Student Affairs Buying 101 Contracts Students First Topic Buying Considerations and Requirements

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Topic Objectives Contracts Have an understanding of who is authorized to sign contracts at OSU 5-02

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First What is a contract? Contracts A contract is any kind of an agreement between the university (or any of its operations) and any “outside of OSU” individual, business, operation, etc. The contract generally involves an agreement to provide/receive goods or services at a specified time and place, and at an agreed upon price. Generally, a contract does not have to be in writing, but written contracts are preferred. 5-03

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First What are some of the contracts that we deal with in Student Affairs? Contracts Housing and meals contracts with our students Room rental contracts with individuals and businesses at the Blackwell, Fawcett, Recreational Sports, or Ohio Union Performance contracts at the Schott (e.g., when the Eagles performed) Purchase Order to vendors Others? 5-04

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Who is authorized to sign the contracts? Contracts Housing and meals contracts Room rental/conference contracts with individuals and businesses at the Blackwell, Fawcett, Recreational Sports, Ohio Union, or etc. With only a few exceptions (listed below), only the following personnel at OSU are authorized to sign a contract. It is critical that all agreements/contracts be in writing. Authorized Signors by name (per Board of Trustees): Senior Vice President for Business and Finance (Bill Shkurti) Associate Vice President – Business and Finance (Helen DeSantis) Director of Purchasing (Bob Quinn – Acting Director) The only exceptions to required signatures from above are for long-term situations where university legal has reviewed the contracts and approved their use, which include (only) 5-05

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Situation: Contracts If you give a vendor the impression that you want them to deliver two pieces of furniture to your location, and that you are willing to pay $200 for the furniture. Is this a contract? 5-06

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Verbal Commitments: Contracts We should never give the impression that we are entering into a verbal contract or commitment. This is especially important when obtaining quotes for goods or services. The OSU individual may be held personally responsible for the item(s). It is best to obtain written quotes and to let the vendor know that you are obtaining quotes from other vendors for possible selection of the desired goods and services. 5-07

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First “After-the-Fact” Purchase Orders: Contracts Commitments should not be made and then purchase orders created for these commitments “after-the-fact”. Again, the only individuals authorized to commit (sign contracts for) the University are Senior Vice President for Business and Finance (Bill Shkurti) Associate Vice President – Business and Finance (Helen DeSantis) Director of Purchasing (Bob Quinn – Acting Director) 5-08

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Contracts 5-09 Actual Student Affairs Situation: One Student Affairs operation UNINTENTIONALLY signed a contract directly with a musical productions company for performance on December 31 st. No requisition or purchase order was created/approved by Purchasing. August 20 th - contract signed by the Student Affairs operations management. December 29 th - Business Office was contacted that vendor needed immediate payment. December 30 th – Contract had to be reviewed by Director of Purchasing. Business Office had to explain why an operation inappropriately signed a contract. Requisition had to be created by the Student Affairs operation and reviewed & approved by its management. Business Office could not approve the requisition until University Purchasing had reviewed and approved the requisition. Business Office contacted the University Purchasing buyer and requested a rush review and approval and to rush the creation of a purchase order (PO). Once the PO was created, the Student Affairs operation provided a copy (not original as required) of the invoice to Business Office. Business Office entered the voucher and had to request from Accounts Payable to create an “off cycle check.” December 31 st – Accounts Payable had to manually run the check process to create an off-cycle check and then contacted Business Office that the check was ready for pick-up. The check was then picked up from Accounts Payable by Business Office.

Student Affairs Buying 101 Students First Contracts 5-10 Lessons Learned: The Student Affairs operation unintentionally committed the University to the terms of the contract. There was no requisition or purchase order created and approved as a result of the inappropriate contract. University Purchasing did not have to sign the contract, and in this case, we could not have made the payment. The Student Affairs operation’s management may have been personally liable for the commitment. Payment to the performing company became a “rush” that significantly impacted the  Student Affairs operation’s business office  Student Affairs Business Office  University Purchasing (Director and the Buyer), and  University Accounts Payable