HOW TO DO BUSINESS WITH UCNJ
Pursuant to the Purchasing Policy of UCNJ, the following is the methodology that vendors are to follow in doing business with the College.
PREFACE
The business of UCNJ is education.
Materials and services must be provided in sufficient quality and quantity in order that the instructional mission of the College can be carried out effectively. It is the purpose of the Purchasing Department to secure and distribute high quality goods and services at the lowest possible price consistent with the educational standards and objectives of the College.
The administrative and educational goals of UCNJ can best be realized when the mission of the Purchasing Department is clearly understood by all parties. Therefore, the purpose of this policy statement is not only to acquaint the staff, but also the vendors with the business procedures governing the procurement and storage, issuance and delivery of all materials, supplies, services and equipment required in the operation of UCNJ.
A publication of this policy statement will also be made available for distribution to all interested parties. In the event of any inconsistency with this policy it will not supersede any statute, state or local rule or regulation, legal advertisement, instruction to bidder issued at the time of bidding, or individual set of specifications. It should, however, establish the kind of communication and understanding between the College Community and the vendor which will result in the best dollar value return for the tax dollar.
The mission of the College Purchasing Department is successful to the degree that it secures the goods and services which best serve the educational program while returning the greatest value on the tax dollar spent.
*When goods or services exceed $41,600, UCNJ is obligated to bid the item publicly.
All purchases exceeding $41,600 in value must be approved by the Board of Trustees.
*There are some exceptions to this policy, as identified in N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-25.5
VENDOR’S VISITATION PERMIT
It is necessary that all contracts with approved or potential suppliers originate in the Purchasing Department. New vendors are requested to contact the Purchasing Department to introduce themselves and arrange for an appointment via email sent to: purchasing@najwc.com.
VENDOR VISITING HOURS
Normal vendor visiting hours to the Purchasing Department are from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. or by appointment, Monday through Friday of each week. Summer hours are 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. or by appointment, Monday through Thursday, the first week in June through the first week in August, unless otherwise established.
VENDORS QUALIFIED TO SERVE UCNJ
Suppliers shall be responsible business organizations offering material, supplies, services or equipment required by the College. When requested, any supplier may be required to present factual evidence of financial status and capability or other information related to whether the Bidder is responsible to supply specific commodities. The Director of Purchasing may elect to make plant visitations, check available ratings, obtain references or other researched media as deemed necessary.
Copies of each public bid will be mailed to selected suppliers in addition to advertising in the public newspaper, and posting to the College’s website under “Vendor Opportunities”.
HOW TO BECOME A QUALIFIED VENDOR
The goal of the Purchasing Department is to select vendors who can provide the highest quality goods and services at the most competitive prices. Vendors are selected from a variety of sources including material on file from vendors, as well as State Contracted vendors, the Internet, Directory Services and referrals. If a vendor has never done business with UCNJ and wishes to do so, the college would need a letter, brochure or other information concerning the goods and/or services, which can be provided.
In order to establish new vendors in the College system and process requirements and payments, vendors may be required to provide a variety of documents such as their W-9, a completed Vendor Data sheet, a New Jersey Business Registration Certificate, a Business Entity Disclosure Certificate, a Political Contribution Disclosure Certificate, a Disclosure of Investment Activities in Iran Certificate, a Certificate of Employee Information Report and/or a Public Works Contractor Registration.
New vendor information, point of contact or inquiries may be submitted to: purchasing@najwc.com who can provide responses and /or most current forms and websites, suited to each situation appropriately.
SPECIFICATIONS
It is the responsibility of the Purchasing Department to purchase all required supplies, services and equipment. Specifications shall be so written that broad competitive solicitation through formal bid, proposal or written quotation procedures is encouraged. Expenditures exceeding $41,600 may require a performance bond and 10% security bid guarantee at the discretion of the College and as provided by N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-25.16, 17.
COMPETITIVE BIDDING PROCEDURES AND SEALED BIDS
The Purchasing Department will solicit written quotations covering the purchase of any items having an estimated net price in excess of $8,320 but under $41,600. If the estimated net price is less than $8,320, verbal quotations may be requested or the purchase made through agreements developed with local suppliers from quotations or bids used to develop annual maintenance and supply contracts.
Sealed bids or special quotations will be solicited for any item or group of items that exceed $41,600 in accordance with the provisions of the “College Contracts Law” 18A:64A-25.1 et seq. All sealed bids received will be opened at the indicated time, and any bids received after the scheduled bid opening time will be considered disqualified and will be returned to its originator unopened. The bid opening time is defined as that specified time when valid bids must be received and read aloud by the Director of Purchasing or designee. (There are no exceptions to this rule). Sufficient time should be allowed by all interested bid parties using U.S. Mail or other carriers, to have bid documents reach the Purchasing Department prior to the scheduled bid opening time. Any bids that may have been delivered elsewhere at the College and rerouted to Purchasing must also be received by Purchasing prior to this scheduled opening time.
The Vice President of Finance and the Director of Purchasing shall review the results of each bid and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees who may accept or reject those in the form of resolutions for award.
The Board of Trustees reserves the right to reject any or all bids, and/or quotations, and to accept those items and/or services deemed to be in the best interest of the College. If any bid is rejected or the College re-advertises for bids, all previous bid documents shall be returned to all previous bidders, upon request. Notification of the re-advertisement will be sent to all previous bidders.
A purchase order will then be issued to the lowest responsible bidder or awardee as recommended by the Director of Purchasing and approved by the Board of Trustees for UCNJ.
All bid security except the security of the three apparent lowest responsible bidders shall, if requested, be returned within 30 days from the opening of the bids, Sunday and holidays excluded. The bids of such bidders shall be considered as withdrawn. Within three days, Sundays and holidays excluded, after the awarding of the contract and the approval of the successful bidder’s performance bond, if any, the bid guaranty of the remaining bidders shall be returned to them.
ATTAINMENT OF LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE FROM RESPONSIBLE BIDDER
The Purchasing Department shall exert every possible effort to obtain materials, supplies, services or equipment at the lowest possible net price consistent with item specifications and required delivery dates. In order to accomplish this, it shall be necessary in all instances to accept the lowest responsible bid or quotation meeting specifications. Such information shall be stored in the Purchasing Department file for reference. The Director of Purchasing may also elect to purchase items from vendors under State Contract in lieu of public bids, depending on the urgency and availability of the material requirements. However, the Board must also approve those purchases under New Jersey State Contract exceeding $17,500 in value prior to formal issuance of any purchase order.
CONDITIONS FOR ANY BID AWARD
The general conditions governing a purchase contract will appear in the specifications for public bid and on the back of the standard purchase order used for all bid awards.
SAMPLES
Samples, when requested by the Purchasing Department, shall be furnished free of expense. Such samples will, upon request, be returned to the vendor at his/her expense. Vendors occasionally may be asked to set up demonstrations of educational materials so that the College administrators and instructors may observe and study the latest materials available for future purchase.
STANDARD PURCHASE ORDER
All College purchases are secured by means of a standard purchase order document. College requisitioners are required to document their requirements on a Requisition form and process for the appropriate approvals. No purchase order can be processed without the approved Requisition. In no instance should a supplier deliver materials either for purchase or on trial approval until a UCNJ purchase order has been executed and issued by the appropriate College official and received by the supplier.
MASTER ORDER AGREEMENTS
Many specialized maintenance materials and other products used infrequently are stocked by distributors and therefore are not duplicated in inventories maintained by the College. In order to eliminate delays and reduce the need for writing large numbers of small purchase orders for these materials, Master Order Agreements using public bid solicitations or quotations are processed each year for maintenance supplies and for several educational departments requiring a fresh delivery of materials for their daily classroom work.
The Purchasing Department is charged with the responsibility of purchasing these items, previously awarded by the bid or quotation as allowed by law, and will request selected vendors to annually quote or bid on such items. Suppliers will be issued purchase orders.
DELIVERIES
All deliveries shall be made in strict accordance with conditions stated on request for quotation, or bid, and purchase order. In almost every instance, deliveries shall be F.O.B. campus location, Attention Receiving Department of UCNJ Union College of Union County, NJ, 1033 Springfield Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016. The front side of the College Purchase Order indicates specific information concerning delivery. Vendors should check this information carefully. Every delivery shall contain a packing list. The purchase order number must be listed on each package. All purchases awarded from sealed public bids contain a mandatory clause indicating that all the material is to be F.O.B. Destination, Delivered. Drop shipments made from other companies by the final awardee and resulting freight charges directly billed to the College will be charged back to the original supplier of record. Any unnecessary additional charges incurred by the College in receiving this material will also be charged back to the original supplier.
RECEIVING DEPARTMENT
The scheduled hours for delivery of all materials are from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. and from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Summer hours are the same, or by appointment, Monday through Thursday, the first week in June through the first week in August, unless otherwise established.
PAYMENT OF INVOICES
All suppliers should render invoices and all invoices must reference the authorized Purchase Order number. No invoice will be paid unless the shipment is complete. All shipping charges must be prepaid. Invoices should be mailed to UCNJ Union College of Union College, NJ, Accounts Payable Department, 1033 Springfield Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016, or emailed to ucc-ap@najwc.com. Partial payment requests must be forwarded to the Accounts Payable for approval by Finance provided 90% of the order is completed.
PROVIDING INFORMATION TO VENDORS
Establishing a proper climate of understanding with all vendors is a prerequisite in operating centralized purchasing for the College. Bid information is available for examination in person by interested parties during the business hours from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. However no information will be available by telephone request. Any interested party who requests bid information over the telephone or in writing is instructed to obtain this information in person during normal business hours.
CATALOGS AND PRODUCT INFORMATION
The Purchasing Department is the source for information related to State Contracts, product catalogs, and product sourcing, which is available to all employees of the College. Suppliers are encouraged to provide up to date materials on a regular basis such as catalogs, product line cards and descriptive product data to the Purchasing Department.
DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS AND OBSOLETE MATERIALS
It shall be the responsibility of the Purchasing Department to dispose of surplus or obsolete materials, supplies or equipment that are no longer needed to accomplish the educational mission of the College. Such items shall be cataloged and sold annually, or at other specified times.
Surplus items shall be sold to interested parties at public sale to the highest bidder. The exceptions to this are if the items to be sold are perishable goods or if the estimated fair value of the property to be sold does not exceed the amount determined pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-25.3(b) in any one sale. The property may not be sold at less than the estimated fair value as defined in N.J.S.A. 18A:64A- 25.27. Notice of all surplus sales are advertised publicly and posted to the College website “vendor opportunities”.
Please see UCNJ shared college application directory under College Apps/Purchasing for the Surplus Asset Management forms.
SUMMARY
The most current applicable New Jersey State Statute 18A:64A-25.1 et seq. (County College Contracts Law) is followed throughout the fiscal year by the Director of Purchasing and staff, which requires solicitation using public bid or written quotations. A monthly Board of Trustees meeting is usually scheduled on the fourth Tuesday of each month to approve all awards exceeding $41,600 as processed by the Director of Purchasing. Vendors will also be allowed informal hearings for any reasonable disputes that arise out of this Board purchasing policy and procedure if requested.