Purchasing
IU Purchasing has authorization to commit university funds for goods and services. Overall, Purchasing is responsible for ensuring purchases are reasonable and made according to IU Policy. Purchasing is available to assist with contracts, bidding, researching an item, or working with suppliers.
IU Policy states that purchases must be made through a contract supplier when available (FIN-PURCH-02).
To begin the purchasing process, a department issues a Requisition for goods or services. Requisitions route to the Fiscal Officer (FO) Approval workgroup for approval. This workgroup consists of several Accounting Services staff. Accounting Services audits Requisitions for contract availability, funding, marketing activity, licensing and trademarks, and reasonableness of purchase. Upon approval, Requisitions either become an automatic purchase order (APO) if under $5,000 or route to Purchasing for issuance of a Purchase Order (PO). Upon issuance of a PO, a copy of the order is automatically faxed or emailed to the supplier.
Policies and Procedures
For Purchasing policies and procedures see Indiana University Purchasing.
Procurement Cards
The university procurement card (P-Card) is intended to be used for small transactions (under $4,999) with suppliers not available in BUY.IU.
Using the card will provide quicker placement of orders, greater flexibility in ordering, and reduced paperwork processing. The P-Card concept is designed to delegate the authority to purchase low-cost items directly to the person to whom it most matters - YOU, the end user.
Each month departments should track purchases made with the P-Card and save all original receipts. Transactions will route to the Chrome River eWallet of the department’s listed cardholder for expense reconciliation. P-Card expenses do not post to the general ledger in KFS until transactions are reconciled in Chrome River. When the monthly P-Card statement is received, receipts should be matched to each transaction.
For more information regarding Procurement Card usage and policy visit the IU P-Card website.
Check Requests
Check Requests are forms built for specific, one-time payment situations. Standard Operating Procedure 17 outlines when Check Requests are appropriate and provides an overview of how to complete a form.
For more information regarding Check Requests, visit the BUY.IU website.
