PURCHASING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Why Are We Here? The Board of Trustees established Purchasing.  Purchasing Authority is vested in the Board of Trustees of Indiana University and delegated through the President and the Vice President for Administration to the University Director of Purchasing. Only authorized Indiana University personnel may commit university funds for goods and services. Purchasing must operate under institutional policies adopted by the Board of Trustees. 

Our Responsibilities Sourcing Competition  Solicitation procedures Board Reporting Audit Trail Protect the Institution Signature Authority Ethical Environment

Policy, procedures and methods for procurement  The difference between you buying for yourself personally and buying for University needs is considerable. We sustain procurement processes We provide consistency with processes We leverage purchases and contracts We maintain institutional data We understand what products and suppliers are used for the entire Institution

Philosophy Service Agency  We can be, and prefer to be, considered adjunct staff for your department.  We can provide pricing information for budget construction and sourcing information.

Protect the Institution On occasion, there will be a conflict between what a department wishes and what is good for the Institution. Purchasing must protect the institution as well as the department.

Who Are We? We are seven departments governed by the same policy using the same methods and procedures.  System-wide approximately $319 Million & approximately 220,000 orders annually.  Bloomington Campus Nine Contract Managers—most of us have C.P.M.s $168 Mil/108K orders

Organized by Commodities Buyer assignments are within logical commodity groupings. Commodity assignments are found at this URL: m.html m.html

Buyer’s numbers 10Jennifer Foutty – Professional Services 12Mike Keen – Hospitality, Food, Moving 14Lorelei Meeker – Special Contract Development 16Karin Coopersmith – Office Supplies/Equipment 17Karin Coopersmith – Furniture 20Tim Rice – Scientific, A-V 21Don Young – MRO, Utilities 24Carrol Stencel – Printing 26 Pat Smith – Telecommunications, Networks 27Jill Schunk – Small Computing, Software

Purchasing Policies Purchasing is charged with the responsibility to monitor compliance with Procurement Policies. Administrators, faculty and staff must all adhere to the same policies.

Institutional Policies In addition to Purchasing Policies, the procurement effort must take into account other institutional policies during the procurement process. All transactions must comply with all policies and procedures within IU.

Interrelationship of Transactions ARTI, Contracts & Grants, Environmental Health & Safety, Financial Management Services (FMS), Lab Animal Resources, Licensing & Trademarks, Material Stores, Physical Facilities & Plant, Purchasing, Research and University Graduate School (RUGS), Risk Management, Tax Reporting, Treasurer’s Office, University Architect’s Office, University Counsel, UITS, Vice President for your area, etc.

Sourcing (Policy 5.1) Purchasing is responsible for supplier selection. Legal protection. “The Front Page Test”

Competition (Policy 5.0) Purchases that exceed $5,000 must show some proof of competition or supply an explanation for the lack of competition. We must account for how institutional dollars are spent.

Board Reporting (Policy 12.0) Board Reports: orders over $25,000.

Audit Trail (Policy 5.7) Purchasing must maintain an audit trail for all transactions. An audit trail is comprised of many things Indiana Open Records Law Everyone should have a sound reason for every dollar spent and that can be simple to very complex.

Signature Authority (Policy 1.0) The Treasurer and designees of the Treasurer - treasurer/vi-100.html Purchasing Contract Managers

Who does NOT have signature authority? The President Vice Presidents Deans Chairpersons Directors Faculty

Ethical Environment (Policy 3.0) All procurement transactions must be conducted in a proper, ethical, fair and legal manner. A Code of Ethics is part of Policy. (Policy 3.1) Indiana Open Records Law (Indiana Code Section )  Purchasing data is institutional data (Policy 11.0)  No one other than Purchasing can share this information.

What you should know Call Purchasing as soon as a project is envisioned Procurement efforts can be very complex Build time into your calendar

Solicitation Procedures We cannot use quotes provided by a department. Solicitation Procedures:  RFQ  RFI  RFP

Procurement Methods Procurement Cards: Automatic Purchase Orders (APOs)  RESTRICTIONS: Travel or travel-related expenses, including reimbursement. Items sold through Indiana University Stores Radioactive materials Furniture, furnishings After-the-fact purchase orders (goods already received) Animals Weapons, ammunition Controlled substances Purchases involving trade-in Reimbursements to Indiana University employees Recurring payments (leases, rentals, standing orders. etc.) Consultants

Procurement Methods Purchase Orders Web-based TOPS catalog orders: splay

Purchase Requisitions & Purchase Orders Purchase Requisitions are initiated by the departments before goods/services are needed. Requests for Quotations are offers to purchase the goods/services as specified. Purchase Orders are legally binding contracts.

Treatment of IU Property (Policy 14.0 & 14.1) One of the most abused areas within the University is the treatment of Property Definition  The true definition is that anything acquired through an institutional process is considered IU property. (a disposable ink pen or a $25,000 workstation are equally classed as property)

Who Owns Property? If it is purchased through IU, it is State property. Even property thrown in the trash is still IU property while it remains on our premises.

Disposition of Property Conversion of Property Donations Means of disposal: Resource Redistribution ListServ, IU Surplus Stores, p ublic auction, solicitation of offers to buy, other state agencies, donations.

Pressures on the Procurement Process These are not necessarily just pressures on Purchasing but on the Institution:  Legal  Environmental Social responsibilities  Appropriateness  Political – local, state, federal  Licensing  Suppliers, MBE, WBE  Departments  If IU writes the check, we are spending IU money.

We provide: Cost Information for budget construction Contract assistance and monitoring after the contract is in force

Take Advantage of Us Central Focus. We can save you time, energy and, in some cases, considerable grief.

Summation Build time into your calendar of needs Procurement efforts do not take place in a vacuum Call Purchasing First