Frequently Asked Questions
- If my department needs a procurement credit card, how do we get one?
The procurement credit cards are issued in a person’s name not a department’s name. The ProCard application can be found in Ramport under Administrative Forms. Fill out the form with the necessary signatures and then send to Purchasing and the Program Administrator will request the card. Once the card is received by Purchasing the individual will be contacted to attend a training session.
- Are ProCards tied to the Budget Authority’s credit ratings like travel cards are?
The University will pay the reconciled statement; cardholders will not pay their monthly statement to Citibank. The program does not affect your credit rating in any way. The Purchasing Card program carries corporate and individual liability.
- Is there a place on the web where prohibited purchases are listed by fund account?If not, can one be set up?
Operating Policy 14.05 provides information regarding prohibited expenditure by funding source. Also, the Accounting Primer link on our website outlines the appropriate use.
- Is the purchase of services considered doing an invoice after the fact, such as attorney fees, accounting fees and banking fees?
Yes, if your department anticipates having these fees as part of your operating expenses but you are not sure as to what the fee will be each time, you can do an estimated amount requisition and we can create an encumbrance for each of those vendors and every time you receive an invoice we can apply it to the encumbered amount.
- What is an RFP?
A written request for proposals concerning goods or services the university intends to acquire by means of the competitive sealed proposal procedure. The procedure allows changes to be made after other proposals are opened and contemplates that the nature of the proposals and/or prices offered will be negotiated prior to award.
- Kindles at Amazon.com were $349 and everywhere else they $399. How can I overcome obstacles of Amazon not accepting a purchase order, since ordering for 10 faculty members makes a difference?
You will have to contact IT for review of the request and assistance in obtaining quotes from vendors that do accept purchase orders.
- Why are paper requisitions still issued? How can we just have access to this information as an online PDF?
Paper requisitions are only created when a purchase request is being split from more than one account and those accounts have different budget authorities. Paper requisitions are also created at the end of the fiscal year for any services that have to be in place by September 1. Paper requisitions require a signature; therefore the form in located under Administrative Forms in Ramport for requestors to fill out and print out for a signature.
- When can we use electronic signatures to sign invoices for payment? It doesn’t make sense for AP to scan and email an invoice that I must then print and sign and send back. If a physical signature is required, can the original invoice just be sent to me for signature?
At this time, ASU does not have a product which could provide a non-repudiated signature. We will continue to work with IT to find a software product that would be reliable and provide the appropriate assurance of an electronic signature. Please keep in mind only invoices which are not received through Banner require an “okay to pay”.
- Increasingly, student conferences and special travel programs are requiring payment by credit card at the time of registration. Currently I have to pay that on my personal credit card and be reimbursed after the students return (often as much as 2-3 months later and for a really competitive summer program 9 months later). This is an unreasonable expectation for program directors/faculty sponsors. Can we find a better way to deal with this when conferences/programs do not accept purchase orders?
Please contact the Purchasing Office and Travel Office prior to paying registration fees using a personal credit card to discuss what options are available specific to each trip.
- As policy changes are made, will we notified by email? By other means?
Any changes to policies will follow the process as outlined in OP 02.04 under the section Substantive and Non-substantive Revisions, Temporary Suspension, and Deletion of an OP.
