The following are available for download:
Purchasing Procedures Manual
Purchasing Guidelines Brochure

Always contact Purchasing when...

• The planned acquisition would in any way change or alter your facility.
• The purchase is for computers, software or related technology.
• Purchases range from $5,000 to $50,000 in order to gain assistance with obtaining documented price quotes.
• Purchases are $50,000 and over in order to begin the competitive bidding or proposal process.
• You have questions regarding materials and services and need help in getting the best value for your dollar.

Paying for Purchases

Sometimes figuring out the best way to pay for a purchase can be confusing, so PSD has established the following guidelines to help you make payment decisions:

• Purchases under $500 - Use Petty Cash, Restricted Checks, PCard, or Purchase Requests
• Purchases from $501 to $4999 - Use Restricted Checks, Purchase Requests or PCard
• Purchases from $5,000 to $49,999 - Obtain at least three written quotes from vendors. Use the Quote form located in the Document Library in the Purchasing folder to help you document your quotes. Once you have at least three quotes, enter a Purchase Request and email or fax (490-3278) the quotes to Purchasing with the Purchase Request number referenced on the email/fax.
• Purchases over $50,000 - A competitive sealed bid is required. Call Purchasing to begin this process.

Avoiding Potential Problems

There’s an old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We’d like to caution you about two particular issues: buying remanufactured ink cartridges for your printers and the general practice of vendors visiting/calling your school or site.

• Please do not buy remanufactured ink cartridges.  It may feel like a money-saving purchase to buy remanufactured cartridges. In fact, you will void your printer warranty as soon as you place a remanufactured cartridge in it. The excitement over those perceived savings evaporates quickly after a remanufactured cartridge explodes in your printer. After paying the techs to clean/repair your equipment or buying a new printer, what you’ll have purchased is a time-consuming and costly lesson.
• Vendors need to contact Purchasing before visiting your school or site.  This is not just a good idea - it is PSD policy. If you aren’t sure if a vendor should be calling or visiting your school, please call the Purchasing Dept. to see if they have been approved to call/visit schools. On occasion, we deliberately deny certain vendors approval due to a variety of issues. These issues cut across a spectrum beginning with school offices being far to busy to listen to sales pitches, poor business practices by vendors, to standardization issues. Unfortunately, it isn’t unusual for the vendors who have been denied approval to visit/call schools to do so anyway. We would really like to help you reduce this kind of disruption, so please alert us to these situations!

Shop the Warehouse First

Check the Warehouse Supply Catalog before purchasing supplies from local or online office supply stores. Items stocked in the Warehouse are often less costly than office supply stores. Also, many people are not aware they can also make personal purchases from the Warehouse. To get a Warehouse Supply Catalog, call Skeet McCracken (490-3428).

Warehouse Supply Catalogs:

• Catalog Search Directions
• Art Supply Catalog
• Custodial Supply Catalog
• Document Supply Catalog
• Nurse Supply Catalog
• Office Supply Catalog
• Paper Supply Catalog
• PE Supply Catalog

Use the Correct Budget Codes

We have been seeing a lot of purchase requests for technology purchases coming in with incorrect budget coding for the object. Below is a list of object codes for commonly ordered technology items:

• 0650 Software
• 0651 Computers, Monitors, Printers
• 0652 AV Equipment

If you have additional questions about coding, or, like so many of us, you simply find yourself to be coding-challenged, check the BUG book for appropriate account codes.

Check Available Price Lists

Current price lists for district hardware standards (computers, peripherals and AV equipment) are available on the pcsupport page and in the Document Library. These lists are updated frequently, so please check the price lists again for each new purchase.

Returning Merchandise

Sometimes a vendor may send an item that is wrong, damaged, unusable, or a duplicate. Unfortunately, there are also times when you may have simply ordered the wrong item.

When a vendor sends a wrong, damaged, or duplicate item, they pay return shipping on the item. If you don’t want an item for any other reason, the shipping and any applicable restocking charges will be charged to your site budget. It is extremely important to make sure you know exactly what you are ordering to avoid unnecessary shipping/restocking fees. If you are not sure if an item truly fits your needs, contact the vendor for a better item description or a sample before ordering.

When you receive merchandise, make sure you keep all paperwork such as packing slips or invoices that may be included with the product. Save packing materials until you are sure you are keeping the item. Most vendors do not like to take merchandise back after 30 days, so be sensitive to time issues. As soon as possible, re-pack the item in the original packaging and include a copy of the packing slip, a copy of the Purchase Order, and a brief explanation of why the merchandise needs to be returned. Call Sharon in Purchasing (490-3536) and let her know you are returning an item so she can begin the return process with the merchant as soon as possible. Label the box ATTN: SHARON RAGAN, PLEASE RETURN and send the box to the Warehouse.

Completing Purchase Requests

We know it can be very frustrating when your purchases are delayed. Please help us avoid these delays by making sure you complete the steps described below.

Confirm you are using the most current catalog available and/or pricing quote before entering an order. If you aren’t sure, call the 800 number provided by most vendors and check the pricing.

Complete the End User field on the Purchase Request screen located under the Details tab. To complete this field, enter the Location/Name for the purchase. The Location is the name of your school or site, and the Name is the name of the person for whom the order is being placed.

Another issue that some of you have mentioned is receiving a BSI Workflow email message that says “Please complete purchase request R012345.” This email is sent to you if you forget to enter “EC” into box 10 under the Req. Codes tab on the Purchase Request screen.

If you initially forget to enter information on the Purchase Request screen and can’t get back into the screen to make changes, call us at Purchasing (490-3536) and we’ll help you.

Recycling Printer Cartridges

Please mark your Printer Cartridges “RECYCLE” and return to the Warehouse so that they can be recycled. We know this may seem a little confusing because we DON’T purchase recycled cartridges, we DO turn ours in to be recycled!

Improving/Altering Your Building

Just a reminder that due to insurance and liability issues PSD requires a work order for any work that needs to be done to your building. Parent, teacher or student volunteers may not paint, re-plumb, rewire, re-roof, re-floor, remodel or otherwise alter a PSD building in any way. To submit a work order, call 490-3333 and describe the work that you need done to your building or the surrounding area outside of your building.  In addition, parent, teacher or student volunteers may not assemble furniture or unload trucks. These tasks also require a work order.

Sending Out Large Print Jobs

In addition to FEDXKinko’s, PSD now has been given a pricing agreement of 2 ½ cents/impression with free pick up/delivery on printing with Office Max.  Contact Molly Gilfillan in Graphic Services at 490-3512 or mollyg@psdschools.org to investigate cost-saving strategies for printing large quantities.

Surplus Property & Equipment

All surplus items for Poudre School District are processed through the Purchasing & Materials Management department. These surplus items are auctioned through Public Surplus.com, an on-line auction system. Surplus property auctions are open to the public as well as the school district employees and can be viewed on-line at http://www.publicsurplus.com.  Contact Tom Hartman (490-3505, thartman@psdschools.org) if you have surplus items.