July 2, 2019
TO: Provost and Vice Chancellors
FROM: Daniel M. White, Chancellor
SUBJ: Procurement and Travel Approval Process
Please forward the following information to your deans, directors and fiscal professionals. Due to Governor Dunleavy’s veto of a significant portion of the university’s FY20 state appropriations, the UA system is restricting procurement and travel on all unrestricted funds (see attached). These restrictions apply if any portion of the cost, however nominal, is covered by unrestricted funds.
Exceptions will be considered for items that meet immediate and critical functions:
- A “must have” to deliver instruction and research;
- A direct bearing on the safety, health and well-being of humans and animals;
- To facilitate compliance with a law or regulation;
- To facilitate basic operating functions, e.g., utilities, IT network; or
- A critical item for which a delay in replacement or renewal could incur a significant downstream cost (it is recommended that the user contact the vendor to determine if there is a grace period or alternative method that could be used to postpone the purchase while limiting the downstream risk).
Until further notice, the following additional approvals apply:
Procurement: Procurements for non-essential goods and services on unrestricted funds are not authorized until further notice. Please route requisitions that may meet exception criteria through normal processes. John Hebard, director of Procurement and Contract Services and UA chief procurement officer, will route requisitions to Julie Queen, interim vice chancellor for administrative services, for final review and approval.
Review will also apply to procurement card (ProCard) purchases on unrestricted funds. For ProCard purchases, deans and directors are authorized to determine which purchases are deemed essential. The authorized approvers are expected to exercise professional judgement and be as conservative as possible when determining which purchases are essential. The authorized approvers shall ensure that purchasers are notified that an unrestricted fund purchase has been deemed essential and is approved for encumbrance. A copy of the approval shall be placed in the ProCard purchase file.
Essential procurements may be authorized/renewed immediately.
Travel: The provost and vice chancellors have the final authority to approve essential travel on unrestricted funds within their units. Please route travel requests through the Concur system. The routing will be updated in Concur to route to the vice chancellors after supervisor approval. Deans and directors may implement their own internal controls on travel, for example, requiring internal approval before requests are routed for final approval. FY20 travel that was previously approved will need re-approval through this process.
Additional information from UA Statewide is available online on the chancellor communication page.
Thank you all for your understanding and cooperation during these uncertain times.
DMW:jdp
Attachments: