Purchase Orders

A purchase order is a legal contract document issued by Purchasing that obligates the University to purchase certain goods and services.

Requirements

Purchasing must receive a valid requisition signed by the Budget Officer of the funds to be expended. That signature gives Purchasing the authority to expend those funds. A buyer must review the requisition for completeness and accuracy, and determine if the bidding process is required or desirable. All applicable State or University regulations must be satisfied.

A purchase order is issued after the appropriate regulations and procedures are fulfilled. A buyer assigns a purchase order number and transmits the purchase order to the vendor. A copy of the purchase order is transmitted to the department that is funding the purchase.

Purchase Order Changes

The three Purchase Order Change Forms are Amendments, Closes, and Rollovers.  If you need to make changes to a purchase order, please use the Electronic Purchase Order Change Forms (Updated 10/2/2018) and you can request to close, rollover, or amend any open PO.

Amendments requests should be submitted for an Increase, Decrease, or No Dollar Level Change for situations such as:

• Changing, adding, or deleting an account number or fund type (e.g., changing from a GR account to a Foundation account, or vice versa).
• Adjusting the total PO amount or individual line item amounts (e.g., when an item costs more or less than expected, or when shipping costs change).
• Reallocating funds from one account number to another (including pre-pay accounts).
• Processing addendums.

Closes requests should be submitted when: Closing a BPO/PO due to a $0 Balance or End of Need.

Rollover requests should be submitted when departments need to roll a BPO/PO into the next fiscal year, including situations such as:

• Multi-year POs.
• Term dates or service dates that extend into the next fiscal year.
• Items that were not received by 6/30.
• Delays that prevent a purchase from being completed or received by fiscal year-end (e.g., construction delays, postponed travel, or physical equipment/furniture that has not yet been received on campus).  

These are some of the most common examples, but there may be other circumstances where a BPO/PO should be rolled into the next fiscal year.

Expediting a Purchase Order

The "To Be Shipped" date on a purchase order is frequently an approximate date. If the shipment is two weeks or more late, the vendor may need to be contacted. If you call the vendor, let Purchasing know so that we can update our records.

Payment of a Purchase Order

The Purchasing Office is a implementing a change to the way payments against Purchase Orders are processed in Colleague.  Starting on 7/3/23, all receiving and voucher payments against standard purchase orders will be initiated and processed by departments. 

This process already applies to Blanket Purchase Orders. The department makes payments throughout the fiscal year on invoice-voucher or electronic voucher.

Invoices sent directly to Purchasing from vendors will be sent to the department for payment processing.