MTSU Purchasing Guidelines

Following are general guidelines for MTSU employees who wish to make University purchases. If you have questions, please contact Procurement Services at 898-2944.

LOCAL PURCHASES
Procurement Policy 3.2 (d)

DEPARTMENT LOCAL PURCHASE AUTHORITY:
If the total estimated amount of any purchase is less than $5,000, the purchase may be negotiated. For any purchases less than $5,000 (Does not apply to Personal, Professional, or Consultant Contracts) MTSU Departments and employees will use a PCard to procure the supplies and/or services. All University Departments or employees must utilize State of Tennessee, MTSU, Tennessee Board of Regents (Including all TBR Institutions), and University of Tennessee (Including all UTK Institutions) contracts as the primary sources to procure any needed goods and/or services. If the item or service can be procured at a lower price or is unavailable on these contracts then the purchase may be made elsewhere, however all PCard purchases shall be made utilizing best bid prices. All documentation pertaining to purchases and/or services shall be available for review and audit by Procurement Services. A list of current State of Tennessee, MTSU, Tennessee Board of Regents (Including all TBR Institutions), and University of Tennessee (Including all UTK Institutions) contracts are available on the MTSU Procurement Services Website: http://www.mtsu.edu/procurement .

Any MTSU Department and/or employee not utilizing the MTSU PCard for local purchases will be given a 'local purchase limit' of less than $500 and will be required utilize a requisition for any purchase of supplies and/or services exceeding $500.
All purchases made for supplies and/or services under $5,000 shall be made with a MTSU PCard unless the vendor requires a University Purchase Order or in rare circumstances a "Check Enclosed". For these situations a Procurement Requisition will be completed utilizing SciQuest and forwarded to Procurement Services with an explanation.

Refer to MTSU PCard Policy for more information.

EXCEPTIONS
Requisitions for computer hardware, peripherals, software and related maintenance or support requests of ($1,000 or more) shall include an attached "Explanation of Need" which includes the intended usage and, if hardware, the type of equipment to which it will be attached. Also the requisition will include the location, including building and room. The requisition is routed thru the Information Technology Division Office for approval, prior to coming to Procurement Services.go through the Office of Information Technology before it comes to the Purchasing Department.

Any computer purchased for less than $1,000 should be coded as Object Code 74596.

EQUIPMENT
Equipment is $5,000.00 and up. Any equipment purchase must be submitted on a requisition through MT$ource to Procurement Services (Reference University Policy #IV: 04:07). The definition of equipment refers to an item costing $5,000.00 or more with a life expectancy of three years or longer and does not lose its identity when incorporated into another unit.

REQUISITIONS AND THE BID PROCESS
The following steps should be followed:

1. MTSU employee who wishes to make purchase (requisitioner) completes a Purchase Requisition* in MT$ource the Instructions for Completing the Requisition for Purchase.
2. The Purchase Requistion* will flow through the workflow within MT$ource for the online approvals.
3. Refer also to Request for Proposal for personal, professional and consultant agreements.
4. If item(s) on requistions are not on contract with the State of Tennessee, TBR, MTSU or UTK, Procurement Services will issue an Invitiation to Bid.
5. After the Bid Opening date and review by Procurement Services, bids are forwarded to requisitioner for award recommendation.
6. Requisitioner reviews bids and makes award recommendation to Procurement Services.
7. After determining all specifications are met and policies are followed, Procurement Services forwards Purchase Order to awarded vendor and to MTSU requisitioner.

* Requisitions are in PDF format and require the user to have Adobe Reader installed on his computer. Reader is free from the Adobe web site.