Purchasing Rules

The UW ProCurement Card is for official UW business only and must never be used for personal use. Single transaction limits are set at $2000. Do not purchase equipment (exceeding $1837 before tax) without pre-approval from ProCurement Services. Never use the ProCurement Card for travel expenses and never split charges to stay under the $2,000 single transaction limit.

Contact ProCurement Card Services when facing exceptional purchasing circumstances where the ProCurement card is the only viable option because of time sensitive situations or vendor payment acceptance.

Pre-purchase Approval

Department purchase approval procedures must be established by department administrators.

Possible Cardholder Purchase Approval Models:

• Cardholder has authorization regarding what can be purchased because she/he is employed in a position of department authority and is an expert regarding department, university and state purchasing regulations.
• Cardholder has department pre-approval to purchase up to a certain monetary limit. Beyond the limit the cardholder must seek written approval from a department head.
• Cardholder has department pre-approval to purchase specific items or categories of items and may also have monetary limits. Beyond pre-approved items or item categories, the cardholder must seek written approval from a department head.

When you are ready to purchase an item using the UW Procurement Card, decide how you will make your purchase and then follow the steps for that type of purchase.

UW ProCurement Card Purchasing Violation Consequences

1. first occurrence: warning
2. second occurrence: one month suspension
3. third occurrence: card cancellation

With the first violation, the cardholder is given one strike and is warned along with their department administrator that the card will be suspended for one month if a second violation occurs. Upon a second occurrence strike two is administered resulting in a one month suspension of the card. The cardholder along with their department administrator is warned that a third occurrence will result in the cancellation of the card. Upon the third occurrence strike three is administered resulting in cancellation of the card.

While these are the consequences for UW ProCurement Card purchasing violations, we will continue to collaborate with department administrators to determine appropriate consequences, and within reason will flex with campus department needs. Our main focus is educational, preventing future violations.

An overview of ProCard purchasing policies is located at: https://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/procard/pdfs/PCWebTrainingSummer06.pdf

For further assistance, please contact UW ProCurement Services at: procard@u.washington.edu or 206-543-5252

M&E Tax Exemption

Equipment purchased for certain University research and development activities may qualify for a sales tax exemption allowed under RCW 82.08.02565, known as the Machinery and Equipment Tax Exemption, or "M&E Exemption." The exemption may be applied towards purchases of new fixtures, equipment, and support facilities that are an integral and necessary part of pilot scale manufacturing or used directly in University manufacturing or qualified research and development activities. Items with a total cost of $1,000 or more may qualify for this exemption.

M&E Statement Form is required to complete and submit PRIOR to making an M&E tax exempt purchase.

To determine what items qualify for the M&E exemptions please click M&E Qualifications, and to understand the ProCurement Card procedures go to M&E ProCard Procedures.

Policy on Splitting UW ProCurement Card Transactions

Important: It is against University policy to split purchases into smaller units to circumvent the $2,000 limit for ProCurement Card transactions.

UW ProCurement Card policy states that transactions are to be limited to $2,000. The ProCurement Card $2,000 threshold is set at the limit at which equipment needs to be capitalized. (Exceptions to the $2,000 limit can be approved by ProCurement Card Services on a case by case basis.)

Note: The UW ProCurement Card $2,000 single transaction limit includes tax, handling and shipping charges. The $3,000 “direct buy” limit does not include tax, handling and shipping charges.

Definition of “Split Purchase”:

A “split purchase” occurs when the total cost of a single or multiple purchase(s) from one source, is more than $3,000, and the purchase is broken up into multiple transactions with the express purpose of circumventing the $3,000 limit.

A UW ProCurement Card “split purchase” occurs when a cardholder intentionally splits the purchase into units less than $2,000 in order to circumvent the ProCurement Card single transaction limit.

Cardholders are not to make purchases with the intent to circumvent the $2,000 Procurement Card limit or $3,000 statutory (State law) purchase limit.

If you can ANTICIPATE (know in advance) that you need to make a purchase greater than $2,000, you will need to contact UW ProCurement Card Services for further guidance.

Example of a “Split Purchase”:

A department knows they have a repetitive need for $2,000 worth of the same product every month for a year (therefore they are actually anticipating a need for $24,000 worth of products) which exceeds the $3,000 competitive limit. Under such circumstances, contact UW ProCurement Card Services (206-543-5252) for guidance or a Purchasing Buyer (206-543-5810) to establish a contract.

Granting exceptions to the $2,000 ProCurement Card limit:
Single transaction limit increases are granted to cardholders by UW Procurement Card Services when accompanied with appropriate approvals. For more information go to: http://www.washington.edu/admin/procard/limitincr.htm

Rebate Acceptance Policy & Procedures

UW ProCurement card users should take advantage of rebates when offered by vendors. Rebates must benefit the University of Washington, never the individual UW employee. When applying for a rebate program, always provide your department contact information, identifying the applicant as a business membership.

If the vendor sends a check to the individual cardholder, the check should be endorsed by the individual and sent to Payables for deposit to the applicable department account as a reverse expenditure. Departments must provide the budget number and the object/sub object code to be reimbursed.

If the vendor sends the individual card holder a rebate coupon to be applied to future purchases, the rebate should be applied only to purchases for the benefit of the department making the original purchase.