Making Purchases on Your Award

Expenses are posted to grant accounts in a variety of ways. These sections briefly describe processes that are used to generate transactions and discuss policies and procedures associated with certain types of charges. For more detail, please contact the appropriate university department (Purchasing, Payroll, Human Resources, etc.).

Making purchases on your award

Current university procedures and forms for purchasing supplies, equipment and services (including honoraria) are located on the Purchasing Department website, and these should be periodically reviewed for changes. The general guidelines are as follows:

• Items totaling less than $5,000 may be purchased using a Departmental Purchase Order or a Purchasing Card. No competition required. Note that an unrestricted (i.e., non- sponsored project budget) must be used as the default budget for purchasing cards. Assignment to a sponsored project occurs as the item purchased goes through the approval process.
• Items greater than $5,000 may be purchased using a requisition, a service contract, a request for bid (RFB), a request for quote (RFQ) or documentation of sole-source. Competition is required for all purchases over $5,000. Definitions and FAQs for when each type of purchasing vehicle should be used are detailed on the Purchasing website.
• Items greater than $25,000 purchased under federal awards also require a debarment certificate to be completed by the vendor. This certification will be requested by Purchasing.