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Revised:
May 11, 2009
Helpful Purchasing TipsThis area offers Purchasing terms, definitions, tips and great links to assist our departments. Contents of This Page:How To Do Business with Gainesville/Local Vendors Copier Purchases & Maintenance Agreements Faculty, Student and Staff Personal Purchases DSL or Cable Internet Connections in Personal ResidencesThe following is from a memorandum dated January 3, 2002, from Bob Miller, Associate Vice President for Business Affairs.
"Recently, Business Affairs issued a policy regarding cellular telephone and other wireless communication devices. Cellular telephones and wireless communication devices, such as Palm Pilots and Blackberries, are not deemed to be employee perquisites. However, there appears to be some confusion regarding the University's payment for DSL or Cable Internet connection at an employee's home. The above cellular telephone policy does not apply to DSL and Cable Internet connectivity at a personal residence. It is Business Affairs's opinion that a DSL or Cable Internet connection at a personal residence constitutes an employee perquisite and should be processed as such through the Division of Human Resources. This is not a change in policy, but rather a clarification of the differences between wireless communications and broadband Internet connectivity in a personal residence." Please visit the UF Human Resources webpage for assistance with this form. Faculty, Student and Staff Personal Purchases (Non-UF Funds)Dell offers faculty and staff discounts on systems for personal purchases (not University funds). Authority To Sign ContractsAs a reminder, departments should not sign contracts unless they have received delegated authority from President Machen to do so. If you sign a contract when you have no authority, you may become personally liable for the contract provisions.
There are certain contract terms which appear commonly in contracts but are not legal for State of Florida employees to sign. Some of these are as follows: governed by the laws of any state other than Florida, indemnification or hold-harmless clauses, contracts with automatic renewals but no cancellation or termination clause. There are other clauses required by statute: providing for open records and cancellation for lack of appropriation if the contract continues across fiscal years. Contracts for purchases (the University is obligated to make payments) have been delegated to the Director of Purchasing, the Associate Directors, the Assistant Directors as well as the Purchasing Coordinators. If you have been given authority to sign certain contracts, it is incumbent upon you to learn what is acceptable contract language. Questionable Supplier Procedures/SCAMSEveryone has received them: suspicious sounding sales pitches, phone calls about renewal orders you've never placed, invoices for goods never ordered, and other phone scams from not-so-credible companies. So, to help the University community stay aware of questionable vendors, the Purchasing department has come up with a list of tips to help prevent departments from being swindled:
FOB Terms: What They Mean
Purchasing ListServPurchasing has created the PURCHASING-L LISTSERV for anyone to join who wants to know the latest on contracts, pricing, products, vendors, or new procedures. It can also be used as a forum to exchange information among departments on supplies and equipment.
How To Subscribe: Send an e-mail to LISTSERV@lists.ufl.edu (no subject) with the following in the body of the e-mail: SUBSCRIBE PURCHASING-L yourfirstname yourlastname For example: SUBSCRIBE PURCHASING-L John Gator (do not send your signature file) Instructions to send an e-mail to all subscribers: Send the e-mail to: PURCHASING-L@lists.ufl.edu Quote LevelsQuote Levels For Non-Contract Vendors:
Requisition Total below $5,000 - No quotes required. Requisition Total between $5,000 & $25,000 - 2 or more verbal quotes referenced on the requisition. Requisition Total between $25,000 & $75,000 - 2 or more WRITTEN quotes attached or faxed to your Purchasing Office. Quote Levels For Contract Vendors: If the item is on State or University Contract, you only need to obtain the hard copy quote from the vendor you are ordering the item from. No additional quotes are necessary. Please be sure to send the quote to your Purchasing office so that it can be filed with the Purchase Order. Sole SourcesWhat is a Sole Source?
A Sole Source is an item or service is that is only available from ONE SOURCE, regardless of it's price. This may be due to uniqueness, newness on the market, the item being patent protected, etc. A lower price, faster delivery time and/or preferring to do business with a company is not a valid reason for selecting a particular company. Purchasing can only accept a true Sole Source as justification to waive the bid requirements for purchases over $75,000. How do I prepare a Sole Source? The first step is for the Principle Investigator (PI) and/or program Administrator to determine what is needed to accomplish the research/project. (We in Purchasing rely on the PI's to be the "resident authority" on the item they are wanting). Once the item has been identified as only available from one source, then the vendor should provide a written quotation. Please note that written quotes are normally only good for 30 days and Purchasing will return the requisition and attachments if the time period has expired. Once the quote is received, the Sole Source Certification form answers should be typed and all items should be answered thoroughly, in layman's terms. Do not leave any question blank. The PI should then sign the Sole Source Certification under the "Department Approval, Principle Investigator's Signature" heading. The "Purchasing Approval, Purchasing Agent's Signature and Authorized Signature"lines will be signed by Purchasing. The written quote, any other technical documentation and the requisition with departmental level approval, should then be forwarded to Purchasing. What does Purchasing do now? Purchasing then reviews the requisition and Sole Source and all documentation for accuracy and then contacts the selected vendor for verification of information. We may also contact other vendors who carry similar products and verify that the information is correct. Once the Sole Source is verified, we complete a Purchasing Agent Analysis form and document our findings as well as the authenticity of the information provided by the department. The approved Sole Source is presented to the Director or Associate Director of Purchasing for approval. Once it is signed, we are required to post the Sole Source for 72 hours. This 72 hours is comprised of 3 business days (excludes weekends and holidays). If no vendor protests, we can then assign a PO number. Items That Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) Must Approve Prior To Purchase(Effective March 29, 2001) On and off campus sites, including all IFAS Stations, will be required to obtain pre-approval from Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) before purchasing the following: To submit comments or corrections to site content, please contact purchasing@ufl.edu
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