Glossary

Use this glossary of procurement terms to find the definition, document, or webpage that you need.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

Advance Payment Authorizations: Advance payments are a common business practice and are required by vendors for a variety of reasons. Please see the Advance Payment Authorizations procedure document for more information.

Asset: Assets are computers, equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other tangible, non-consumable items with a value of $5,000 or more and a life expectancy of one year or more. The Financial Affairs Property and Inventory Control department handles asset management for the university.

 

B

Bid and Quote Limits: See “Competition Requirements”

Blanket Purchase Order: A blanket purchase order (PO) allows a department to purchase small-dollar commodities and services over the course of a fiscal year. Blanket POs are subject to the same competition requirements as other POs. The total order cannot exceed $150,000 unless the pricing is based on an existing bid or contract. Blanket POs expire on June 30th of each year. Please see section 4D of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual for more information.

Business Centers:  All colleges and divisions across UCF are equipped with dedicated finance and HR support through their Finance Business Centers (FBCs) and HR Business Centers (HRBCs).  Employees are supported for transactional inquiries, post award research support, and other select financial functions, as well as many non-self-service HR inquiries.

Buyer: See “Procurement Specialist”

 

C

Change Order: A change order should be initiated when one of the following changes needs to be applied to an existing purchase order:

    • Additional Freight
    • Additional Services
    • Price Adjustment
    • Quantity Adjustment
    • Worktag Change
    • Year End

Please see Section 4C of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual for more information.

CobbleStone: CobbleStone is the university’s electronic contract management system. The Office of the General Counsel manages CobbleStone. All contracts between the university and an outside entity that require a UCF signature must be routed through CobbleStone. Please visit the Office of the General Counsel Contracts Review page for more information.

Competition Requirements: To ensure that UCF receives competitive pricing for goods and services, employees must seek competition for all purchases over $25,000. Competition can take the form of competitive quotes (for purchases below $150,000) or formal solicitations (for purchases over $150,000). Please see our competition requirements for details. There are limited exceptions to this rule: BOG approved exemptions (see UCF Regulation 7.130), annual sole source certifications, Waiver of Competition, or Sole Source. Procurement Services staff will determine whether one of these exceptions apply.

Competitive Bid: A competitive bid is a response submitted to an invitation for suppliers to submit a bid to provide a good or service for a requesting department. UCF requires a competitive bidding process for all non-exempt purchases over $150,000. Please see the Invitation to Bid and Invitation to Negotiate entries for more information.

Conflict of Interest: Per UCF Regulation 3.018, all UCF employees must ensure that their outside activities and financial interests do not interfere with their obligation to the university. Employees must disclose conflicts of commitment, outside activity, and financial conflicts of interest to the university. Please see the University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk Office Conflict of Interest page and Chapter 112.313 of the Florida Statutes for more information.

Contract: A contract is an agreement between two or more parties that creates a legally-binding obligation. All contracts between the university and an outside entity that require a UCF signature must be routed through UCF’s contract management system, Cobblestone. Please visit the Office of the General Counsel Contracts Review page for more information.

 

D

Delegation of Authority: The university delegates authority to certain UCF administrators to approve expenditures above a certain amount on behalf of their dean or vice president.

Department (Cost Center): An identifier for financial responsibility and oversight of a managed and budgeted entity.

Direct Owner Purchase: A direct owner purchase refers to the purchase of materials or equipment that was originally included in the construction cost breakdown but is now purchased directly by the university to save the tax dollars associated with those items. Please see our Meet Our Staff page to contact the procurement specialist who handles direct owner purchases.

Diversity in Contracts: The Diversity in Contracts program is housed under the Procurement Services department. The goal of the program is to create an equitable purchasing environment for all businesses by working to remove opportunity barriers, particularly for small or historically underutilized business. Please see our Diversity in Contracts – About the Program page for more information.

Diversity Liaison: Diversity Liaisons are UCF employees who volunteer to assist the Diversity in Contracts program in its mission to promote doing business with small and diverse businesses. Please visit the Diversity in Contracts – Liaison page for more information on becoming a diversity liaison for your department.

 

E

Emergency Purchase Certification: Per UCF Regulation 7.130, an emergency purchase can be made when the president or his or her designee determines in writing that a condition exists that threatens the health or safety of people or animals, the preservation or protection of property, or the continuance of a vital university function. If one of those conditions apply, the university may proceed with an emergency purchase without a competitive solicitation. The Emergency Purchase Certification form must be completed with the appropriate signatures.

Employer Identification Number (EIN): An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a nine-digit number assigned by the IRS to corporations operating in the United States. The UCF Substitute W-9 and IRS W-9 forms contain a field for a corporate supplier’s EIN.

Evergreen: Evergreen is a term used to describe contracts or agreements with automatic renewal or extension clauses that continue unless a notice of termination is issued by either party involved. Renewals shall not exceed five years or twice the term of the original contract, whichever is longer. Extensions may be granted for up to twelve months or until completion of the competitive solicitation and award or protest, whichever is longer. Please see UCF Regulation 7.130 for more information.

Exemption: In the context of procurement, an exemption refers to a documented justification excusing a purchase from competition. A procurement specialist will determine whether a purchase qualifies as an exemption. UCF Regulation 7.130 lists the qualifying exemptions in items 3 (h) and (i).

Expense Card: Credit card that is set up for expense usage in Workday. It may only be used for non-PO purchases. Expense Cards should be utilized for travel purchases, regardless of the dollar amount, and non-PO purchases under $5,000.

Extension: An extension of a contract may be permitted if it is included in writing and signed by both parties. Extensions may be granted for up to twelve months or until completion of the competitive solicitation and award or protest, whichever is longer. The extension shall be subject to the same terms and conditions set forth in the initial contract. Please see UCF Regulation 7.130 for more information.

 

F

Financial Affairs: The unit and employees encompassing the former Finance & Accounting department and Procurement Services. Procurement Services is a part of the division but has its own separate functions and is referred to as a separate entity to clarify their distinct functions where applicable.

Formal Quote: A formal quote is a quotation from a supplier on official stationary or fax cover that has been signed by an authorized representative. At least three formal quotes must be attached to a requisition between $75,000.01 and $150,000.00.

Fund Code: Represents a method of accounting based on the University’s designation of funding categorization. Funding categories include: Unrestricted (Operating), Restricted and Plant. A fund is required on all financial transactions and will default based on the cost center, grant or project

Furniture Standards: UCF has office furnishing standards, established by the Florida Department of Financial Services, that should be used when making furniture purchases. Please see our Furniture Order Process for more information.

 

G

Goods: Goods are tangible items with physical attributes you can touch, feel and see like color, size, shape and weight. In Workday goods are received by quantity rather than dollar amounts by the requestor once they are delivered.

H

Hazardous Materials: Hazardous materials purchases are governed by various federal, state, and local regulations. Hazardous materials can include controlled substances, prescription drugs, medical oxygen, diethyl ether, explosive materials, radioactive materials, ionizing radiation-producing equipment, tax-free alcohol, and select agents. Hazardous materials purchases must be approved by Environmental Health and Safety before being processed through Procurement Services. Please see section 9H of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual for more information.

Hotel Listing: Procurement Services maintains a listing of hotels near UCF that is updated annually. The university does not have a contractual relationship with these hotels, nor does the list represent an endorsement by UCF. Please see the Procurement Services Contracts page for the most updated hotel listing.

 

I

Informal Quote: An informal quote is a written or verbal quotation from a supplier. At least two written quotes or written evidence of verbal quotes should be included with requisitions between $25,000.01 and $75,000.00.

Information Resource Request (IRR): The Vice Provost for Information Technologies and Resources must approve all information technology (IT) resource acquisitions over $20,000. Please complete the IRR form and obtain the appropriate signatures before making any IT purchases. Purchases under $20,000 can be processed directly through the Technology Product Center, procurement card, or purchase requisition.

Intent to Award: An Intent to Award is a publicly posted announcement of which supplier’s proposal was accepted as a result of the competitive bidding process. Procurement Services posts all award documents on the Solicitations page of the website for a minimum of 72 hours after the award is announced.

Invitation to Bid (ITB): An Invitation to Bid (ITB) is a written solicitation for competitive bids from suppliers to provide a good or service to a requesting department. An ITB should have clearly defined specifications and be advertised to the general public with a defined opening date. The recipient of the bid award goes to the lower responsive and responsible bidder.

UCF requires that all non-exempt purchases over $150,000 be competed through a formal solicitation (ITB or ITN). The requesting department is responsible for drafting the specifications and requirements. Procurement specialists will provide assistance, as needed. Please see our solicitations procedures and the Procurement Services Procedures Manual – section 6B for more information.

Invitation to Negotiate (ITN): An Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) is a written solicitation for competitive proposals from suppliers to provide a good or service when the requesting department’s specifications are not clearly defined. An ITN invites suppliers to propose the best solutions to fit the requesting department’s needs. Multiple criteria are involved in determining the recipient of the award.

UCF requires that all non-exempt purchases over $150,000 be competed through a formal solicitation (ITB or ITN). Procurement specialists will assist the requesting department in drafting the specifications, requirements, and evaluation criteria. Please see our solicitations procedures and the Procurement Services Procedures Manual – section 6C for more information.

 

J

 

K

Knights Experience Team (kNEXT): Team of HR Specialists, Finance Specialist, Travel/Procurement Specialists, and Customer Care Coordinators who provide information and support across campus, reduce administrative burden, and empower employees to learn and grow.

L

Lease Vehicles: UCF departments that want to lease a vehicle must follow all competition requirements and include a cancellation clause and stipulated lease period in the lease. Please see section 9F, item 7 in the Procurement Services Procedures Manual for more information. UCF has a contract with the Bancorp Bank for leasing vehicles. Please see our Guidelines for Lease Vehicles for more information on using this contract.

 

M

Memberships: Membership payments should be made via expense card. Memberships should be institutional, naming UCF as the member whenever possible. Memberships requiring recurring payments should not be set up as automatic payments—the department must renew and pay the membership annually, as needed. Please see the Procurement Services Procedures Manual– section 3I for more information.

 

N

 

O

 

P

Perquisite: A perquisite is a good or service provided to an employee because of a job requirement. Examples of perquisites include employee uniforms and relocation stipends. Contact the Human Resources Compensation team for more information.

Piggyback: Piggyback refers to the use of an existing competitively-bid contract and negotiated annual price agreement established by the state of Florida or other governmental entities, public or private educational institutions, or purchasing cooperatives or consortiums.

Procurement Card: Credit card that is set up for procurement usage in Workday. It may only be used for P.O. purchases. Purchases made via a Procurement Card should be tied to a purchase order in Workday.  Distribution is limited to select users in the College/Division Business Center and kNEXT.

Procurement Specialist: Procurement specialist (or buyer) is a term used to describe any of the procurement agents or coordinators who work in kNEXT and collaborate with the UCF Procurement Services office. Each procurement specialist specializes in purchasing certain commodities and services. Please see the Meet Our Staff page on the Procurement Services website to see the assigned commodities and contact information for each procurement specialist.

Prohibited Purchases: Certain purchases are prohibited or restricted depending on the fund used, the item purchased, and the method of payment used. Please see the UCF Expenditure Guidelines and Procurement Card Expense Card Usage Guidelines for information on prohibited purchases. Email expenditures@ucf.edu with questions.

Project:  Used to accumulate funding for an identifiable deliverable over a specific period of time. Projects will be sub-divided into phases. As with grants, they have their ownmulti-year budgets. Projects are the detailed worktag for Plant Funds and are usually associated with capital budgets.

Protest: Bidders who wish to dispute the reasonableness or competitiveness of the terms and conditions or the intended award of an Invitation to Bid or Invitation to Negotiate issued by the university must file a written protest in accordance with BOG Regulation 18.002. The Assistant Vice President of Tax, Payables & Procurement or designee has the authority to attempt to resolve the issue before it becomes a formal protest.

Punchout:  Connection to a supplier website within Workday, that allows users to shop a supplier’s catalog of goods and services. Suppliers have an approved contract with the university and the website pricing reflects contracted pricing. Allows for expedited processing of transactions with the placement of order, approval, receiving and payment processes all occurring in Workday .

Purchase Order (PO): A purchase order is created once a requisition for goods or services has been approved by the appropriate parties.

 

Q

Quotes: To promote competition, Procurement Services requires competitive quotes at the following levels:

  • $25,000.01 – $75,000.00 – at least two informal quotes (i.e. via phone or website) are required. The quotes must be annotated on or attached to the requisition. At least one quote from a certified small, woman, or minority vendor is encouraged.
  • $75,000.01-$150,000.00- at least three formal quotes (i.e. on the company’s stationary or fax cover) signed by an authorized representative. The quotes must be attached to the requisition. At least one quote from a certified small, woman, or minority vendor is encouraged.

Purchases over $150,000 require a formal solicitation process—an Invitation to Bid or Invitation to Negotiate. Please see our competition requirements for more information.

While quotes are not required for purchases below $25,000, Procurement Services encourages departments to seek competition wherever possible and obtain quotes from minority businesses.

 

R

Relocation Stipend: New employees who are required to relocate to work at the university may be given a relocation stipend, which is processed as a perquisite through Human Resources. Relocation stipends less than 10% of a new employee’s salary require vice presidential or provost approval; relocation stipends greater than 10% of an employee’s salary require advance approval by the president. Please review UCF Policy 3-505.3 for more information.

Renewal: A renewal of a contract may be permitted if it contains provisions allowing for a renewal. Renewals shall not exceed five years or twice the term of the original contract, whichever is longer. If the contract is the result of a competitive solicitation, the cost of any contemplated renewal must be included in the competitive solicitation. Please see UCF Regulation 7.130 for more information.

Requisition: A requisition is a request from a user or department to place an order for a commodity or service.  After a requisition is submitted through Workday, it goes through a routing and approval process, which involves at minimum a cost center procurement coordinator and cost center manager approval.  Approvals will vary based on dollar amount, spend category, and worktags.

 

S

Services: Services are intangible activities, amenities, benefits or assistance that one person or business performs or provides to another. In Workday services are received by dollar amounts rather than quantity.

Signature Authority: Per UCF Policy 2-107.6, UCF administrators have different levels of authority for signing contracts with external entities on behalf of the university. Please see the Signature Authority List on the Office of the General Counsel’s website for an updated list of signature authority levels.

SMWVBE: SMWVBE is the acronym for small, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned business enterprises. The university encourages departments to do business with SMWVBEs where possible and to include at least one when obtaining competitive quotes. Please see the Diversity in Contracts – SMWVBE page on the Procurement Services website for more information and for SMWVBE listings.

Sole Source Purchase: A sole source is the purchase of a commodity, contractual, or construction service exceeding $150,000 that is available only from a single source. Please review section 7B of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual and the Sole Source Certification form for more information.

Spend Category: Provides a granular view of expenses incurred at the University. Grouped into hierarchies and mapped to ledger accounts for financial reporting. Required on all expense transactions. These codes drive accounting behavior.

Supplier: A supplier (or vendor) is an individual or company that sells commodities or services to the university. New Suppliers shall use the Prospective Supplier Portal to complete the university’s substitute W-9 or submit a completed W-9 to the UCF Department to complete a Supplier Request through Workday.

 

T

Terms and Conditions: Terms and conditions refer to all requirements involved with a purchase order or contract between the university and an outside party. Please see the PO Terms and Conditions, and the ITB Boiler Plate, ITN Boiler Plate, and Standard Contractual Agreement on the General Procedures page of the Procurement Services website for more examples.

 

U

Unauthorized Procurement Action (UPA): An unauthorized procurement action (UPA) occurs when a department commits university funds before ensuring the proper approvals are in place. A UPA is a violation of UCF Procurement Services Regulation 7.130 when a department places an order with a supplier before completing the appropriate procurement process or UCF Signature Authority Policy 2-107.6 when a person who signed a contract is not authorized to do so. If you commit a UPA, you will be asked to complete a UPA form, which must be signed by your area’s vice president or dean.

 

V

Vehicle Tag/Title: All vehicles purchased or received by the university (state vehicles) must be registered. Title and registration paperwork must include the Procurement Services address: 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 355, Orlando, FL 32826.

Vehicles purchased in Florida: dealer must prepare all paperwork for title, registrations, and tag.

Vehicles purchased Out of State: dealer must forward all paperwork concerning title, registration, and tag to Procurement Services.

Procurement Services will obtain the title, registration, and tag from the tax collector office. The department is advised of the cost and provides the cost center information so an Expense Report can be submitted for approval. Once the Expense Report is approved, the department will be able to pick up a copy of the title, registration, and/or tag.

Please see the section 9F of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual and the Vehicle Tag and Title Procedures document for more information.

Vendor: See “Supplier”

 

W

W-8 BEN-E: The W-8 BEN-E is an IRS form used to document a foreign supplier’s status for taxation purposes. All foreign suppliers must have an updated W-8 BEN-E form on file before a UCF department conducts business with them. Please see the Procurement Services Suppliers – UCF Departments page to access the form and its instructions.

The department must submit a W-8 BEN-E form, a quote or invoice on the supplier’s letterhead, and a foreign supplier application (Form P).  The Finance Business Center shall submit a Supplier Request in Workday with all pertinent information attached.  UCF Global is included in the review and approval process for foreign supplier creation. Foreign Suppliers cannot use the Prospective Supplier Portal.

W-9 Form: Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) is an IRS form used to share a supplier’s taxpayer identification number with the university. A completed form is required when a department completes a Supplier Request in Workday on behalf of the supplier. Alternatively, the supplier may complete the registration using the Prospective Supplier Portal.

Waiver of Competition: A waiver of competition can be used when purchasing a commodity, contractual, or construction service between $25,000.01 and $150,000.00, available only from a single source. Please review section 7C of the Procurement Services Procedures Manual and the Waiver of Competition form for more information.

Worker Classification Questionnaire: UCF’s electronic worker classification questionnaire must be completed before setting up an individual supplier (SSN) to determine if the individual is considered an employee or independent contractor for tax purposes. The department should provide a completed copy of the questionnaire results to the supplier processor when requesting an individual be set up as a supplier.

 

X

 

Y

 

Z