Effective June 20, 2025: Purchases and payments are handled by the College of Engineering Shared Environment.
Purchases
To request a purchase be made, fill out the Purchase Request Form. If you have more than 10 items for a single supplier, you may attach the ESE Order Form for your convenience.
Catalog Suppliers: A list of catalog suppliers can be found on the Catalog Purchases website.
Capital Assets: If you think your purchase request qualifies as a capital asset, you must indicate that in the Additional Comments field on the Purchase Request Form. More information about capital assets can be found on the Capital Equipment webpage. Capital assets do not include depletable resources such as minerals or timber.
M&E Tax Exemption: If your purchase qualifies for M&E tax exemption, you must choose “Yes” in response to the “Is this a Machinery & Equipment (M&E) Purchase” question on the Purchase Request Form. In general, to qualify for the M&E tax exemption, equipment must have a useful life of greater than one year, be used more than 50% annually on qualifying research, and have an acquisition cost of $200 or more. More information about the M&E tax exemption can be found on the M&E Sales Tax Exemption webpage.
Sole Source: A sole source justification is required for every purchase over the Direct Buy Limit ($10,000 including shipping and handling but excluding tax) unless the purchase is being made from an existing contract, the supplier is specifically named in the funding source award documents, or the purchase is being competitively solicited. More information can be found on the Sole Source Justification webpage. If you purchase needs a sole source justification you must fill out and submit the Sole Source Justification Form, download the PDF generated on the confirmation screen, and attach the PDF to the purchase request form.
Invoice payment
To request to pay an invoice, submit a General Finance Help Request ticket. Please include approval from the PI or department staff (if departmental fund) to pay and the worktag(s) to be charged.
Additional information
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All students, postdocs, and staff must upload a PDF of approval from their PI or department approver (in case of non-faculty fund) when submitting a request for purchasing or invoice payment. The permission must state the funding worktag(s) and item(s) or service(s) for which approval is being given.
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If requesting a purchase or invoice payment from a grant fund, in addition to stating the business purpose of the item(s) or service(s), you must include an explanation of how the item(s) or service(s) benefits the grant project being charged. Examples of reasonably detailed responses include: “Equipment for fabricating custom parts needed for experiments” OR “To improve Li metal battery performance.” An example of an unacceptable response is “Item for grant research.”
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Payment for services provided (such as through an independent contractor or consultant) are not reimbursable. Instead, you will need to submit an invoice for payment directly to the contractor or consultant using the Invoice Payment process above.
Assistance
Training Video for Purchasing: 2025-6-18--Purchasing Training.mp4
After watching the video, if you have questions about purchasing or about filling out the necessary forms, please submit a General Finance Help Request ticket.