Printer Policy, Pricing and Ordering Information

Printer Purchasing Policy

Background and Purpose:

CMU departments currently spend in excess of $400,000 annually on printer ink and toner for departmentally purchased printers. Those expenditures (as a percentage of total office supply purchases) are approximately double the industry average.

The purpose of this policy is to constrain the cost of printing while improving the speed and effectiveness of printer maintenance. Supporting this purpose, adoption of this policy will allow CMU to:

Employ competitive bidding and bulk purchasing in the procurement of both printers and printing supplies

Stock printer replacement parts and supplies

Develop expertise in the maintenance of selected printer models

Policy:

CMU's Contracting & Purchasing Office and Office of Information Technology will build and maintain a list of printers and printer supplies approved for departmental purchase. This list will be made available to faculty and staff through the Contracting & Purchasing website.

Procedure:

Departments seeking to purchase printers are expected to consider the following:

The first preference should always be to consider networking to the multifunction printers/copiers already available in most departmental offices. These devices provide the most economical printing costs.
In cases where a local printer is necessary, departments may order printers from the authorized printers list.

The file below includes the CMU standard printers and printing supplies. This list includes pricing as well as full descriptions of printers available for purchase.

CMU Standard Printers.xlsx