City of Lawrence

Administrative Policy

SUBJECT Purchasing

APPLIES TO Finance Department

EFFECTIVE DATE February 2002

REVISED DATE None

NEXT REVIEW DATE February 2004

APPROVED BY  City Manager

TOTAL PAGES 2

POLICY NUMBER AP-36

1.0       Policy

1.         Purchase Orders

Purchase orders are used for purchases greater than $1000.  The user departments are responsible for obtaining at least three quotes for the item(s) they wish to purchase.  After selecting a vendor, the department submits an on-line requisition on the computer system.  The department head or other authorized persons must approve the requisition before it is sent to Purchasing for buyer processing.

The purchasing agent processes requisitions at least once a day.  During buyer processing, the purchasing agent reviews the information on the requisition, verifies the correct budget number and prints the purchase orders.  The purchasing agent is authorized to sign purchase orders up to $1,000; the City Manager must sign all POs over $1,000.  The white and yellow copies of the four part forms are sent to the department making the purchase, the blue copy is given to Accounts Payable and the pink copy is filed with the Finance Department.  The user department is responsible for sending the white copy to the vendor and ordering the goods or services.

Purchase orders may be required near the end of the fiscal year for purchases less than $1000 to insure that available budget authority exists and that the purchase is allocated to the appropriate fiscal year.

See the Cash Disbursements policy (AP-29) for payment of purchase orders.

2. Credit Cards

Credit cards may be used for purchases up to $1000.  Additional limits may be placed on credit card purchases such as the type of vendor and number of purchases in a set period.  The use of a credit card will be further governed by the Purchase Card agreement signed by the user.

3.         Purchases Greater Than $15,000

Items greater than $15,000 are to be purchased through competitive sealed bidding.  Authorization to forego this process must be obtained from the City Manager in accordance with the Purchasing Manual and AP-49.

The City Commission must first give approval to obtain bids and set the bid date.  The purchasing agent is responsible for preparing and sending bid packages to all prospective bidders, as well as publishing a Notice to Bidders in the Lawrence Journal World and/or the on line bidding system.  On the day of the bid opening, the bids are tabulated and reviewed by the purchasing department and the department purchasing the goods and /or services.  The purchasing agent is responsible for making a recommendation to the City Commission to accept the lowest bid meeting specifications.

See the Purchasing Manual for details of the City’s bidding procedures.