Policy

As appropriate, the Office of Purchasing requires items to be purchased using state or local contracts, University sources, Kansas State Use Catalog, or otherwise require advance approval from the University, the Kansas Board of Regents, or the State of Kansas. For those goods and services that are not available from one of the above sources, departments may be authorized to make purchases direct from any vendor when the delivered dollar value of the purchase is less than $10,000, no additional orders for like products or services will be placed again within 30 days [which would make the overall accumulated purchase exceed $10,000, or the purchase of the desired product or service is not otherwise restricted. Departments are responsible for checking to see if their desired purchases are restricted items and are encouraged to contact the Office of Purchasing for help in doing so.

Some contracts allow for an exception to be granted prior to purchase for items that are on contract, but are found at a lower price elsewhere with the same quality and specifications. A Prior Authorization for Off-Contract Purchase form shall be completed by the department and submitted, along with an indication of the funding source, to the Office of Purchasing for consideration. Certain items such as personal computer systems and certain vendors such as those in the Kansas State Use Catalog are not subject to granting of this exception.

The Office of Internal Audit and the Office of Purchasing will conduct periodic audits to determine whether or not items are being purchased that are available from University sources or from state-contracted vendors, unauthorized items are being purchased, and/or purchases are being split up into increments of less than $10,000 in order to bypass procedures for larger purchases. They will also check to see how effectively departments are making follow-up inquiries to obtain credit on tax charged by vendors, accurate and prompt notification of items to the University's Accounts Payable Department, and whether adequate departmental control records are being kept. Departmental delegated purchasing authority can and will be revoked by the Director of Purchasing if found to be abused or used irresponsibly.