Purchasing Policies and Procedures

I. Purchasing Items other than Office Supplies

The College uses Purchase Orders for all purchases except office supplies.

1. Policies

   The Director of Purchasing is responsible to oversee and monitor purchases made by the College.

   The Director of Purchasing can assist you in identifying and negotiating with vendors, if needed.

   An alternate vendor may be suggested should there be a better source.

   All items purchased by the College must be shipped to the College.

2. Procedures

   Please follow the procedures below when purchasing:

   1. Submit a Purchase Request (pink) to Operations & Facilities. Make sure that all appropriate information is filled out. The “budget account” and the “ship to name” are required.
      Please be sure that the appropriate budget officer has signed the request. In most cases this will be the Department head or faculty member. Make sure you indicate your preference for sending the purchase order (mail or fax)
   2. After being reviewed to ensure budget and cost compliance, the Purchase Order will be cut and approved. The order will then be sent or faxed as per your request.
   3. The invoice for items ordered will be sent directly to the party requesting the purchase. Only approve the invoice if you have received the order and everything is correct. Your approval is acceptance of the purchase. After approving the invoice it should be sent to the Accounts Payable for payment.
   4. Do not approve any invoice where the price exceeds the Purchase Order price without contacting the Director of Purchasing. Periodic checks are made to ensure that the purchase price matches paid invoices.
   5. Annual Purchase Orders are available for purchase of supplies from a specific vendor throughout the year. A Purchase Order with a “not to exceed” amount will be issued. This should be used for any vendor where there are on-going purchasing needs during the year. Please use the Purchase Order number on the annual purchase each time you order from the vendor.

II. Purchasing Office Supplies

Proftech is the designated vendor for office supplies. Any employee who needs to order on a regular basis is given access to Proftech’s online ordering system. The minimum order size is $25.00 and the maximum size is $500.00. Any order exceeding this amount will be sent electronically to the Director of Purchasing for review. After the order is reviewed by the Director of Purchasing, it will either be released to Proftech or returned to the originator for resubmission. The Vice President of Operations reviews every order before the monthly bill is approved for payment.

Faculty who do not have departmental support can make orders via the faculty secretary (x2469) located in the Science Center.

Offices that order paper by the carton for copiers need to select the paper account budget when ordering this item. Only paper by the carton can be charged to budget. Offices or faculty needing a ream of paper (or reams of colored paper) should contact Duplicating (x2317) for these items.

Furniture may not be purchased from Proftech without special approval from the Vice President of Operations.

III. Purchasing Services

1. Purchasing Services expected to cost between $2,000 - 15,000.

   For services expected to cost between $2,000 and $15,000, the department ordering the service must obtain from the proposed service provider a service contract setting forth, among other things, a description of the services to be provided and the proposed price of the services. All such service contracts must then be reviewed and approved by the Vice President for Finance or the Vice President of Operations or their designees before they can be signed.

2. Purchasing Services expected to cost $15,000 or more.

   For services expected to cost $15,000 or more, the department ordering the service must obtain competitive bids for the proposed services, subject to the exceptions set forth in Sections IV C. and E below. The department ordering the service must obtain from the proposed service provider a service contract setting forth, among other things, a description of the services to be provided and the proposed price of the services. All such service contracts must then be reviewed and approved by the Vice President for Finance or the Vice President of Operations or their designees before they can be signed.

IV. Requirements for Obtaining Competitive Bids for Purchased Items

1. Items of Equipment

   Administrative departments and academic units should seek multiple bids for non-IT related equipment purchases over $2,000. This could be one item over $2,000 or the purchase of a set of items which aggregates over $2,000. This may not be feasible or practical in every case; exceptions can be approved by the Dean of the College or the Vice President of Finance.

2. Capital Projects and Major Repairs

   For capital projects or major repairs which will be undertaken by outside contractors and which are expected to cost $50,000 or more, the College will obtain competitive bids for the work from at least two contractors.

3. Services

   For services expected to cost $15,000 or more, the College will obtain competitive bids from at least two service providers.
   This policy shall not apply to accounting, legal, and banking services that have been provided historically by a single service provider and for which continuity of service is considered very important. The head of the department who is the principal user of such service shall determine when and how frequently a historical service provider shall be reviewed for performance and cost of service, and when competitive proposals for the provision of such services shall be obtained.

4. Benefits

   For benefits in the nature of insurance, such as employee health insurance, student health insurance, life insurance benefits, and other benefits that are obtained from vendors in public markets, the College will work through its insurance broker to obtain competitive bids for such benefits at least once each year.

5. Determining when Obtaining Competing Bids is not in the interest of the College

   If there is only one vendor for the purchased item, or if the department head who places orders for such items believes that it is not in the interest of the College to obtain competing bids, but to work with a single vendor, he/she must first obtain the approval of the Vice President for Finance before committing to purchase any such item for which only a single bid was obtained.
   At the end of each fiscal year the Vice President for Finance will prepare a report setting forth each instance during the year where he approved a department’s request not to obtain competitive bids and the reasons for granting the exception.

V. IT related Equipment and software, both academic and administrative

1. Academic Computing and Information Systems work with departments across campus in developing an inventory of computer and network technology needs. This inventory will be reviewed by the Committee on Technology (COT), consisting of faculty and staff. COT’s primary mission is to evaluate overall technology needs, identify possible economies and itemize essential technology needs for review by the Budget Committee. In conducting its work, COT will confer with the Dean of the College and will be guided in its deliberations by the general policy recommendations of the Academic Computing Faculty Liaisons.
2. Once budgets have been approved by the Trustees, the Controller’s office will distribute the approved lists to relevant departments with a copy to the Director of Purchasing and a copy to COT. This will provide a listing of all software and computer equipment purchases over $500.
3. All software and computer technology purchases will be procured by Information Systems. Multiple bids are required for all individual purchases over $2,000. Exceptions to these rules will be approved during the budget deliberations to give selected departments additional autonomy.
4. For good and practical reasons, the college will continue to work with certain major vendors (i.e. Dell) outside of the normal bidding process. COT will approve a list of these vendors. These major vendor relationships will be reviewed once per year by COT, with the proviso that the college will seek comprehensive competitive proposals once every five years.
5. In order to save money on IT purchases, the college will buy in volume whenever possible. This means that the College’s Information Systems Director and the Purchasing Director will shop around for those items the college expects to purchase for the forthcoming year or quarter.
6. Mid year requests and/or exceptions to these policies (as they relate to IT purchases) will need COT’s approval. COT will have the authority to reshuffle up to an aggregate of $50,000 of annual purchases on a zero sum basis. Zero sum reshuffles over that amount will require the President’s prior approval.
7. Replacement of existing items may be approved by department and division heads if the aggregate over budget amount does not exceed $10,000. Over budget exceptions in excess of $10,000 should be approved by the relevant group chair or program director, department head, the relevant division head and require the President’s prior approval. The college will work to review such exceptions rapidly.

Vl. Purchasing from New Vendors / Adding New Vendors to the Payables System

The first time a Purchase Order is submitted using a vendor with whom the College has not previously done business (a “new vendor”), the department seeking to use the new vendor should satisfy themselves that the vendor concerned is reputable. If the amount of the purchase exceeds $5,000, the Director of Purchasing will investigate the company. Once the vendor is found acceptable, the Director of Purchasing will create an account. The copy of the Purchase Order will then be sent to Accounts Payable to be reconciled with the first invoice at the time of payment.

Vll. Use of Credit Cards

Do not use a college or personal credit card to purchase equipment or software, as this would make it impossible to implement the college’s purchasing controls.