Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders

Purchase Requisitions

A requisition is a formal request to buy a good or service. Requisitions are documented and routed for approval within the University’s Finance System (ARC) and in the CU Marketplace. A purchase requisition typically contains supplier information, requested product or service information, catalog number, date, department, delivery information, and often budget information. Requisitions may be created in ARC or in the CU Marketplace, after being provided the appropriate approvals as well as submission of supporting documentation if applicable through the Purchasing Electronic Document Management (EDM) system, generates a Purchase Order (PO) that is dispatched to the supplier. The information on the Purchase Order is used to fulfill the order.

There are 3 types of Purchase Requisitions:

1. Special Request – these are created using the “Special Request” option in ARC when creating a requisition and are for goods and services that do not have term dates (start and end date) associated with them.
2. Fixed Cost – these are created using the “Fixed Cost” option in ARC when creating a requisition that has a specific start and end date (e.g. consultants, service contracts)
3. CU Marketplace Purchase Requisitions-these are created selecting suppliers in the CU Marketplace and creating orders using the shopping care feature.

Purchase Orders (PO)

A Purchase Order is a document, based on a submitted request that is reviewed and processed through the University’s Purchasing Office indicating the type, description, quantities and agreed-upon price for a product or service. When accepted by the supplier it forms an agreement between the University and the supplier.

There are 3 types of Purchase Orders:

1. Central PO – these are Purchase Orders that require Purchasing approval prior to being sourced to a supplier and dispatched to that supplier.
2. Auto-sourced PO – these are Purchase Orders that do not require Purchasing approval prior to be sourced and dispatched to suppliers and specifically applies to suppliers that have University Wide Purchasing Agreements (UWPAs) with the University.
3. CU Marketplace - PO- these purchase orders that are issued through the CU Marketplace for catalog items from preferred suppliers and do not require Purchasing approval for order values below $50,000.  These PO’s are processed electronically and are invoiced directly through the CU Marketplace. The suppliers in the CU Marketplace also have University Wide Purchasing Agreements (UWPAs) with the University.

Note: Catalog Orders – These are Purchase orders to UWPA vendors enabled through CU Marketplace. CU users can access vendor’s discounted catalog pricing by punching out to their web sites through the CU Marketplace.

Purchase Requisition Requirements

A purchase requisition is an authorized request for the purchase of goods or services through the Purchasing Department. The following are examples of when a requisition is required.

• You are making a purchase that cannot be accomplished through the use of the University Purchasing Card (Pcard)
• The supplier has requested the issuance of a formal Purchase Order
• You are purchasing a Restricted Commodity 
• You are requesting services
• Lease finance requests

A Purchase Requisition is not required for:

• Honoraria
• Utilities
• Subscriptions
• Banking & Real Estate Transactions
• Temporary staffing (completed through CUHR)
• Travel Reimbursements and direct payments to travel-related vendors
• Stipends
• Prizes and Awards
• Human Subject payments

*Note: In the event the transaction is utilizing Sponsored Funds, supporting documentation consistent with the funding source and Uniform Guidance must be submitted to Procurement whether or not a Purchase Requisition is required. Please consult the University’s Competitive Procurement Policy

Required Elements of a Purchase Requisition

Instructions to complete a purchase requisition in ARC and in the CU Marketplace can be found here. Once the Purchasing staff receives your requisition, they will review it for completeness when applicable. Requisitions will be returned for incorrect cost center, incomplete or vague descriptions or specifications, no intended purpose or questionable intended purpose or improper cost center signature authority. If everything is in order, the requisition is prioritized and processed.

Change Orders (CO)

A Change Order represents a modification requested by a department of an existing Purchase Order. This change can be:

• Updated quantity
• Change in pricing
• Delivery date
• Account modification
• Cancellation of a PO

Change requests to a Scope of Work, services, contract extensions and supplier name must be completed through the initiation of a new Purchase Requisition.

Direct Goods Pickup

It is important to note that goods purchases should always be delivered by the supplier to an approved University location. In the event there is an exceptional requirement to have the goods purchase picked up by the customer directly, this must be pre-approved in writing by the school/department Senior Business Officer. This written approval by the Senior Business Officer must be submitted as supporting documentation to Procurement when either performing the receiving function (see below for the related policy) as part of the PO process or through a University payment process (i.e. PO voucher, PCard, etc.). Non-University ship to locations may be added in ARC through a ServiceNow ticket and require departmental approvals. For orders processed through the CU Marketplace, ad-hoc non-University locations may be added subject to certain restrictions as well as departmental approvals.

Please note: Receiving is not required for non-catalog orders in ARC as the submission of the invoice for processing is the acknowledgment of receipt.  In the CU Marketplace, receiving is required for catalog orders when the line item for an order is equal to or greater than $5000 for all category codes.  Please see the University’s Receiving policy for more information.

Roles, Responsibilities, in ARC and in the CU Marketplace

Roles in ARC

Initiator

• Prepares requisition for goods and services based on direction from the Requester
• Determines that costs of requested goods and services are reasonable and allowable for the funds being used to pay for the items
• Submits requisition into ARC workflow for required approvals

Requester

• Requests goods and services to be purchased
• Provides any necessary details and specifications
• Provides chartfield information for expenses as necessary

Departmental Approver

• Approves the purchase of goods and services
• Acknowledges that purchased goods and services are in accordance with University policies and procedures and are charged to the appropriate account

Purchasing Officer (Central Purchasing)

• Performs vendor analysis, may obtain bids and quotes, negotiates contracts, and supports user/supplier customer service functions
• Reviews requisitions for completeness and compliance. Works with Initiator and Departmental Approvers to resolve outstanding items
• Approves requisition, allowing the requisition to be converted to a purchase orders.

Roles in the CU Marketplace

Shopper

• Ability to shop for goods and/or services where there is a University business purpose based on departmental needs.
• Creates shopping carts in the CU Marketplace.
• Completes information (such as chartstring) on the requisition documents. Note: this is not required and can be done by the Requester.
• Assigns shopping carts to Requesters to submit into workflow

Please Note: Student Officers must be opted in or opted-out by their School or Admin Unit.

Requester

• Ability to shop for goods and/or services where there is a University business purpose based on departmental needs.
• Creates shopping carts or receives carts from department shoppers in the CU Marketplace.
• Completes a quality check on the requisition, enters any remaining required fields, i.e. chartstring, and submits the requisition into workflow.
• Responsible for reviewing and submitting requisitions for approval.

Department Approver

• Approves the purchase of goods and services
• Acknowledges that purchased goods and services are in accordance with University policies and procedures and are charged to the appropriate account

Ad Hoc Approver

• These are Approvers inserted into workflow manually for specific transaction for additional review either due to funding source or value of transaction.

Special Approver

• Formerly known as Prior Approver, required for certain regulated commodities such as radioactive materials, animals for research, capital equipment, lasers etc.

Purchasing Approval (Central Purchasing) Purchasing will review CU Marketplace orders over 50k

• Performs vendor analysis, may obtain bids and quotes, negotiates contracts, and supports user/supplier customer service functions
• Reviews requisitions for completeness and compliance. Works with Initiator and Departmental Approvers to resolve outstanding items
• Approves requisition, allowing the requisition to be converted to a purchase orders.

Contact

Hugh A. Horowitz, AVP Purchasing Operations (212) 854-4111

[email protected]

• Procurement Mechanism Guide
• Transactions Requiring Prior Approvals
• P-Card Policy
• Change Order Policy