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Using The Purchasing Card
Making Purchases
What You Can Buy
- Your Purchasing Card can be used for official University of Virginia business purchases only.
- You may never use your card for personal expenditures, for cash advances, or to obtain "store credit."
- You may not use the card to purchase restricted items.
- You may not use the card to purchase commodities marked as restricted for the card on the Goods and Services Procurement Guide.
Purchase Checklist
- Check the Goods and Services Procurement Guide and the restricted item list to verify that the purchase can be made with Purchasing Card.
- If you are purchasing air or rail tickets, see the Travel Basics page and ensure that the planned purchase meets all travel regulations. In some cases cost comparisons must be done prior to purchasing tickets.
- If air or rail tickets will be purchased on state funds, complete all prior approval requirements before purchasing.
- For a non-contract, non-over-the-counter purchase, locate a Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise (VDMBE)-certified Minority- or Woman-owned (M/W) vendor and obtain a price quotation prior to making the purchase. If you elect not to purchase from the M/W vendor, document this solicitation with either the vendor's printed quote or a completed Phone Quote Summary form. Phone quote documentation must include all of the following:
- vendor name and address
- description of goods or services required
- delivery dates and F.O.B. point
- name of person giving quote
- name of person receiving quote
- date information was obtained
- The VDMBE requirement above does not apply tot he purchase of air and rail tickets.
- If you are about to purchase anything other than travel tickets from a non-contract vendor, remember that your Purchasing Unit may only spend up to $5,000 in any 12-month period.
When You Order
- Claim the Virginia sales tax exemption for goods and services except for prepared food. For other states, see the State Tax Exemption Certificates website to determine exemption status.
- REMEMBER -- Never put your full card number or your date of birth in a fax, email or email attachment, or send it through the mail. However, you may put the last four digits of your card number.
- Record each purchase as you make it on the Purchasing Card Transaction Log.
- Make internet purchases from secure web sites only. Remember to record the vendor's Web address on your Transaction Log.
- Maintain confirmed travel itinerary to document air and rail ticket purchases.
After the Purchase
- If you mistakenly paid the sales tax, call the vendor as soon as possible and ask for them to credit that amount back to your account.
- If you need to return an item, ask the vendor to credit the amount to your Purchasing Card. Do NOT accept store credit for returned items. Contact the Purchasing Card Administrator
for direction if a vendor will only issue store credit.
Air & Rail Tickets: Raising Your Spending Limit
The Purchasing Card Administrator can temporarily raise your spending limits, if necessary, to purchase air or rail tickets, if you follow these procedures:
On any source of funds
Submit the PCard Change Request form with all requested information. For a ticket purchase of $5,000 or more from a non-contract vendor, provide at least three quotes from travel vendors.
On state funds
Make sure ALL pre-approval requirements have been met and required signatures obtained, as specified in the section "Overnight Travel on State Funds" on the Travel Basics page.
Documenting Purchases
All of your documentation is subject to audit and must be kept on file in your department for three years plus the current fiscal year.
PCard Purchasing Log - Annual Workbook
- Record each transaction as you make it on your current Purchasing Card transaction log in the PCard Purchasing Log - Annual Workbook. This will ensure that the last two tabs of the log reflect your annual usage.
- For the "Minority/Woman Quote Confirmation" column, if you are buying from a contract vendor, enter "Contract vendor" in this column. If you are buying air or rail tickets enter "Travel" in this column. Otherwise, you must do one of the following:
- If you were unable to find a VDMBE-certified minority/woman-owned vendor or if this was an over-the-counter purchase, enter "None available."
- If the vendor used was a VDMBE-certified minority/woman-owned vendor, enter "Vendor is M/W Owned."
- If you did not make the purchase from the Minority/Woman-owned vendor from whom you solicited a quote, enter "Quote from xxxxxx is attached", where xxxx is the name of the Minority/Woman vendor. You must attach the written quotation from the vendor or a completed "Phone Quote Summary" sheet to the log, if you complete the field in this way.
Maintaining Proof of Receipt of Goods and Services
- Maintain detailed and dated packing slips and/or credit card receipts.
- For air and rail tickets:
- Confirmed travel itinerary must also be kept with the transaction log.
- If tickets were purchased on state funds, keep all required signed pre-approval documents with the PCard Purchasing Log - Annual Workbook.
PCard Statement
Each month the cardholder will receive a monthly statement from Bank of America at the end of the PCard billing cycle.
- Purchasing Card Billing Dates for 2009
- Please note: Monthly spending limits are based on the PCard billing Cycle.
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In addition to your mailed paper statement, you will be able to view your purchasing card transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you may print your statement one day after cycle close through an online service called WORKS. Example: For March closing date 03/13/2009, the electronic statement would be available 03/14/2009 in WORKS.
Monthly Reconciliation
- You are required to reconcile the Transaction Log to all Purchasing Card monthly statements, each month within three days of receipt.
- Attach all receipts including order confirmations for online purchases to the Transaction Log. If the recipient of the goods and/or services is different than the cardholder, then the recipient should sign the receipt, packing slip, or whatever documentation is available at the time of receipt.
- You must sign and date both the Transaction Log and the monthly statement(s). If you had no purchases during the month and therefore have no statement, add a note to that effect to the Transaction Log.
- Your supervisor must sign and date the Purchasing Card monthly statement(s). If there is no statement for the month, your Supervisor must sign and date the Transaction Log in lieu of the statement. This should be done within three days of your normal statement date.
- There is an individual in your department who has "AP P-Card Holder" responsibility in the Integrated System and whose responsibility it is to change PTAEO distributions on Purchasing Card transactions as needed. This person is often referred to as the "PTAEO Changer". Forward the Transaction Log, receipts, and PCard statement(s) to the "PTAEO Changer" in your department and then to your department's fiscal administrator for reconciliation to Grants Management.