PROCUREMENT FAQS

Requisitions & Purchase Orders

Purchase orders (POs) are the standard form of contract used to procure goods and/or services for UD.

A PO has established terms and conditions that protect the University’s interests.  It provides the detailed description of the goods or services, deliverables, price, and the length of term, among other items. 

Upon acceptance by a supplier, a PO becomes a contract binding both parties.

When the Multi-Invoice/Payment box on a requisition is left unchecked, the PO type will be standard. 

The PO number will begin with "UDS" for "standard".

A standard PO is quantity based, meaning that invoices will match the quantity of items ordered.

A standard PO is considered fulfilled when the quantity of invoiced equals the quantity of items ordered, regardless of the dollar amount of the invoices.

A standard PO is best used for the purchase of goods.

UDX Catalog orders should always be standard POs, so the Multi-Invoice/Payment box should always be left unchecked.

When the Multi-Invoice/Payment box on a requisition is checked, the PO type will be blanket. 

The PO number will begin with "UDB" for "blanket".

A blanket PO is amount based, meaning that the quantity of items ordered is irrelevant.

A blanket PO is considered fulfilled when the dollar amount has been fully invoiced and there is no funding left on the PO.

A blanket PO is best used for the purchase of services, when the supplier will send multiple invoices against one line item with a quantity of 1.

The UD Credit Card may be used to purchase goods if the total charge amount does not exceed $5,000.00. UD Credit cards should not be used to engage services including IT-related subcriptions/software. 

For purchases exceeding $5,000, a requisition must be submitted. Splitting transactions to remain under $5,000.00 is prohibited.

Departments may also establish lower single purchase limits on a per card basis. 

Once a requisition receives all approvals in UDX, a purchase order is automatically created and dispatched to the supplier via e-mail from support@sciquest.com.

After confirming that no payments have been made, add a Comment on the PO addressed to Procurement Help requesting cancellation. Provide a reason for the cancellation and attach any necessary documentation of the cancellation.

To update an existing PO, you can request or create a Change Request in UDX.

After confirming that the last payment has been made, add a Comment on the PO addressed to Procurement Help requesting closure. Provide a reason for the closure and attach any necessary documentation.

Accounts Payable

UD employees with access to the Purchase Order, Non-PO Payment Request, or Honorarium Request form in UD Exchange can look at the Vouchers tab of the form to see if a payment voucher has been created and what the status of the voucher is. Currently, suppliers do not have access to check payment status in UD Exchange.

For Payment to Individual webforms, UD employees with access to the originating Webform can look up the payment status in Payment Activity.

For legacy webform purchase orders, UD employees with access to the originating Webform can look up the payment status in Payment Activity.

Invoices for established Purchase Orders should be emailed to accountspayable@udel.edu by the supplier as instructed on the PO. The PO number must be included on the invoice.

For allowable Non-PO Payment requests, an employee of the engaging University department can attach the invoice and/or required documentation to a Non-PO Payment Request form in UD Exchange or to the Payment to Individual webform, whichever is applicable.

For invoices related to established Purchase Orders, suppliers should ensure that the invoice has all the required elements for payment prior to emailing it to accountspayable@udel.edu.

For Non-PO Payment Requests, please be sure to review the Non-PO Payment Matrix to ensure that the payment you are requesting fits one of the allowable payment types and does not require a Purchase Order.

In both instances, ensuring that the payee has an active supplier record in UD Exchange upon your initial engagement with them will reduce unnecessary delays in payment.

For check and foreign wire payments, please provide as much lead time as possible as they are issued once each week. Additionally, foreign wire payments are not issued during the last week of the month.

You may use your UD Credit Card to pay for goods or travel expenses within your single purchase limit. The UD Credit Card cannot be used to pay for services - a Purchase Order is required.

For all non-UD Credit Card purchases and payments, a supplier must have an active profile in UD Exchange. Neither a Purchase Order nor a Non-PO Payment Request can be created without selecting a supplier with an active record in UD Exchange.

If you already have an invoice from a supplier, the supplier must first complete the University’s online substitute W-9 form or IRS W-8 form and UD Supplier Data Collection form as applicable. Once their profile is created, you will be able to submit the Non-PO Payment Request form or an “after the fact” Requisition to create a PO. 

Please note that “after the fact” POs are an exception to University procedures.

The University generates 1099 forms to report non-wage payments as required by the IRS.  These are typically for awards or honoraria, speakers, lecturers, performances, rentals or other services.

Procurement mails all 1099 forms by the end of January each year.

For any event in which a void and reissue check is necessary, please send an inquiry to procurement@udel.edu. An Accounts Payable analyst will research the payment and manage the void and reissue process.

The Payment to Individual webform can be tracked throughout the procurement process by searching the invoice number or webform number in Payment Activity

Payment to Individual webform payment details can be found in Payment Activity by searching the invoice number or webform number.

In UD Exchange, payment details can be found on the Vouchers tab of the Purchase order or form. 

Please send an inquiry to procurement@udel.edu and an Accounts Payable analyst will research and determine whether the check has been reconciled or not. 

UD Credit Cards and Declining Balance Cards

UD employees are eligible, as are graduate students under contract (exceptions: Salart Admin. Plans 217 and 300). Undergraduate student workers are not eligible.

UD offers two types of cards for employees to use for business expenses:

The UD Credit Card (UDCC) and the Declining Balance Card (DBC). The UDCC is a traditional credit card with a monthly limit that refreshes each month.

The DBC is loaded with a fixed dollar amount that the cardholder can spend down over a specified time frame (e. g. for the length of a grant period, the length of a conference, the duration of an academic or fiscal year, or even the expiration date of the card itself). The funds loaded to a DBC do not refresh automatically. If additional funds need to be added to the card because the original amount has been spent or the timeframe has expired, a UD Credit Card Services Request will need to be submitted in Concur to replenish the card.

You may request a card in Concur by submitting a UD Credit Card Services Request with “New Declining Balance Card” or “New UD Credit Card” selected as the Request Purpose. Once you submit the Request form, it will be routed to your supervisor for approval and then to the Concur Processor queue where it will be processed by the credit card services team.

An employee may only have one UD card.

Both the UDCC and DBC offer the options to make purchases and/or withdraw cash depending on the requested permissions.

DBCs are intended for the infrequent traveler, employees who spend less than $5,000.00 per year, and employees who spend sporadically. A Declining Balance Card is the most appropriate choice for most UD employees.

An individual who travels often as part of his or her job at UD or who makes frequent business purchases might require a UD Credit Card.

When you request your card, you may specify the types of purchases that you will need to make: “Goods and Services” and “Travel Expenses” are the two most common spend categories that employees request for their cards. Less frequently, an employee’s job responsibilities may require that they make purchases from merchants who fall into the “Entertainment” or “Auto” categories. If you are unsure of the type of spend access you should have on your card, refer to your direct supervisor and/or department business office. 

Declining Balance Cards are intended for the infrequent traveler, employees who spend less than $5,000.00 per year, and employees who spend sporadically. A Declining Balance Card is the most appropriate choice for most UD employees.

An individual who travels often as part of his or her job at UD or who makes frequent business purchases might require a UD Credit Card.

When requesting a card, you will need to include a business justification explaining your need for the card and for the specific types of spend and dollar amounts you are requesting. The credit card services team may return your Request to you to ask for additional information as needed.

You may request a card in Concur by submitting a UD Credit Card Services Request with “New Declining Balance Card” or “New UD Credit Card” selected as the Request Purpose.

Once you submit the Request form, it will be routed to your supervisor for approval and then to the Concur Processor queue where it will be processed by the credit card services team.

The Cycle Limit (CL) on the UD Credit Card refers to the monthly spend limit. The UDCC CL refreshes on the first of each month.

The Single Purchase Limit (SPL) is the maximum dollar amount that can be charged to a card in a single transaction.

When a card is ordered, the employee should specify the SPL they need for their card. The maximum allowable SPL for a UDCC or DBC is $5,000.00.

Purchases greater than $5,000.00 should be paid for with a purchase order with the assistance of a Procurement Services buyer.

It is not permitted to ask or allow a merchant to “split” a charge into smaller dollar amounts so the charges will go through on an individual employee card.

Furthermore, installments or scheduled payments that are less than $5,000.00 each but add up to a total amount that is greater than $5,000.00 should be paid for with a purchase order, not with an individual employee card. 

If you are not sure what your average monthly/yearly spend will be, please refer to your direct supervisor and/or department business office. If they are uncertain as well, you can send an inquiry to procurement@udel.edu. The UD credit card services team can help evaluate an appropriate limit by looking at historical card spend for your position. Remember, your card limits can be modified in the future if your needs change.

Once your card has been received by Procurement Services, you will receive an email providing options and instructions for you to receive your card.

In general, once your UD Credit Card Services Request has been approved by your supervisor and has reached the Concur Processor queue, you should allow about two weeks for processing and receipt of the card. 

In Concur, select the “Requests” tab, locate and click on your submitted card Request to open it. Once your Request is open, click on the “Approval Flow” tab. The Request could be awaiting your supervisor’s approval. If you have further questions regarding the status of your Request, please direct them to procurement@udel.edu

If you have business expenses that require cash, both UDCC and DBC cards can be permissioned to allow cash access, as indicated by the “Cash & Credit Card” embossing on the cards themselves. However, cash access is not a default setting.

To request cash access on your card, submit a UD Credit Card Services Request in Concur with “Update Existing Card” as the Request Purpose, and indicate the percentage of your Cycle Limit (for UDCC) or of your overall funds (for DBC) that you need to be available as cash. 

When you receive your card, you will have the opportunity to select your own PIN when you call the bank to activate your card. 

If you prefer, you can contact procurement@udel.edu to request instructions to retrieve a bank issued PIN online.

A UD Credit Card Services Request can be submitted in Concur with “Replenish Declining Balance Card” as the Request Purpose.

The funding expiration date cannot exceed the expiration date of the card itself.

You do not need to request a new card if you begin working in a new department. You may continue to use the card that has already been issued to you. However, you should submit a UD Credit Card Services Request on Concur with Update Existing Card selected as the Request Purpose. This allows you the opportunity to update your card details such as the spend profile and the default purpose code that auto-populates on your Expense Reports.   

Your existing UD Credit Card can be adjusted to include different spend categories, add cash access, or to adjust your monthly cycle limit or single purchase limit.

To make changes to your existing card, please submit a UD Credit Card Services Request in Concur and select “Update Existing Card” as the Request Purpose.

If you need to change the type of card you have from a DBC to UDCC or vice versa, you will need to submit a UD Credit Card Services Request with the Request Purpose “New UD Credit Card” or “New Declining Balance Card” and note in the comments that your existing card is to be cancelled.

There are a few different reasons that your card could be declined, including:

  • Insufficient funds
  • The merchant belonging to a spend category that is not permissioned on your card
  • The bank placing a hold on your card because there have been suspicious attempts against it (such as attempting to swipe the card rather than use the Chip & PIN)
  • The merchant’s payment processor is experiencing network issues
  • The billing address you are entering for online orders does not exactly match what the bank has on file 

It is not required but it is recommended to contact Bank of America Global Card Services at 888-449-2273 to notify them of your travel locations and dates about a week prior to departure.

This reduces the possibility of your card being declined due to suspected fraud.

On this call, you should also verify that your card is active and make sure that you have enough funds available to cover your expenses while traveling. 

First, attempt to contact the merchant to resolve the issue.

When allowing the merchant to attempt to resolve the issue for you, keep in mind that you only have 60 days from the billing date to initiate a dispute with the bank.

If the merchant cannot or will not resolve the issue for you in a timely manner, please contact Bank of America at 866-601-9490 to file a billing dispute.

When you contact the bank to initiate the dispute, be sure to take note of your dispute case number, any additional information that the bank will be requesting from you, the address or fax number to send it to, and the timeframes that you will need to comply with during the dispute process.

Please contact Bank of America Corporate Fraud & Authorizations at 866-500-8262. This number is staffed 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.

The bank representative will review recent activity and attempts on your card with you and will close your account and order a new card for you.

Once your card has been received by Procurement Services, you will receive an email providing options and instructions for you to receive your card.

Please contact Bank of America Corporate Fraud & Authorizations at 866-500-8262. This number is staffed 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.

The bank representative will review recent activity to ensure there have not been any fraudulent attempts on your card, and will close your account and order a new card for you.

Once your card has been received by Procurement Services, you will receive an email providing options and instructions for you to receive your card.

UD’s cards are issued with a universal expiration date. When the cards expire, the bank automatically sends the reissued cards to UD. However, if a card has been inactive for 12 months or more or if the account was flagged due to unresolved issues, you will need to request a replacement card by submitting a UD Credit Card Services Request in Concur with the Request Purpose “Replacement Card”.

Submit a UD Credit Card Services Request in Concur with the Request Purpose “Cancel Card”.

If an employee is separated from UD, it is their responsibility to:

  • As soon as possible, submit a "Cancel Card" Request in Concur so the card can be closed, ideally, two weeks prior to their separation date.
  • Submit Expense Reports for all outstanding transactions
    • Note: Recurring charges on a credit card are outside of policy, however, if there are any existing recurring charges, they must be cancelled prior to leaving the university. Simply closing the card will not prevent future charges from posting if they are not formally canceled.  

If any employee is unable to complete these steps due to the circumstances of their separation, the responsibility falls to the business unit to email procurement@udel.edu immediately, notifying the credit card services team of the employee's separation and requesting closure of their card.

Global Card Services can be reached toll-free at 888-449-2273 domestically, and collect at 602-379-8753 when calling internationally.

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