School of Education: Purchasing Policies and Procedures

Summary

The document outlines the School of Education's purchasing approval requirements and processes.

Body

Unit Policy and Procedure

Title

School of Education: Policy on and Procedure for Purchasing

Introduction

Purpose

This policy establishes the requirements and procedures for purchasing goods and services on behalf of the UNC School of Education. It is intended to ensure compliance with University purchasing requirements, support appropriate stewardship of University funds, and provide guidance for obtaining approvals and processing payments.

Scope

This policy applies to all UNC School of Education faculty, staff, and other individuals authorized to make purchases or engage vendors using University funds.

Policy

All purchases made by the school require approval from the Office of Business Operations. Contact the Office of Business Operations to obtain prior approval, then continue with the procedures outlined below.

Procedure

For Purchases of Less Than $5,000.00

Purchasing Procedure

  • Go to rasr.unc.edu, complete and submit the Purchase/Expense (<$5000) - Prior Approvals and Purchase Requests form. (See "RASR Form Requirements" below.)
  • The Business Operations Office will review your request and either approve or deny it.
    • If denied, you will see documentation indicating why the request was denied or requesting additional information needed to approve it.
    • If approved, the request will be returned so that you can attach the invoice for payment once the work is completed.

Note: The University wants to pay for everything they can up front, so you don't have to pay money out of pocket.

  • Once the invoice and information that pertains to the payment are attached to the pre-approved RASR ticket, submit it.
  • The Business Operations Office will process the payment, and the submitter will receive an email once the payment processing is complete.

RASR Form Requirements

General Requirements:
  • Breakdown of Costs (invoice, screenshot of time, etc.)
  • If the purchase is to be made online, please include a link to the item being purchased, not just the general website it can be found on. We want to eliminate the possibility of errors and having to request further information.
If This Is a Vendor That Has Not Worked With UNC-Chapel Hill Before, The Following Are Required:

The University now requires payees to receive payments electronically, unless the payee is a student who does not have a bank account. In that case, a check payment option is available.

  • Other forms are possible based on the vendor's W-9 and the specifics of the situation/relationship proposed.

We would like to make as many of these purchases as possible using the University P-card, so please provide information (contact info., website, etc.) to do so if possible/applicable.

We cannot circumvent the University policies for purchases over $5,000 by splitting purchases for like services from a single vendor to get under the $5,000 threshold. This threshold is for total aggregate services from the same vendor within the same scope.

For Purchases of More Than $5,000

You are required to obtain at least three informal quotes for purchases between $5,000.00 and $25,000.00.

For purchases between $25,000.00 and $500,000.00, Purchasing Services uses the University's sealed formal bid procedures to obtain competitive bids.

Related Requirements

University Policies, Standards, and Procedures

Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures (if applicable)

  • Is this Policy connected to any other Unit Policies, Procedures, or Standards?

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Name: Jill Hamm, Dean, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education

Email: jill.hamm@unc.edu

Details

Details

Article ID: 162303
Created
Sun 5/17/26 9:17 PM
Modified
Tue 7/28/26 6:19 PM
Responsible Unit
School, Department, or other organizational unit issuing this document.
School of Education
Issuing Officer
Name of the document Issuing Officer. This is the individual whose organizational authority covers the policy scope and who is primarily responsible for the policy.
Next Review
Date on which the next document review is due.
09/01/2026 12:00 AM
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level
12.2