The Purchasing Department at Binghamton University assists the campus in purchasing state-funded goods and services. Purchases are governed by sections of the State of New York Finance Laws, the Office of the State Comptroller and the State University policies and procedures. It is within this department's purview to request information, documentation or justification necessary to support state-funded procurement.
Recent News and Updates
Immediate Changes to Thresholds of Contract Values
Due to recent legislation passed and signed into law by Governor Hochul, our procurement spending limits have dropped significantly. Effective immediately, any planned purchase above $75,000 MUST be approved by the New York State Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the State Comptroller. We recognize this change will have an immediate impact on our operations and cause significant delays in procurement approvals. We ask that you please remain patient with the Purchasing Office as we work through these transactions to get them approved as quickly as possible for you. Due to the expected delays, you must try and plan your larger procurements accordingly as it may take up to three months for approval.
For full details, please see the memo sent from SUNY System Administration Procurement Office.
Please also see our procurement newsletter for specific information regarding these changes.
NYS Executive Order No. 16
This order provides that "all Affected State Entities are directed to refrain from entering into any new contract or renewing any existing contract with an entity conducting business operations in Russia." A vendor may complete a NYS Executive Order No. 16 Certification Form prior to entering into a contract. The complete text of Executive Order No. 16 can be found here.
Minority & Women Owned Businesses
According to a policy mandated by New York State and SUNY, any purchase over $25,000 must go through a special process to determine whether or not Certified Minority and/or Women owned Businesses Enterprises (CMWBE's) can participate in the procurement or fully supply the goods or services. We are required to attain a CMWBE utilization goal of purchasing 30% of all of our goods and services from CMWBE's. Due to the nature of this new process, please plan your purchases accordingly as anything over the $25,000 threshold will have a longer turnaround time due to additional SUNY and Empire State Development (ESD) approvals.
Purchasing SUNY Web Reminder
If an approved requisition under $2500 is received by Purchasing through SUNY Web Procurement prior to 2:00 P.M., it would be reviewed for appropriateness. If passing the review, the requisition would be assigned a purchase order number no later than close of business (5:00 P.M.) on this day. The requesting department will be able to access and print the newly created purchase order, sign the purchase order using a pre-determined departmental signatory and then mail, fax, scan/email the purchase order to the vendor.
Encumbering Funds Against A Contract Or Adding A Change Order Increasing A Contract Amount
For those departments encumbering funds against a contract or adding a change order increasing the encumbered amount against an existing contract [ prefixes C, CM,T,L, or X], please complete an approved requisition transmitting it to Purchasing. Since the SUNY Requisition System only allows for the creation of purchase orders, your approved requisition will provide us with the appropriate accounting stream to which we'll encumber the funds against the identified contract. Purchasing will reject the requisition back to the department with a note that the funds have been encumbered against the identified contract which establishes an accounting trail for your reference.
Information Technology Acquisitions
Purchases of hosted solutions (over the internet) or software, whether installed or accessed from on-premise or in the cloud, can put sensitive university data at risk, may not meet the needs of the campus population with disabilities or may require integration with enterprise level applications or university systems.
Hosted solutions and software applications installed on Binghamton University servers must be reviewed by ITS prior to the purchase occurring to ensure the applications are compatible with university policies, state and federal guidelines.
