Avoidance of unnecessary or duplicate items and excessive shipping costs
Requisitions for purchase orders should be prepared and submitted in a timely manner in anticipation of the needs of the Laboratory or Department in order to avoid costly processing and shipping expenses that often result from last minute and rush orders. It is the responsibility of the Laboratory or Department to plan for and submit requisitions in a manner that allows for standard shipping. The University recognizes that not all needs can be anticipated and the Purchasing Department will make all reasonable efforts to honor emergency rush requests. However, a pattern of emergency rush requests from a Laboratory or Department will be reviewed and may be subject to further investigation by the Director of Materials Management & CPO and the Head of the Laboratory or Department. Requisitions that require next day delivery must be entered and approved by the departmental hierarchy in Oracle iProcurement by 11:00 am on a working business day.
Please note that requisitions listing a new vendor must be properly vetted to ensure the University does not assume any liability in doing business with that vendor. Perishable items requisitioned the day before a weekend and or extended holiday or holiday weekend may ship the day after the first business day following the weekend (i.e., perishable items ordered on a Friday may not arrive until the following Tuesday or later within the week as per the vendor). Configurable items (i.e., computers and most analytical or specialized equipment or special animal or chemical orders) may not be able to be shipped for overnight delivery as per the availability, the manufacturing process and shipping capability of the vendor.
All purchase orders assigned to requisitions submitted through Oracle iProcurement must be approved by an authorized purchasing agent of the University Purchasing Department and, depending upon the commodity, may be subject to further review by other University Administrative Departments.
Before assigning a purchase order for equipment, Purchasing personnel are responsible for determining whether the University has equivalent equipment available that could be assigned to the Laboratory or Department that placed the requisition. If equivalent equipment within the University’s collection of surplus equipment is located, Purchasing personnel will communicate this option to the Laboratory or Department that placed the requisition. Acceptance of equipment from the University’s holdings in lieu of purchase of new equipment is subject to approval by the Laboratory or Department that placed the requisition. Trade-in arrangements for University equipment must be reviewed and approved by the Director of Materials Management & CPO and may be subject to review and approval by other University Administrative Offices.
Note that any piece of equipment with a purchase price of $5,000 or above is considered a fixed asset and must be documented and tracked as such. At least one quotation must be obtained for equipment purchases of $5000-10,000.
Items available from the University Stockroom must be acquired from the Stockroom and not from the outside vendor directly. Items that are offered for sale in the University Stockroom are aggressively price-negotiated such that commonly procured items are made immediately available to the University at price that is more cost-effective than obtaining the same item directly from the vendor with the standard University discount. Immediate same day accessibility from the Stockroom also proves to be cost effective in the minimization of delays that are sometimes associated with an external vendor due to backorders or delays in shipping due to weather, transportation issues, etc. Items in the Stockroom do not incur any shipping or added fuel surcharges. These shipping charges are incurred by procuring the same items directly from the vendor. The Stockroom is able to maintain adequate supply levels due to aggressive oversight from the inventory controls established through the Purchasing and Inventory Control Offices. Inventory Control offers immediate credit for any items that are returned to the Stockroom, when requisitioned in error by the end user. The return process to external vendors is cumbersome and often results in expensive shipping and restocking fees due to end user requisitioning error. Any non-catalogue request made through Oracle iProcurement for a Stockroom item will be rerouted to the requestor by Purchasing for resubmission to the Stockroom. The Stockroom catalog is available electronically on the Oracle iProcurement homepage. End users must request Stockroom items via Oracle iProcurement. Stockroom Sales Order status may be obtained by contacting purchasing@mail.rockefeller.edu.