Departments are encouraged to use preferred vendors whenever possible. Samford experiences the best overall supplier pricing by engaging the power of cooperative purchasing. Utilizing the contracts provided through Samford’s cooperative memberships will ensure significant savings for your department and the University.

Preferred Vendors

Where Should I Purchase My Goods and Services?

Departments are encouraged to use vendors listed within the cooperative contracts shown in the links below. Samford experiences the best overall supplier pricing and product value when you combine cooperative purchasing power. By utilizing these contracts provided in Samford’s cooperative memberships, goods or services from these vendors will ensure significant savings for the University.

Cooperative Memberships

Verve Marketplace

Verve is a modern shopping platform available to all Samford P-card users at no additional cost. We encourage you to utilize the Verve marketplace whenever possible. Here are a few of the benefits you'll discover:

  • One-stop shopping with a single username and password; no more logging into multiple sites
  • Pre-approved E&I contract pricing resulting in cost savings for your department
  • Steadily growing number of suppliers, including many already familiar names such as Staples, Lowes, Grainger and many more.

Amazon for Business

Samford University has partnered with OMNIA and Amazon.com to provide an Amazon shopping experience for business and institutional customers.

Samford User - please contact tsun@samford.edu or tghanrah@samford.edu

To be added as a user to the Samford Amazon Business account users must use their *****@samford.edu email address.

Important

Not all items listed on the Amazon website are products sold and shipped by Amazon. There are third party sellers on the site as well (details in the fine print). To avoid potential issues concerning Samford's tax-exempt status, Amazon recommends only purchasing products sold and shipped by Amazon.com. If a department is charged taxes and/or shipping after buying items sold through third party sellers, obtaining a credit for charged taxes and/or shipping is the responsibility of the ordering department.

Creating an Account

Interested users must contact the Samford Purchasing Department to set up your Amazon Business account. Amazon Business accounts require payment with your SAMFORD Purchasing Card. No other payments types are accepted.

**Do not use your Samford P Card for any Amazon account other than your registered Amazon for Business account that was created by the Samford Purchasing Office.

Features

Through Amazon Business, you will have immediate access to:

  • AMAZON PRIME /Free Shipping
  • Business pricing and quantity discounts on a growing selection of items
  • Access to a specialized Customer Service team for business customers only.

Amazon Customer Service

Customer service is available by contacting Amazon Business Customer Service at 866-486-2360.

Grainger
Home Depot
Lowe's
Staples for Business
Uline

For more information contact tsun@samford.edu or tghanrah@samford.edu.

Creating a Purchase Requisition in Banner

If any step in the process is not clear or if circumstances are unusual, please contact the Purchasing Department (2917) for assistance.

Banner Purchase Requisition

Purchase Order

The purchase order is the usual instrument by which goods are procured to fill a requirement. It is the seller’s authority to ship and invoice for the goods specified on the order. It is a legal instrument, which expresses the buyer’s part of a contract of sale. Once accepted, it has the legal force of a binding contract.

Purchases of goods or services in excess of $1000.00 made on behalf of the university require a   Banner purchase requisition for payment to be issued.

When a requisition is entered and completed, it is then forwarded to the designated University officials for approval/disapproval via electronic approval queues.

Standing Orders - When a requisition is being entered, if the requisition needs to be a standing order please include STANDING ORDER in  the comments box located in the date section of the requisition.

Special Instructions Document Text - If a vendor requires a copy of the purchase order, please include these instructions document text.

New Vendor Requests

Things to remember when requesting new vendors:

  • To ensure that vendors are added into the system in a timely manner, please complete as much of the form as possible (especially fax numbers and contact names). 
  • Be sure to include your information at the bottom so that we know who to notify once the vendor is added into the system.

Request a New Vendor

If you have any questions about vendor verification, please contact Monica Sun for more information.

Purchasing Cards

Overview

The Business Services Department is delighted to offer a University Visa Procurement Program for ordering supplies or business services as a flexible alternative for processing low-dollar-value items from vendors by using a University Visa card. The card (The Samford University purchasing card) may also be used for travel-related services, i.e. airline tickets, hotel charges, restaurant charges and car rentals.

The purchasing card program is arranged through Regions Bank in Birmingham, Alabama. With the purchasing card you, the end-user, can purchase non-restricted commodities of $1,000 or less, directly from the vendor without a purchase order. It will also drastically reduce the effort required to make payments for your purchases.

The use of the purchasing card will not change the policy of using good procurement practices. Therefore all cards are issued with the approval of the department managers. Any card can be rescinded at any time by your manager or the program coordinator.

Purchasing Card Manual Purchasing Card Reporting Instructions

Forms

How does it work?

  • The cardholder makes a purchase by charging it on the university Visa (within the limits)
  • Regions, the Visa issuer, pays the vendor for the charges made to the card.
  • Regions will bill the university every 30 days.
  • Each cardholder will receive a statement listing all the charges on their individual card(s) that have been made in the 30-day period . The cardholder will review the statement and approve the charges on the Samford website. The cardholder does not pay this statement.
  • The cardholder matches allL the receipts with their individual statement and attaches the receipts to the statement to keep for their own records.
  • All of the charges for the university purchasing cards are paid from a master billing that is received in the purchasing department.

What can I purchase with the card?

The card may be used for purchases for goods or business services under $1,000 three times a day with a total maximum of $2,000 in a 30-day billing cycle.

Examples

  • Office supplies
  • Subscriptions
  • Dues or fees
  • Miscellaneous items

The card may be used for the purchase of travel-related goods and services with a transaction limit or maximum per billing cycle set by the president, vice presidents, dean or department head. Having a university purchasing card does not entitle all holders to have the privilege of using the card for travel purchases.

Who can get a card?

  • Any employee authorized to sign on a university account.
  • Any employee delegated authority by a department head.

P-Card Guidelines

  • No personal use.
  • The card is for business purposes only.
  • Cards are issued to an employee rather than an office or department.
  • The employee listed on the card has sole responsibility for the use of the card.

Local Dining Policy

Because most of the funding of Samford University is based on student tuition and donor gifts, faculty and staff should be vigilant about excessive spending on food and entertainment and should avoid instances where the university is funding employees entertaining each other.

The university will pay for approved, necessary and reasonable business meal expenditures that are hosted by and paid for by a Samford University employee that includes guests, business colleagues, donors and prospective employees and which results in a business benefit to the university. Examples include fundraising and recruitment.

If there are reasonable and necessary meal expenses for business meetings involving only university personnel and/or students during which focused business discussions take place, the frequency of such meetings and the related expenses must be appropriate to the purpose of the discussion and the nature of the business conducted. Examples of such meetings might include:

  • Formally organized meetings that are necessary to carry out the business of official committees appointed by the university, school or department
  • Meetings of an organized work group of employees or students that require the work of the group to progress through normal meal time. If possible, such meetings should be planned outside of normal meal times.

The following should not be placed on a university purchasing card:

  • Regular staff meetings.
  • Non-work related departmental or divisional gatherings, such as birthdays, retirements, introduction of new staff, and Christmas parties.
  • Meals for individual employees unless they are out of town on university business.
  • Meals for spouses, unless spouses of guests have been included and there is an appropriate purpose for such inclusion.
  • Purchase of drinks, coffee and snacks, unless part of an approved meal in accordance with the guidelines provided herein.

It should not be the expectation of any employee that Samford University will provide meals and/or snacks on a regular or routine basis.

Controls

The control limits are flexible and may be set for the particular individual card. The limits that can be set are:

  • Single purchase limit
  • Spending limit per billing cycle
  • Number of authorizations allowed per day
  • Number of credit card transactions per cycle
  • The cards may be limited by merchant codes called MCCs.

Verification

The card holder is responsible for verifying all purchases and transactions on their individual statements.

Sales Tax

Retail only purchases are exempt from State of Alabama sales tax.

Disputes

Please contact Julie Myers or Monica Sun to report any transaction that you find to be fraudulent.

Purchasing Policy

The university's purchasing procedures have not been updated in 18 years. Under the leadership of Samford's new Director of Business Services, Wade Walker, we saw a need to streamline the vendor search process and reduce costs for departments.

Learn More

Receiving Instructions

Receiving Instructions Video Training

Click on Banner Training to be directed to Canvas.

Receiving  should not be completed in Banner unless the departmental receiver has knowledge that the merchandise or service was delivered.

  • The receiving function of purchased goods for the University is necessary to ensure funds are expended appropriately. Any order placed on behalf of a university employee prior to having payment issued must be received in BANNER.
  • The creator of the requisition / purchase order request should view and inspect all items to verify receipt and condition.
  • If the Receiver is not certain of receipt, supporting documentation such as an email from the employee (other than the approver) who verified the receipt must be obtained.
  • Receiving should be completed as soon as the merchandise or service has been delivered.
  • Not receiving in a timely manner will delay payment to the vendor.
  • Before processing the receiving report, the receiver should verify that the merchandise or service was received.
  • No Banner receiver report should be completed from a verbal request.

Invoice Payment

Any invoices received by the department should be sent to invoices@samford.edu.

Please included the purchase order number, and receiving document number. Please include only the first letter of the vendor name in the subject line to ensure the invoice is routed to the appropriate Accounts Payable person.

Travel

Samford University travelers are encouraged to book their business travel using their pcard through the Christopherson Business Travel Management Tool. This travel management tool provides our travelers with access to their integrated technology platform AirPortal®. When making travel arrangements such as airline tickets, hotel rooms, and car reservations, travelers can use one simple login and securely manage all of their business travel needs.

Travel Profile

Employees can create their profile after logging into the Samford Portal. The Travel Profile link is listed under Employee Resources

Enterprise Reservation

If only reserving a vehicle use this Enterprise link for your reservation to avoid a service charge of $5.00.

Emerald Club

Sign up for the premier rental program designed to offer you the benefits and rewards you deserve.

Car Rental

Request a local rental vehicle
Enterprise Rent-A-Car 15-passenger van requests should be made as soon as possible to guarantee the availability of the van. More notice ensures less difficulty.

Hotels

Request a local hotel reservation

If you have any questions about local hotel or car rental requests, please contact Monica Sun for more information.

Charter Bus

For charter bus rentals, the requestor must work out a contract with the charter company personally.  We commonly use these companies:

Charter Bus Rentals

JAT, Inc. dba Thrasher Brothers Trailways
6400 1st Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35212
Phone: 205-591-8811

School Transportation Solutions

301 Fl Shuttlesworth Drive
Birmingham, AL 35234
Phone: 205-324-4024

Reimbursement Policies and Procedures

Current Opportunities

Our Team

Photo of Tracy Hanrahan
Tracy Hanrahan
Coordinator
Business Services
Photo of Monica Sun
Monica Sun
Assistant Director
Business Services
301 Samford Hall
Photo of Wade Walker
Wade Walker
Director of Business Services
Purchasing
Samford Hall