Post-Award Resources: Purchasing
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Purchasing
Required Purchasing Training Anyone who makes purchases or commits UC dollars for non-personnel items or services must take the on-line course entitled "UCSF Materiel Management/Purchasing Workshop." The DEB will require that this course be taken every 2 years as a refresher, and will cover the cost. The course takes about 60-90 minutes to complete, which includes quizzes along the way.
$2500 Rule Materiel Management authorizes us purchase up to $2500/day in non-equipment items from non-agreement vendors. (This figure includes tax.) By non-agreement vendor, we mean any vendor that doesn't have an established contract with UCSF. Always get a quote from vendors and remind them that if the bill exceeds $2500, there will be a long delay in getting them paid. This is probably the single most important point to know about purchasing. If we exceed the $2500 figure regularly, we risk having Materiel Management pull our purchasing delegation, meaning we'd have to submit written purchase orders for everything. If a vendor is on the agreement list, the $2500 limit doesn't apply. The Materiel Management Department has detailed explanations of all purchasing practices and policies on their website, which includes the current agreement list.
Vendor Contracts / Blanket Agreements If you order goods and services on an ongoing basis from non-agreement vendor, you should consider establishing a Vendor Contract. Eve Benton can prepare a Purchase Requisition to submit to Materiel Management detailing what is needed, the time period and MM will then negotiate the best price and terms with the vendor and will create a vendor contract number that will serve as the vendor's p.o. for all future invoices to us. Note that making repeat purchases of $2500 or less from non-agreement vendors is considered working around the system.
Substitute W-9 Form required for all new vendors No payments will be made to a new vendor without a complete, certified Substitute Form W-9 on file which has been verified by Accounts Payable with the IRS as containing correct information. To facilitate this process, when doing business with a new vendor, please request that a Form W-9 be submitted with their first invoice.
Unique PO numbers Each order should have a unique sub-PO ID number. In the DEB, we use Ebi, our internal database, to generate this unique number for all orders. Purchasers should not reuse PO numbers or create their own. If you do not have access to Ebi, contact Peter Armour.
Order authorization/order copies Documentation should include the originating order copy as the proof of authorization to make the purchase. This element is the one most often missing in our records. An authorizing email from the PI or PD can also serve as the order copy, and should be printed and included as part of the documentation trail. In the event of our next audit, this will go a long way to demonstrating our diligence in assuring that pre-approval is part of our purchasing process.
Request for Delivery This form can also be produced via the Ebi system. This form is used to purchase common goods and services totaling less than $2,500 (including sales taxes and excluding freight/shipping) and serves as our order copy, and may be sent to vendors, who, in turn, may submit it directly to UCSF Accounting for payment.
Purchase Order Requisition Used to process purchases of goods and services (excluding equipment) valued at >$2,500 and to establish vendor contracts, consultant agreements.
Inventorial Equipment $5000 threshold Effective 7/1/04, inventorial equipment is defined as an item costing $5,000 or more, including tax, that is free-standing (not an integral part of a larger unit) and that is presumed to have a useful life expectancy of 1 year or more. The previous threshold was $1500. A computer selling for $4999 (tax included) is not considered inventorial equipment. Most of our equipment orders involve computers and these should go through the Help Desk. All inventorial equipment orders (as well as other orders > $2500) must go through Materiel Management on a Purchase Requsition. Any inventorial equipment item goes on the Campus's Capital Assets management List, a.k.a. the inventory list, and we have to account for it every two years. We are still expected to manage our low value (< $5K) equipment items but we don't have to do a formal walk-through and accounting of them. Memo on threshold change impacts.
Memo regarding distribution of equipment costs placed on Epidemiology project funds The Department of Epidemiology requires that all equipment purchases be accompanied with a fund distribution memo, signed by the PI (or PI's) approving the distribution of costs. In the event of an audit, these memos will serve as the justification for why equipment was charged to multiple accounts and/or may not match the user's payroll distribution.
Departmental Equipment Purchase Requisition Used to process Equipment orders. NOTE: Computing equipment is normally ordered through the HelpDesk.
Equipment Repair Order Used to order Equipment Repairs up to $9,999 in cost.
Storehouse Requisition Used to order supplies from UCSF Storehouse.
NCA Codes
Use an NCA as part of the sub p.o. number. This allows us the ability to control how the charges show up in Weblinks. If we don't use the NCA, the Accounting Department will assign one themselves. Often, there's no rhyme or reason to how they make the designation.
Familiarize yourself with the NCA List. It may be helpful to highlight the NCAs that you will be using and draw a line through the ones which should never be used.
NCA codes serve many purposes. The most important function is to inform auditors that the expenses are in keeping with the agency and University guidelines. For example:
433510 Food & Facility Costs for Business Meetings/Conferences
433525 Social Activities & Entertainment (A21 Unallowable)
Beverages can be part of a federal contract or grant when they are provided for a research meeting or conference. They are not allowed for a social function. The same form would be used to pay for either expense and the menu may be the same. The purpose or use is different. A research meeting provides specific benefit a project. Providing refreshments can eliminate the need for long breaks. It would be difficult to prove how a social function was of benefit to conducting the science of the grant.
433610 Memberships - Business, Professional, and Technical
433615 Memberships - (A21 Unallowable)
If a membership is directly related to the research project, it would be allowed. If the membership is not related to the specific project, it would not be allowed.
436010 Supplies & Materials - Other
436290 General Office Supplies
Project related supplies are allowable on federal contracts and grants. General Office Supplies are NOT allowable.
Do not use NCA codes that say "A21 UNALLOWABLE". This does not mean that there is not another NCA which will better a better match for the type of expense which is allowable.