| Complete Policy Title: | SYSTEMS CONTRACTS |
| Policy Number (if applicable): | P- 330 |
| Approved by: | Vice-President (Administration) |
| Date of Most Recent Approval: | February 9, 2000 |
| Revision Date(s): | |
| Position Responsible for Developing and Maintaining the Policy: | Director, Purchasing Resources |
| Contact Department: | PURCHASING RESOURCES |
| DISCLAIMER: | If there is a discrepancy between this electronic policy and the written copy held by the Policy owner, the written copy prevails. |
McMaster University is committed to providing the university community with an expeditious and flexible ordering system for repetitive goods and services. To that end, it is the policy of the Purchasing Resources Department to recommend, initiate and support Systems Contracts for those goods and services.
To establish uniform procedures for initiating Systems Contract.
This procedure applies to all employees who have a requirement to initiate and/or order materials via a system contract.
The Director, Purchasing Resources is responsible for this procedure.
A Systems Contract will be assigned, to a supplier, by the Purchasing Resources Department when it is deemed that there are repetitive weekly orders comprising of low dollar value. The intent is to reduce the amount of weekly purchase orders, receiving reports and subsequent invoices. The maximum value will be $2,500.00 per order, exclusive of any extra charges. The exception to this will be the Stores' Systems Contracts. The maximum value for these will be $5,000.00 per order. Orders greater than this said amount must be approved by the Director, Purchasing Resources.
NOTE:It has been decided that any orders using this procedure will not require a Receiving Report. The Systems Contract procedure has inherent controls that will highlight errors. In addition, these charges are verified each month by the requisitioning departments. This system is based on the utilization of the suppliers' resources and their trust that the contained information has integrity. Only reliable, trustworthy and proven suppliers should be considered for Systems Contracts.
any employee of the University can highlight and suggest a supplier, to the Purchasing Department, which may qualify for a system contract;
the Purchasing Officer will then initiate discussions with the selected supplier, fully explaining the Systems Contract procedures;
after agreement from the supplier, to enter into Systems Contract, the Purchasing Officer will assign a four digit Systems Contract number uniquely identifying that supplier, the product(s) and/or service(s) and the requisitioning area;
the Purchasing Officer will supply the selected supplier with:
the Purchasing Officer will ensure that the monthly invoice summary is completed and received at McMaster University in a timely fashion;
the Purchasing Officer will supply the supplier with instructions, forms, formatted disks etc. as required;
the Purchasing Officer will provide the campus community with the relevant details of the system contract;
the Purchasing Officer will assist in resolving any issues whatsoever with either the supplier and/or McMaster University personnel whenever required.
The Purchasing Resources Department will maintain a list of showing all systems contracts. This list will be reviewed on an annual basis.
The Systems Contract is designed to reduce paperwork and allow the requisitioner flexibility to order goods and/or services as required. In addition, this system allows for the speedy payment of subsequent invoices, providing that all of the information is valid and correct. Therefore, there is no three-way matching of order, receiving report and invoice. The monthly invoice summary will serve as the final documentation. Any subsequent issues and errors, by the supplier, will be resolved after the fact. Repeated issues can result in termination of the systems contract with the supplier.