There is created a Capital Equipment Purchase Fund. The fund shall be administered by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. The fund shall be used for the purpose of acquiring, by purchase or by exercise of prepayment or purchase options in existing capital leases entered into by the state, capital equipment with an anticipated remaining useful life of not less than five years from the date of purchase and (1) to the extent of not more than two million nine hundred thousand dollars, payment for projects under subsection (a) of § 4-67f, and (2) to the extent of not more than one hundred thousand dollars, payment for awards under subsection (b) of said section. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, or any regulations adopted under the general statutes, a state agency may purchase necessary data processing equipment that has a unit price of less than one thousand dollars from the Capital Equipment Purchase Fund authorized under § 4a-10, provided such equipment has a useful life of not less than five years.