To: University Business Managers
Finance and Accounting Employees
From: Bernard Law, Director of Purchasing Services
Purchasing Services is responsible for processing and ensuring compliance with applicable law for all University purchases with the exception of purchases under the Small Order Policy, Purchase or Lease of Real Property and Construction Projects. Purchasing Services seeks to process all procurements in a timely and efficient manner. To facilitate timely processing of procurements, Purchasing Services advises University departments to submit requisitions as soon as practicable and to follow up with required departmental approvals.
Procurement Basics
Most orders under $5,000 should be placed using eProcurement, voucher (required for account ranges 53XXXX and 5241XX-5242XX) or P-Card. Exceptions include travel or purchases that require execution of a contract or license agreement.
Procurements not available through eProcurement, voucher or P-Card, including procurements over $5,000, require submission of a requisition through ConnectCarolina. For purchases over $5,000 that are not covered by a state term contract, university term contract, UNC GA contract or consortium contract, Purchasing Services issues a solicitation document (a request for quotation for procurements, an invitation for bids, or request for proposal as appropriate). Solicitation documents are required for all procurements over $5,000, including sole source procurements. Sole source procurements require a valid waiver of competition and supporting documentation.
It is critically important for end user departments to notify Purchasing Services when the requested services or goods will involve a vendor having access to sensitive University information, including, for example, social security numbers, credit card numbers, protected health information and FERPA-protected student data. Situations where vendors will have access to such sensitive information are becoming increasingly common with the prevalence of cloud-hosted vendor services.
As a tool to help identify such situations as well as situations requiring involvement by ITS, a Purchasing Services officer may ask you to complete a brief, eight-question Data Access Questionnaire. Identification of situations where vendors will have access to sensitive University information allows Purchasing Services to take appropriate steps to mitigate the University’s risk in allowing vendor access to sensitive University information.