Purchasing Reference
Audience
- Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Forest & Wildlife faculty, students, and staff; Hub staff
Notes:
- For information on travel and travel e-reimbursement, please see the Travel Quick Reference.
- For information on non-travel e-reimbursement, please contact your department’s financial specialist.
Purchasing Information
Hub Staff Who Can Help
| Person | Covers These Departments | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Amber Oberdeck, Margaret Webster | Entomology/Plant Pathology | PO’s, E-reimbursements, Pcards, ShopUW |
| hr@russell.wisc.edu | Entomology/Plant Pathology | Payroll, benefits |
| hr@russell.wisc.edu | Forest and Wildlife Ecology/Hub | Payroll, benefits |
| Mariah Allen | Forest and Wildlife Ecology | Pre-award |
| Laurie Luther | Entomology/Plant Pathology | |
| Amber, Margaret | All | Closeout of projects |
Additional Hub Staff Information
Who Does What in the Hub and Alphabetical Listing of Hub Staff
UW - Business Services Purchasing Links
- Home page: https://businessservices.wisc.edu/purchasing/
- How to make a purchase guide: https://businessservices.wisc.edu/purchasing/how-to-make-a-purchase/
Who You Can Purchase From (Vendors)
Overview
The UW has a number of purchasing rules based on commodity:
| Commodity | Notes |
|---|---|
|
All commodities except printing |
Buy @ ShopUW . |
|
If ShopUW does not stock the commodity... |
Check if the item requires special approval. Is the price UNDER $5000? Is the price OVER $5000? |
|
Printing - Includes Quick Copy/Duplicating and Photocopying |
Heavily restricted. You can’t use an outside vendor if the price is over $49.99. |
|
Office Supplies |
Check ShopUW first. Shoppers must use Staples via ShopUW . They are the State-mandated vendor for office supplies. |
1Pcard Purchase Limits
- Purchase must be under $5,000.
- You can NOT split the transaction up to meet this requirement. That is considered serialized purchasing.
2Contract Vendors
- You can purchased from eligible vendors via the current UW or State of Wisconsin purchasing contracts.
- https://businessservices.wisc.edu/purchasing/contracts/ (use search all contracts)
- You must check the two ineligible vendors list to make sure the vendor is still valid:
3Three-vendor Quote (aka Simplified Bid Process)
- Use only for purchases from $5,000 - $50,000.
- Item or service must not be available through ShopUW or through a contract vendor.
- You must justify going around the formal bidding process by completing this form:
Additional Information: https://businessservices.wisc.edu/purchasing/simplified-bid-process/
4 Printing - Includes Quick Copy/Duplicating and Photocopying
- You can't purchase any printing service over $49.99 from an outside vendor.
- All printing jobs over $49.99 must be purchased from one of these two internal vendors:
- DoIT's Digital Printing & Publishing Services (formerly DoIT Printing)
- University Marketing (formerly University Communications)
- Campus copy centers should be used for duplicating jobs whenever possible:
Additional information: https://businessservices.wisc.edu/documents/how-to-purchase-a-printing-or-copying-job/
Tax Exemption
- Most purchases for UW are tax exempt.
- UW Tax exempt certificate: https://businessservices.wisc.edu/documents/sales-tax-exempt-certificate/
- Some states do not accept this. For those states, please make a note on the tracking form why purchase was not tax exempt. If tax over $25 is incurred on a purchase that should have been tax exempt, please document your attempt to obtain a tax refund and submit to your Site Manager.
Questions
Please contact your department’s financial specialist.