Less than $500 - College departments have the authority to directly negotiate
these purchases. However, the vendor must be an approved vendor before the
purchase can be made. Departments must have an invoice submitted to the Business
Office Accounts Payable for the payment to be issued. Accounts Payable will then
e-mail you a copy of the scanned invoice for you to assign a FOAP to the
purchase.
$500-Less than $5,000 - Quotes are not required for purchases (but are encouraged) on purchases of $500 but less than $5,000. These purchases do require purchase order issuance from the Purchasing Office and they must be an approved vendor before you can issue a Requisition.
$5,000-Less than $25,000 - Departments are authorized to negotiate purchases of $5,000 but less than $25,000. Each department will obtain written or telephone bids from at least three qualified vendors. When telephone bids are solicited, a written record of the bidders and bid amounts will be forwarded to the Purchasing Office to file with the Purchase Order. A purchase order will be issued from the Requisition and the order will be made through the Purchasing Office. Departments are NOT authorized to place these orders prior to the issuance of the purchase order. Noncompliance may result in personal obligation.
$25,000 or more - The Purchasing Office
will solicit written sealed
bids from fifteen (15) vendors
or the number of vendors on the bid list - whichever is less. The invitation to bid must be mailed at least
fourteen (14) days (ten days where all vendors are local vendors) before the date that the
bids are scheduled to be opened. Due to the above requirements, the normal time it takes
to process sealed bids once the Purchasing Office receives your approved requisition is
approximately 21 days. Delays may occur due to specification errors, insufficient item
descriptions, and vendor location. Departments should take this into consideration when
anticipating their needs so that deliveries can be made when needed. Departments can
examine bid documents before awards are made by notation on the requisition form.
Departments should specify on the requisition form any vendors or sources they would like to receive an invitation to bid. This will ensure that those vendors helping provide you with preliminary information will be included in the bid process.
Note: Any
violation of purchasing procedures requires purchasing justification.