Purchasing Manual

Introduction

The purpose of this purchasing manual is to serve as a reference for those who, in their role as representatives of Hampshire College, purchase goods and services to be used in the pursuit of its mission. It contains a summary of the policies and procedures that have been developed to guide these actions.

The explicit goal of these policies are threefold: to ensure the health and safety of the College's faculty, staff, and students; to encourage behavior in this area that adheres to a high ethical standard; and to facilitate a method of obtaining goods and services that protects the financial interests of the College.

The role of the purchasing office

1. To assist offices/schools with purchasing goods and services. The purchasing office maintains relationships with two buying groups: MHEC, the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium, and E & I, Education and Institutional Cooperative Service, Inc. Links to the websites of these buying groups can be found here. Contracts for reduced costs from commonly-used suppliers such as Staples, Amazon, Home Depot Pro, Fisher Scientific, Blick, B&H Photo, and NewEgg can be obtained through ESM, our e-portal. For assistance with these websites or for advice on vendors with which the College has had previous experience, please contact the purchasing office.
2. To create purchase orders from requisitions. Training in creating requisitions is provided upon request to Accounts Payable.
3. To manage certain contracts; for example, the contract with Toshiba for copier and duplication center services and the contract with Enterprise Fleet Services to provide vehicle leases.
4. To administer the purchasing card program: setting up new users, maintaining records of purchases, importing p-card expenses into their assigned budget lines, and auditing accounts for policy-adherence and fraud. A manual dedicated to the policies governing the use of one's purchasing card can be found here.
5. To provide support to certain offices that use the Requisition module in Colleague. Purchasing office staff provide training on this module, as well as ongoing support in its day-to-day use. A copy of a training manual is presented to new users during their training session.