Purchasing Reference

This doc outlines references that can be used to purchase goods and services.

Audience

  • Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Forest & Wildlife faculty, students, and staff; Hub staff

Notes:


Purchasing Information

Hub Staff Who Can Help

Select Hub Staff and Their Financial, Grants, and Payroll Responsibilities
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


Who You Can Purchase From (Vendors)

Overview

The UW has a number of purchasing rules based on commodity:

Purchasing Information by Commodity
Commodity Notes

All commodities except printing

Buy @ ShopUW .

If ShopUW does not stock the commodity...

Check if the item requires special approval.
If it does, contact your department’s financial specialist for assistance. 

Is the price UNDER $5000?
Use the Pcard (university credit card).  
Note: rules and restrictions still apply, see Pcard Purchase Limit below.1 

Is the price OVER $5000?
You have to use a current contract vendor2 OR do a three-vendor quote.3

Printing - Includes Quick Copy/Duplicating and Photocopying

Heavily restricted.

You can’t use an outside vendor if the price is over $49.99.
See Printing section below for more info.4

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

3Three-vendor Quote (aka Simplified Bid Process)

Additional Information:  https://businessservices.wisc.edu/purchasing/simplified-bid-process/

4 Printing - Includes Quick Copy/Duplicating and Photocopying 

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.



Keywords:
Purchasing, e-Reimbursement, purchasing card, items requiring special approval, guide, purchasing quick start, purchasing quick start guide, quick start 
Doc ID:
97305
Owned by:
Elyce R. in Russell Labs Hub
Created:
2020-01-23
Updated:
2024-11-20
Sites:
Russell Labs Hub