Every department is delegated purchasing authority of at least $25,000, subject to Oregon University System (OUS) regulations, with a few exceptions:
- Personal Services Contracts require a special form. Contact the Purchasing Office for more details.
- Entertainment / Retreat expenses (e.g., hosting candidates or groups and providing refreshments at meetings) require Purchasing Office approval.
- Printing Orders: All offset printing orders must be processed through the Publications Office.
- Moving expenses require advanced approval from the appropriate vice president.
- Certain departments (see below) have additional delegated authority due to their specialized purchasing needs and professional purchasing staff:
Up to $100,000.00
- Chief Information Officer (Technology/Media/Telecom purchases)
- Library Director (for library book acquisitions)
- Bookstore Director (for any items for resale) Housing, Food Service, Conferences, Senior Programs, Facilities Management and Planning, and Stevenson Union Directors.
- For orders up to $25,000, departments may order from any vendor. Three competitive verbal quotes are recommended, but not required. If accepted by a vendor, a verbal purchase order number can be used to place an order. Orders over $5,000 require a Banner Finance P.O. Smaller orders can be made with a verbal P.O. number or the US Bank VISA Purchasing Card.
- Whenever feasible, for orders up to $25,000, departments should obtain three written competitive quotes from three different vendors. The lowest responsible bid must be awarded. Requests for approval of sole source exemptions should be made to the Purchasing Office.
- Whenever a total order to a single vendor exceeds $25,000 a formal bid must be written and issued from the Purchasing Office. The splitting of orders to multiple vendors in order to bypass this process is not allowed. The department provides a list of responsible bidders, specifications, required delivery date, funding source, etc., to the Purchasing Office as soon as a need is recognized. This process takes approximately 3 - 4 weeks. A formal bid is not required if items are purchased from existing contracts with the State of Oregon or the State of Washington. See Purchasing - Goods and Services.
