Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud-based computing services suite. Departments and units at the University of Georgia may purchase AWS through the standard procurement process in UGAMart. Services available under this program include the entire suite of Amazon Web Services. AWS third-party professional services are not available under this program.
Program Guidelines
- The scope of initial services available under this program includes the entire suite of Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS third-party professional services are not available under this program.
- All projects requiring AWS cloud services will require a CESS approval. Review the CESS guidelines.
- All Data Management/Classification Standards must be adhered to.
- A Financial Stewardship Form must be completed and signed by the Dean or Vice President prior to initiating a purchase requisition or setting up each master account with AWS. A copy of the signed form must be attached to each AWS purchase requisition in UGAMart.
- Initial purchase requisitions and purchase order amendments must total less than $25,000 per fiscal year.
- Any regulatory contract requirements for HIPAA (BAA), PHI, FERPA, etc. must be in compliance at all times.
- Only purchase orders will be allowed for procurement of cloud services.
- Each university unit/department is responsible for monitoring usage/costs of and setting fiscal cap alerts for all approved cloud service accounts to avoid budget overages.
- The designated departmental technical representative will be the primary point of contact for a department’s AWS master account and sub-account administration.
- The department’s chief fiscal officer has oversight responsibility for cost management and internal control compliance.
- An account will be subject to cancellation by the vendor or UGA if cumulative spending exceeds the PO amount or vendor usage allowances.
- UGA’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer will have oversight of and system access to all UGA AWS accounts to monitor use and security of restricted data. Any required remediation actions will be taken only after notifying the respective departmental technical contact and Dean or Vice President.
- The departmental technical contact will be responsible for all other system administration: data backups, database management, passwords, disaster recovery, and data security measures.
Procurement Process
Once a project proposal has been developed and approved, submit a CESS request in UGAmart.
Once the CESS request is approved, create an UGAmart purchase cart for less than $25,000 based on your estimated usage and number of months of usage within the current fiscal year.
Obtain a quote from the AWS account manager for the desired services:
- You must designate if the requested services will be used to handle sensitive/restricted data subject to regulatory requirements, such as HIPAA (and as such, will be covered under the Business Associate Addendum (BAA) agreement between the University and AWS). Quoted pricing for BAA eligible services will be somewhat higher than standard AWS service pricing (averages 1-10% higher).
- Support options will be quoted along with the services.
- Your AWS Services request is governed by the Enterprise Agreement between the University System of Georgia and Amazon Web Services; such agreement determines terms, conditions and pricing.
Prior to submitting a purchase cart to Procurement:
- Complete and attach the support documents to the UGAMart cart:
- Add an internal note/comment in the cart if the BAA will apply and that the quote reflects BAA adjusted pricing.
- For any new purchases against an existing master account or a sub-account under this master account, a copy of the original signed financial stewardship form should be attached to the PR with the original PO referenced. Also, note the applicable master/sub-account number in the internal notes section of the PR.
AWS will invoice actual usage to each master account holder on a monthly basis.