Lynn Packer has asked the North Carolina Attorney General’s office to investigate bid practices at N.C. State and East Carolina.

Packer claimed there have been irregularities in the acquisition of lecture capture equipment.

N.C. State purchased 100 units of Mediasite between 2004 and 2009, according to Packer. Mediasite is a product made by Sonic Foundries of Wisconsin that allows professors to record lectures, which is especially useful for distance education classes.

Packer said N.C. State bought Mediasite without going through a competitive bid process.

“States have laws that require state agencies to ensure that they use some sort of competitive bid process in order to procure goods and services,” Packer said.

Packer is in the process of bringing another lecture capture product to market, called V-Chassis.

“In the course of bringing [V-Chassis] to market, I started doing research on how lecture capture equipment was marketed. That’s when I started to see indicators that Sonic Foundry was able to skirt competitive bidding laws,” Packer said.

In his initial personal investigation, Packer contacted N.C. State to obtain documents relevant to the procurement of lecture capture equipment. Packer said he has been less than happy with the time the University has taken to send him documents he requested.

Clifton Williams, University Records Officer, began working with Packer two months ago.

“I have provided Mr. Packer with several hundred documents, and I continue to work with him on this,” Williams said. “I have explained to Mr. Packer that there is no specific timeline established in state law as it relates to the release of public records.”

Packer paid a $75 fee to the University to obtain documents. Certain document requests require payment of fees above and beyond the initial $75.

“Our public records request regulation requires the payment of certain fees if particular records requests take a certain amount of time for the University to respond to,” Williams said.

Packer also claimed N.C. State had a faculty member, Tom Miller, on the Sonic Foundry advisory board.

“He was on the board near the time that the University acquired its first Mediasite appliance,” Packer said. “He has told me that he had nothing to do with that.”

Packer claimed Miller is in charge of the equipment.

“I think a lot of [the equipment] is being maintained by the so-called DELTA program.”

According to the University website, Miller is the Vice Provost for distance education and learning technology, and is involved with DELTA.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

Packer claimed N.C. State bought 50 more units of Mediasite from Sonic Foundry in 2010.

All 150 units cost the University more than $1 million, according to Packer. The funds are alleged to come from the “student technology fund,” which Packer claims is funded directly by students’ tuition.  Along with the initial investment of over $1 million, Packer said Sonic Foundry charges the University a maintenance fee of $1,200 per year per appliance. Packer said he is not sure whether maintenance fees come from the student technology fund or not.

Charles Leffler, Vice Chancellor for finance and business, who should have information on the University’s finances, could not be reached for comment.

Packer has also filed a complaint regarding lecture capture equipment with the Attorney General in his native state of Utah. The Utah Attorney General is investigating Weber State University’s purchase of Sonic Foundry appliances, according to the online publication eCampus News.

Packer said he has yet to hear back from the N.C. Attorney General’s office about his complaint.

“Sometimes [the office] will make some inquiries to see if they want to take the issue to the level of an official investigation,” Packer said. “It just depends on how they want to proceed.”

All in all, Packer felt students at N.C. State should support the purchase of lecture capture equipment.

“N.C State is among just a few Universities that appear to be making a move to take lecture capture campus-wide. That’s a very good idea,” Packer said.