Procurement Services issued a new Procurement Policy and new forms effective January 1.

To better serve you and the university, Procurement Services has updated the university-wide Procurement Policy, which went into effect on January 1 along with two updated procurement forms: Vendor Selection Form and Sole Source Justification Form. For background on these changes, see the Procurement Services project page on the Strategic Improvement Initiative website. The policy and forms have been updated to:

• Provide consistent and concise guidance to university employees on procurement activities.

• Comply with updated federal and state regulations, including Uniform Guidance.

• Introduce industry-leading practices into our procurement operations.

• Safeguard university resources through standardized practices.

Key policy changes effective January 1 include:

• New Quoting Threshold: A minimum of three quotes is required for products or services with an aggregate total value of $10,000 or more over the same fiscal year with the same vendor regardless of funding sources, grants, and non-grants.

• Emphasis on the Correct Procurement Sequence: Departments are strongly encouraged to go through the requisition process and have a Purchase Order (PO) in place prior to engaging any vendors for purchase of goods or services over $500, unless it is an exception specified in the policy, including travel related expenses, taxes, legal/benefit services, workers compensation claims, utilities, and donations. After-the-fact POs issued solely for the purpose of paying an invoice for goods or services already received/performed is not a leading practice and is generally not permitted.

• Updated Vendor Selection Form: The same Vendor Selection Form must be used for both grant- and non-grant-related purchases.

• Updated Sole Source Justification Form and Process: To comply with the updated Uniform Guidance and to rectify various findings by the auditors, all sole source purchases will be subjected to increased scrutiny to ascertain validity. All Sole Source Justification Forms must be reviewed for completion and viability by the director of Procurement Services before it is either approved or denied. If you are purchasing goods or services using a Sole Source Justification, you may not engage your chosen vendor until and unless the Sole Source Justification is approved.

Please carefully review the updated Procurement Policy, Vendor Selection Form, and Sole Source Justification Form. Additional communications and Procurement Forums on the new policy will be available in January 2019 to provide clarifications, to explain why each of these changes were made and how they will benefit the university, and to address any questions.

As we continue the modernization and improvement of the university’s procure-to-pay operations, we anticipate additional updates to the Procurement Policy and related processes in the coming months and years. We thank you in advance for your patience and collaboration as we thrive to bring you more user-friendly solutions, streamlined processes, high-quality customer service, and additional value through center-led contracting efforts.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Snow Rutkowske at srutkowske@iit.edu or 312.567.3677 should you have any questions.