Update Made to Purchasing Guidelines

Following an adjustment to policies established by the U.S. Government regarding administration of research-related funding, changes have been made to UNO’s policy on purchasing requirements, which will take effect on Sunday, July 1.

The goal of this regulation reform is to focus resources on improving performance and outcomes by reducing administrative burdens and the risk of waste, fraud and abuse. Uniform Guidance regulations applies to all University purchases, regardless of funding source.

Under the new policy, which is currently listed on UNO’s Policy Library in the “Policies Under Review” section, the criteria of purchases under $150,000 have been consolidated into two categories: “micro purchases” and “small purchases.”

Impacts to policy include the following:

• Micro Purchases – Purchases below $10,000 do not require quotes if pricing is reasonable.
• Small Purchases – Purchases between $10,000 and $149,999 require an adequate number of quotes, typically three. A Purchase order is necessary for these purchases.
• Purchases of $150,000 and above will require competitive bids or proposals (this is not a change). Vendors who assist in drafting specifications for RFPs must be excluded from competing. Additionally, request for Sole Sources purchases will be more heavily scrutinized.

Prior to these changes, only purchases $4,999 and below were not required to have quotes and purchases between $5,000 and $149,000 varied in the types of quotes required.

Because the majority of University purchases occur at the “micro” level, there should be minimal impact to daily processes. A draft version of the revised campus policy can be found on UNO’s Policy Library page.