Procurement

Suppliers must be invited by a department to register in the UCR Supplier/Payee Portal.

If a department wishes to do business or issue a payment to a company or individual, the supplier must be invited to register in the UCR Supplier/Payee Portal. Before requesting a supplier, ensure you have the UCR Supplier Requester JR role in EACS and verify that the supplier is not already listed in Oracle Financials. A supplier request should only be initiated if the supplier does not accept a Procurement Card, the purchase exceeds $10k, and no similar supplier is available (i.e., no Supplier Agreement exists). Please note, the Procurement Card restricted item list takes precedence.

If any of the following conditions apply, the vendor should not be added as a supplier in Oracle Financials.

1. Does another catalog vendor provide the same or comparable product?
2. Is there a UC or UCR agreement with a different supplier for the given product?
3. Can the purchase be made with the PCard?
4. Will purchases only be made on a limited basis?

For guidance on requesting a new Purchase Order (PO) supplier in Oracle, refer to the 'Requesting a Supplier' guide (See Training Resources).

Unauthorized purchases are purchase transactions that are either entered into by an individual that is not authorized to contract on behalf of the University, or entered into by an individual normally authorized to contract, but who uses an unauthorized procurement method, or exceeds their delegated authority.

IMPORTANT! Unauthorized purchases include "after the fact" PO requisitions, meaning creating a requisition for a purchase order after goods or services have already been delivered or performed.

An individual may be personally responsible for payment of charges incurred by an unauthorized purchase of goods or services. At the discretion of the Chancellor, the unauthorized individual may be required to pay:

• The full amount, whenever the purchase is found to cover unneeded items or unauthorized items that cannot be canceled/returned.
• The amount of any cancellation charges incurred, whenever the unauthorized purchase can be canceled/returned.
• The difference between the charges incurred and those the University would have incurred if proper methods were used, provided the purchase is found to be otherwise proper.

If a department accepts responsibility for payment of incurred charges from an unauthorized purchase, the department must submit the following:

• A purchase requisition containing all required information. See Policy 750-60)
• Evidence of the purchase and receipt of the item(s), i.e., invoices, packing slips, etc.
• An attached 'Unauthorized Purchase Declaration Form' (See Forms & Resources) - a written statement explaining the circumstances that led to the unauthorized purchase, and the steps taken to prevent its reoccurrence.

In the event the responsible department does not wish to approve payment, the Procurement Services - Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) should be contacted for advice.

If you purchase goods or services for your department, read this page to learn about items with specific ordering processes. Refer to the guidelines before processing your order. Do NOT sign a supplier contract.

Independent Contractors

• Employees: An employee is an individual who performs a service for the university and is working under the direction and control of the university or its employees. Direction and control can be implied to exist when the employer has the right to control the results as well as the means and methods of the worker. Generally, the employer must withhold income taxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid to an employee.

• Independent Contractor: An independent contractor is an individual engaged by the university to perform a specific function or task, and who is free to perform this function or task at the individual's own discretion with regard to means and methods. The university does not have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors (IRS Treasury Regulation 31.3401(c)-1(b)). Collective Bargaining Agreements and AB 5 place further restrictions on when the University can engage with an individual as an Independent Contractor and not hire them as an employee.

  Departments must use the "Independent Contractor Classification Form" (See Forms & Resources) when evaluating a candidate as an independent contractor. The form must be completed by the requesting department and submitted to UC Riverside's Human Resources for final determination on whether the individual can be hired as an independent contractor.

Contracting Out for Services 

The University of California is committed to maintaining a strong in-house workforce and supporting living wages and benefits for employees. To reinforce this commitment, in November 2019 the UC Board of Regents approved Regents Policy 5402, which generally prohibits contracting for services and ensures equitable treatment for any allowable contract workers. Contracting for services where work is traditionally performed by UC employees is generally prohibited and can only be allowed under very narrowly defined circumstances consistent with UC principles, applicable laws and collective bargaining agreements.

Departments considering contracting for services to be provided by non-university staff, for work traditionally performed by UC staff, must submit a completed “Contracting Out Justification Form” for review and approval by Human Resources' Labor Relations. The Guidelines for Contracting Out for Services can be found at Policy on Contracting Out 

Federal Contracts and Grants - Competition Policy

Definition: Extramural agreements which fund selected campus activities.
All policies and requirements apply to purchases funded exclusively by Federal agencies, but only to the extent that such policies and requirements are not in conflict with mandatory requirements of the agencies.

UG and FAR refer to sections of the Code of Federal Regulations that outline requirements for procuring goods and services with federal funding. Uniform Guidance (UG) applies to federal grants, while Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) govern federal contracts. The goal of these regulations is to reduce administrative burden and minimize the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse, while promoting competition and transparency in procurement. Compliance with UG and FAR is essential to maintaining the University’s reputation and continued access to federal funding. These regulations are integrated into many parts of the procurement process and are standardized to streamline operations and automate compliance where possible. The most common impact is the need for competition in purchasing goods and services for federal grants and contracts.

Departments and Principal Investigators are encouraged to use existing strategic contracts, which have already been competitively bid, to expedite procurement. If not, the following competition thresholds apply based on purchase amounts.

If you purchase goods or services for your department, please refer to this list of restricted account codes and items.

When purchasing restricted items, additional approvals are required and are integrated into the Oracle Procurement requisition workflow. 

• Bus Meeting Food/Bev (Fed Allow)[540500]
• Furniture Non-Inventorial[541000]
• Serv, Moving/Set-up[756170]
• Cmpt Hardware Maint License[546050]
• Cmpt Software Maint License[546020]
• Serv, Independent Consultant[542040]
• Legal Services & Settlements[547070]
• Comm, Installations Charges[545030]
• Landscape/Grnds Mat/Fertilizer[541135]
• Radioactive/Isotope Materials[541390]
• Rental of Cmpt Equipment[570130]
• Rental of Non-Cmpt Equipment[570140]
• Cmpt Software (Non-Inventory) >10K[546010]
• Equip, Computer[560200]
• Inventorial Furniture[560295]
• Equip, Non-Cmpt Equip[560230]
• Equip, Network[560250]
• Equip, Vehicles[560280]
• Software Proj-Capital > 5M[560300]
• Software Proj-Non-Capital < 5M[560310]
• Capital Purchase, Building: Student Housing Facilities[560130]
• Capital Purchase, Other Gen Improvements[560170]
• Capital Purchase-Infrastructure[560120]
• Intangible Asset-Capitalizable[560350]
• Tile/Floor/Counter/Ceiling Mat[541210]
• Illustration/Design Charges[544300]
• Comm, Comm Equip Rental[545020]
• Sub-contracts First $25K[565000]
• Sub-contracts in Excess of $25K OH Excluded[566000]
• Rental of Vehicle[570160]
• Pesticides[541380]
• Serv, Property Management[542090]
• Mail, Bulk[543050]

The following commodities are fully or partially prohibited on Purchase Orders and/or PCards.

Find purchasing categories available in Oracle Procurement.

• Tax is driven off the Purchasing Category
  • Purchasing category is mapped for catalog and punchout items based on the UNSPSC provided by the supplier, and cannot be changed
  • Purchasing category is selected by the PO requisitioner on request forms
• Qualified tax reduction and exemptions can be indicated through the checkboxes in the distribution section of the requisition/checkout page
• If an item is taxable based on the purchasing category, but the supplier’s invoice does not charge sales tax, then use tax will be applied.
• Freight as well as shipping and handling line should be added as a line item with category as ‘Freight[543100]. On PO, freight and shipping/ handling line will be always nontaxable. If freight or shipping handling line is taxable then taxability nature will be taken care at Invoice level by AP team. So, procurement doesn’t need to worry about taxability. If freight or shipping charges are below $500 then please update invoice and receiving close tolerance as 100% so that line will be closed on PO. Because on such PO’s, AP will not match invoice with PO freight or shipping line item. Whereas, if freight or shipping charges are above $500 then please don’t update invoice and receiving close tolerance. Because in such cases, AP will match invoice with PO freight or shipping line item.

Reference guide of common purchasing categories and their tax applicability: Category and Account Codes 

Find campus ship to addresses available in Oracle Procurement.

Reference guide of UCR Ship to Location Addresses for Campus     

On-campus sources can provide many needed goods or services. In certain instances, off-campus sources (purchased through other methods like Oracle Procurement) may NOT be used to furnish goods or services available from on-campus sources, and requests must be submitted through the UCR Work Order System Portal. Please visit cbs.ucr.edu for details.

Note: Gas cylinders, ethyl alcohol, and lab coat laundering are still offered through Receiving Services.

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