Things to Remember About Purchasing

Authority to Obligate: Authority to obligate funds is delegated by the President of the University. All purchase orders greater than $5,000 must be reviewed by the Purchasing Department prior to being dispatched to the supplier. Departments have the ability to make purchases less than $5,000 without the purchase order being routed through the Purchasing Department. The dispatch of these purchase orders is done automatically within our financial system and is transmitted to the supplier via the method that they prefer.

Requirement for a Purchase Order: All purchases of goods or services regardless of the amount must be done via a purchase order. For orders less than $5,000 the department can enter and approve a requisition through the ePro catalog (CAT) or text-only requisition (SPL) which will result in a purchase order being issued to the supplier. If a BuyCard holder makes a purchase using the BuyCard, a requisition must be entered (POS) that fully describes what was purchased. The purchase order will be created to encumber the funds, but will not be sent to the supplier so that the shipment will not be duplicated.

Contracts must be signed by a Purchasing Representative: All contracts for the purchase of goods or services must be signed by an authorized purchasing representative. If a supplier sends you a contract for signature, please send it immediately to someone in the Purchasing Department. Based on the amount and nature of the contract, it may require further review by Legal Affairs or the Office of General Council at UT System. The Purchasing Department will coordinate any necessary review process.

Supplier Debarment: There are various reason for which the university will not allow purchase or payments to be made with certain vendors. During vendor setup and at issuance of certain purchase orders there is a verification of whether a supplier is in "good standing" with certain state and federal agencies. If the supplier is "not in good standing" no purchase order or payment can be initiated. Users are responsible for making sure that a supplier is active in the system before making a BuyCard purchase. There are other instances where either the cost of maintaining a supplier on file or the risk of certain types of suppliers will cause Procurement Services to deny a request to set up a supplier in the system. This generally includes suppliers who sell alcoholic beverages, many .com businesses, online auctions and suppliers whose products have been competitively contracted with specific supplier(s).

Commencement of Work: Suppliers may not begin to deliver product or perform work until a purchase order has been issued and a contract, if necessary, has been signed. Allowing a supplier to perform work without proper authorization is against university policy. The supplier can be financially liable for any unauthorized work that is performed.

Reconciliation of BuyCard Transactions: BuyCard holders receive notification of purchases on their cards. Each transaction must be reconciled to the associated lines of the POS purchase order in the financial system. The reconciliation assures that when payment is made to the bank that the expense is recognized against the correct account and that the encumbrance is properly relieved. Each department administrative manager should make sure that transactions are occurring properly. There are queries available for use to help determine if encumbrances against open purchases orders are valid.

Reconciliation of Purchases to the General Ledger: Each department administrative manager is responsible for assuring that all expenses are reconciled to the general ledger each month. To facilitate this process for purchases goods and services is the Non-Salary Spending Report. This report is available for all expenditures (other than salaries) and is based on payment date.