17.9 Purchasing Policy and Procedures

General

All purchases must be PRE-approved via a Purchase Order. Blank Purchase Orders may be found on the faculty / staff portal. This policy includes any vendor purchase, purchases made via corporate American Express account, employee purchases, and miscellaneous cash/check requests. Purchase Orders within budget require one signature: 1) President or a Vice President of the College or designated Department Budget Manager. Unbudgeted requests require an additional approval of the VP of Finance.

When completing a request for purchase, a clear and accurate description of the material, product, or service is provided. Utilizing specific vendor descriptions, item numbers and unit costs serves to facilitate timely vendor payment for invoices that match the purchase order. If specific item costs cannot be determined at the time of the request, a reasonable estimate is made for each item on the Purchase Order. Budget numbers may be obtained from Department Budget Manager or the Business Office.

All Purchase Orders are first routed to the department’s designated authorized signer. That individual has the responsibility to determine if the purchase request is within current budget funding. After the first signature is obtained, the Purchase Order is routed to Accounts Payable in the Business Office. Upon approval, the Purchase Order is assigned a unique PO number and a copy is forwarded to the requestor. The original PO is kept by the Business Office until invoiced. Once this copy is received by the requestor, the order may be placed. Invoices for approved POs with the packing slip (if applicable) are delivered to the Business Office for payment processing, and a completed “approval for payment” form should be attached to the top copy of the invoice..

All disbursement-related documents received by the Business Office are date stamped for date of receipt.

Purchase Orders are valid for three (3) months or until the end of the fiscal year, whichever comes first. At fiscal yearend, every effort will be made to communicate with Department Budget Managers about open POs for which invoicing / cost recognition has not occurred for that budget year.

It should be noted that unless an official College Purchase Order Number is obtained from the Business Office prior to placing an order the College accepts no obligation to pay for the goods/services.

The only exceptions to this policy are as follows:

• Invoices fulfilling currently approved POs
• Home Depot credit cards (Operations only)
• Fuel credit cards for campus vehicles