should issue only a Procurement Request with certification of funds as being available to cover the amount to be purchased. eShop users may generate a PDF of their wishlist to attach to their PR requests in Ariba.

Authority:

In coordination with the Office of Acquisitions Management/International Programs Division (A/LM/AQM/IP), ECA/A/M Vienna is authorized to use Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for procurement of materials on behalf of posts worldwide. In compliance with FAR regulations 13.104(a) (b), solicitation of the listed titles in the eShop has been established and submitted electronically to 7 vendors to obtain the most advantageous items, prices, and delivery terms with assurance that the maximum practicable competition is achieved.

Billing:

Per STATE 70196, July 10, 2012, ECA/A/M Vienna will be the Designated Billing Office for all orders received through eShop. This will allow Vienna to process payment of invoices on behalf of posts in coordination with the RM/GFS Charleston Claim Office. In accordance with 4FAH-3 H-222.2, Serviced Agency Funds, the responsible official at post must validate each authority before entering the amount of funds available on the RFSC/post Financial Management Systems.

For further questions concerning legal, send an email to eshop@state.gov