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
For the current list of task assignments, please refer to the list on the Financial Services Area homepage.
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.