The most important rule for using university or grant funding is to obtain documented preapproval before making any purchases in which you expect to use university funds. Communicate any requests for purchases to psych.service@osu.edu as soon as possible to ensure sufficient time for processing. In addition, please review the guidelines, policies and key points and reminders outlined below.
Purchasing Guidelines
Review ASC Purchasing Guidelines
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Key points and reminders:
- Due to the availability of several university methods (Internal/External Orders, Pcard, Payment Requests, and Purchase Orders) for processing purchase requests, employee reimbursement for purchases should not occur on a frequent basis.
- We are required to use contracted university vendors, such as Staples for office supplies, Coca-Cola for beverages, and UPS for outbound shipping. It is preferred, but not required, that we utilize Preferred and Strategic vendors listed in the university supplier database.
- Use of a non-contracted vendor in lieu of the contracted vendor is a policy exception and requires college-level approval. An explanation must be documented in Workday. If a valid business purpose/rationale is not given for the exception, the transaction may be denied and payback of funds to the university will be required. To purchase off contract, if the desired vendor is not in the University Vendor file, the P-Card is the preferred method of procurement.
Expenditure Policy
Review Ohio State Expenditure Policy
Key points and reminders:
- Every expenditure must be supported by a documented business purpose stating why university funds should be utilized for the transaction. It should address the 5 Ws of the transaction: who, what, where, when, and why.
- Original, itemized receipts showing proof of payment are required for all purchases, including P-Card transactions and reimbursements.
- Professional membership dues and subscriptions may be purchased with available university research funds (not OSP grant funds), provided that they are appropriate for the individual’s position and duties and benefit the university. Membership and subscriptions are limited to one year, even if multiple year options are less expensive.
- The university is exempt from paying sales tax when purchases are made utilizing a purchasing method above outlined above. Ohio State's IRS sales tax exemption document can be provided to any vendor who questions the university's tax-exempt status. Crediting sales tax is often much more difficult than ensuring sales tax is not paid with the initial transaction.
- All technology-related purchase requests (i.e. computers, hard drives, servers, software, etc.) require approval from the technology team.