Past Procurement Tips
| Tip | Category |
|---|---|
| Guide to clarify when a vendor self-certification form is required for setting up a vendor. Vendor Self-Certification Form Guide | Vendor |
| A “quantity” non-catalog requisition should be used when we are buying a set number of items from a non-catalog vendor. A “no quantity” non-catalog requisition should be used when we are buying goods on an as needed basis during a certain period of time (open purchase order) and for services (i.e., software, maintenance agreements, events, consultants, etc.). This becomes important when Accounts Payable enters payments. For example, if an open purchase order was done with a quantity of 1 and AP enters payment on the first invoice, it will close the PO since the quantity of 1 is filled–even if there’s money remaining on it. | Requisition |
| To check the status of your request, review the “Notes and Attachments” section on the purchase order, not the requisition. | Requisition |
| Hotel and event contracts with an estimated spend under $10K must be routed to Procurement Services for review, negotiation, and signature by submitting a multi-line requisition artificially raised to $10,001. For example, Line 1 is for the estimated spend for services ($5000). Line 2 is for the difference between $10,001 and the estimated spend ($5,001). When the purchase order is issued Line 2 will be removed and the purchase order total will only be for the estimated spend. | Requisition |
| Are you ordering goods or services? Only populate the item type, quantity, unit of measurement, and a catalog # fields if you are ordering goods. Goods are tangible. You can see and feel a tangible good. The item type, unit of measurement, and catalog # fields should be left blank if you are ordering services. Populating these fields may create an artificial need to receive the service, which is not a tangible item to be received. Don’t forget! A line item receiving (LR) document is required for purchase orders with good(s) > $5,000. It is important to review outstanding line item receiving requests because payments against a purchase order will not be released to the vendor until the line item receiving and payment request documents are completed and approved. | Purchase Order |
| To make your PO increase requests move faster, check the PO balance and Payment History (“View Payment History” tab) before submitting invoices to AP for payment and/or requesting a PO increase. If a payment is already pending against a PO but has not yet been paid, Procurement Services must wait until the payment posts before the system will allow an increase to the amount of the PO. By submitting an invoice before checking the PO balance, PO change requests may take longer to complete. | Purchase Order |
| Any contract, quote or invoice with terms and conditions needing signature must be signed by an authorized signer of the University or the contract could be considered invalid. Signature delegation can be found on the Contract Services site at the below link under signature authority. If in doubt, don’t sign! http://www.contracting.colostate.edu/ | Contract |
| When attaching quotes or other documentation to requisitions that are <$10,000, but the total has been artificially inflated to $10,001 for Procurement review, always select “no” on the “send to vendor?” drop down in the Notes section of the requisition. The Procurement Specialist will attach any documents that need to be sent to the vendor prior to issuing the PO. | Requisition |
| Fraudulent PCard transactions need to be approved with notes added in Kuali stating it is fraudulent. When the subsequent credit comes in, reallocate in the same manner, but reference the first fraudulent document number in the notes and approve. This will allow everything to continue through workflow and documents will not auto approve. | PCard |
| If you are planning an event, include the date(s) of the event in the description on line #1 of the requisition. | Requisition |
| Purchases utilizing Federal funds require price reasonableness above $10,000. Unless there is (or will be) an award from a competitive solicitation, this information will have to be obtained through other means. If you have competitive pricing data, include that information in the note field of the purchase request as that can help reduce the cycle time. For more on price reasonableness, refer to the Procurement website: https://procurement.colostate.edu/price-reasonableness-faq-3/ | Requisition |
| If a Request for Sole Source form is included with your requisition, please be sure to attach the Word version. | Requisition |
| Please check out our reworked website https://procurement.colostate.edu/. We hope you find the expanded list of FAQ’s (tab is found in the top green section) helpful and easy to navigate/find information. We plan to keep adding FAQ’s, so be sure to check back periodically! Please reach out if you have any questions or suggestions. | General |
| Automatic Purchase Orders (APO) $10,000 or less can be initiated for FY25 on Monday, June 3, 2024. | Fiscal Year End |
| Please verify if a PO needs to be closed or voided before sending a request so that the proper action can be taken. If there are payments on the PO and no further invoices are expected, please request the PO be closed. If there are no payments on the PO and none are expected, please request it be voided. Once a PO has been voided, it can’t be reopened. Reminder: due to FYE processes, Procurement will not be able to close/void PO’s between 7/1/24 – 7/11/24. | Purchase Order |
| Please include vendor contact information on the Requisition. Adding vendor contact information will help Procurement Specialists if vendor contact information is added to the note section of the requisition. | Vendor |
| Did you know that filling out the Customer # and notes field from the vendor Info section of the VENDOR tab does not transmit to the vendor? If you want the vendor to receive specific information, you must include this information in the Notes and Attachments tab and select “yes.” | Vendor |
| Do you need to print or save an “official” copy of a PO? The instructions are located at https://procurement.colostate.edu/purchase-order-faq-2/, #18. You can also see where and how the original PO was distributed by following these instructions. If this information is incorrect, please update the vendor record so that future POs are sent to the vendor correctly. | PO |
| Purchasing at a Glance | Purchasing |
| Any contract, quote or invoice with terms and conditions must be signed by an authorized signer of the University or the contract could be considered invalid. Signature delegation can be found on the Contract Services site at this link. http://www.contracting.colostate.edu/ under signature authority. If in doubt, don’t sign! | PO |
| Ensure your gratuity is based on the cost of the food/beverage and does not include any fees (KIF, PIF, etc.). Always double-check your receipt to confirm the final amount, including gratuity is accurate. | PCard |
| “When attaching quotes or other backup to a requisition, make sure to select “No” for the “Send to Vendor” field. Purchasing agents may need to make modifications to the terms or other information associated with a quote and will re-attach the quote to the requisition.” |