Enron requires that we purchase all of our equipment through a central 
purchasing process.  The reasons for doing this are two fold.  

1) Enron supports only certain technologies.  It is important to standardize 
the technology sitting on each person's desktop to ensure it works with other 
technology already on your desk and that the IT staff knows how to support 
the use of this technology.

2) Enron has cut deals with suppliers that give us good prices.  In the past, 
the Portland office has not strictly adhered to this policy.  We had good 
business reasons for not complying--we could buy the same equipment at the 
same price a lot faster if we just bought it ourselves locally.

Here's the problem.  People have not always bought the "same" equipment.  For 
example, people have recently purchased flat screen monitors that are 
different than the Compaq flat screens that most of us use.  This requires 
our technology group to understand how the different screens work, whether 
they need different drivers installed on your hard drive, and what to do with 
them if they break.  There are numerous other examples.  In aggregate, this 
practice has put additional strains on our already constrained technology 
support staff and will cause us problems in the future if any of the 
non-standard equipment breaks and can't be fixed or replaced in a hurry.

Accordingly, Dave Steiner and I would appreciate it if you would do the 
following when purchasing technology.
All pending and future purchasing requests should now go through the local IT 
Department.  
Please send an email to the "IT Portland" email account when you have an IT 
related need such as a Palm Pilot, LCD screen, special software, etc.  
The local IT team will then assure compliance and availability of the 
requested item(s) and get back to you with cost, ETA, and any other relevant 
information.
If the centralized Houston purchasing process is too slow to meet our 
business need, IT Portland will investigate buying the exact same product 
locally.
 
Again, our goal is to streamline the process while conforming to corporate 
standards.  This will also assure that the items acquired will work with 
existing infrastructure and be easily supported by our IT team.  The team has 
assured me they will be prompt in responding to your requests.  If you have 
any questions, please contact Dave Steiner or me.  Your adherence to this 
process is appreciated.