1. The Unified Procurement Services Team (“UPST”) is established and under the direction of the Chief Procurement Officer and is responsible for the implementation of the Standards applicable to the University’s campuses and the President’s Office and shall manage and conduct purchasing activity as set forth herein.
  2. All decisions made by the Department with respect to Goods and/or Services, Contractor selection, and acceptance of risk shall be in accordance with the Policy and these Standards as well as the other applicable University policies and standards. For the avoidance of doubt, UPST is the exclusive department for conducting purchasing and procurement activities. UPST has oversight responsibility for all procurements covered under the Policy and these Standards; however, final selection of Goods and/or Services, Contractor selection, and risk acceptance is the responsibility of the Department or Campus.
  3. The President is designated as the officer of the University responsible for issuing these Standards. The Senior Vice President for Administration & Finance and Treasurer shall recommend such standards for the President’s action. The Senior Vice President for Administration & Finance and Treasurer shall confer on a regular basis with the Vice Chancellors of Finance and Administration and the General Counsel to determine whether revisions to the Standards are appropriate to comply with University policies or law, and to assure that the University is using best practices to secure its Goods and/or Services. 
  4. University Personnel shall comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations with respect to purchasing and the procurement of Goods and/or Services including, without limitation, laws and regulations related to: 
    • Use of public funds
    • Competitive bids
    • Public works projects
    • Federal Acquisition Regulation
    • Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation
  5.  All decisions to expend funds related to the acquisition of Goods and/or Services must be in accordance with the delegation and signatory authority set forth in Treasurer’s Delegations T97-014.
  6. UPST shall be engaged at the requirements development stage for any RFX or procurement that requires a Competitive Procurement by submitting a sourcing request; otherwise, UPST shall be engaged by submitting a requisition for a Purchase Order in Buyways.  Questions regarding this process should be directed to UPST.
  7. To the extent that a Department, Campus, or the President’s Office has additional procurement-related policies or administrative rules or processes for the approval of purchases, those policies, rules, and/or processes that are not configured in BuyWays shall be complied with prior to or at the time of engagement of UPST.  For example, 1) if a Campus has a policy that furniture products must be approved by the Campus’ facilities department; then such facilities’ approval shall be obtained prior to the requisition being submitted in Buyways; or 2) if a Campus has a hazardous materials policy that specifies a ship to address, then those ship to addresses shall be specified on the Buyways requisition when submitted.
  8. ​​​​​​​UPST shall be engaged to conduct the purchasing and procurement activities for all purchasing and procurement activities as set forth in these Standards or when the purchase cannot be conducted with the use of only a Purchase Order.