UMD has a distributed procurement model in which campus departments have limited authority to enter into procurements up to a designated dollar amount. These procurements can be transacted via Pcard (up to $5,000) or Purchase Order (up to $25,000). Procurements that exceed these amounts must be handled by the P&BS Procurement Unit. Other attributes of a procurement may require Procurement involvement as noted below.
Delegated Procurements are procurement actions that total less than $25,000 which campus departments have the authority to transact on their own, provided the terms do not conflict with UMD’s terms and conditions. For any situations where supplier terms conflict with the standard UMD terms and conditions, Procurement must be involved to further negotiate the terms and conditions associated with an order. There are terms that UMD cannot legally accept. If agreement cannot be reached, alternate products or suppliers may need to be considered.
Any procurement that includes a contract or agreement requiring signature, regardless of dollar amount, must be routed to Procurement for negotiation and final signature, per the President's Delegation of Authority to Sign Contracts memorandum. Only certain individuals have the authority to sign contracts. This includes clickthrough agreements, acceptance, acknowledgement buttons relating to terms associated with a purchase. (Example: software licensing).
For low dollar orders, competition is preferred, but not required. Procurements greater than $25,000 must be completed by a procurement officer in Procurement. Breaking up orders, or stringing, is prohibited.
All procurements, including delegated, are to be completed prior to order placement. Waiting until an invoice is in hand to create a requisition is not acceptable, is considered an unauthorized (“after the fact”) transaction and will lead to delays in payment which can adversely impact the supplier and UMD.
Delegated Procurements include:
- Delegated POs (issued in the Financial system)
- PCards
- Shell Shop