Furniture Purchases

As you know, the University is normally required to purchase office furniture from State Use Industries, the State of Maryland Correctional Facility. While this University supports this law, we realize that State Use Industries (SUI) cannot always meet your furniture needs. Five exceptions are recognized by law for not purchasing from SUI. These are:

1. SUI cannot provide the items within a reasonable time
2. SUI cannot meet reasonable specifications
3. The cost of purchasing from SUI exceeds the budgetary allowance
4. The procurement is an emergency procurement as defined by law (note that the law defines an emergency procurement as those items necessary to avoid or to mitigate serious damage to public health, safety and welfare)
5. The item is not included in the master list of items available from SUI.

Previously, when purchasing furniture from a vendor other than SUI, campus was required to submit a long-form requisition to Procurement with a written justification as to why SUI could not meet the department’s needs. We would review the justification and document which of the above exceptions applied. The purchase was made, the file documented and the furniture was delivered, hopefully!

We have good news! We now offer campus the flexibility to purchase office furniture from vendors other than SUI using the UM purchasing card within your single purchase limit. Each instance must be justified and documented. As with all other delegated purchases, stringing or splitting orders to avoid your single purchase limit is prohibited.

You may use your UM purchasing to make furniture purchases from SUI as well as vendors other than SUI as long as you complete the following steps:

1. Determine if the furniture item needed is listed in the SUI catalog. If you don’t have a SUI catalog, contact Kathy Barrett at (301) 405-5826 to request one.
2. Contact the University’s SUI representative, Denise Makell, at (410) 540-5463 for a price and delivery quote.
3. Place the order with SUI unless one of the above five exceptions apply.
4. Should one of the exceptions apply, we encourage you to contact one of the State certified minority vendors listed on the next page for a quote. A non-minority vendor may be used when a minority vendor cannot meet your needs. Once the vendor has been identified, place the order using the purchasing card.
5. Document, in writing, the reason SUI could not meet your needs (citing one of the above exceptions in the justification). Be sure to completely document the reason, do not simply state that SUI could not meet your timeframe but state the required delivery date and necessity for delivery on or before that date, and the person and date you contacted at SUI.
6. Include the written documentation (form is available for your convenience) with your purchasing card transaction log.

We hope this will make things easier for you but remember that you are expected to document your file appropriately. We will be reviewing this documentation during our assistance visits. All purchases exceeding $5,000 may be made using the Master Contract Release form. We will be happy to handle your small dollar furniture needs should you prefer not to make such purchases on your own. If you have any questions, please contact Marty Newman at (301) 405-5834 or menewman@umd.edu.

Paying Fair and Reasonable Prices

University of Maryland employees authorized to spend University funds have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that those funds are spent wisely. Our cardholders and their reviewers assume this responsibility by ensuring that prices paid for goods and services are fair and reasonable. This reminder note is prompted by recent media accounts that some vendors charged exorbitant prices to State agencies for maintenance and housekeeping supplies. One vendor gave the State employees kickbacks, in the form of clothing, electronics, and gift cards, in exchange for ordering their overly priced products. Some of the employees who accepted kickbacks have since been fired. Others are now facing criminal charges.

Since the media accounts are fresh in our minds, this is a good opportunity for us to review practices that will ensure we are making good purchasing decisions:

• Remember that you are spending University funds and should always act as a good custodian of these funds. You know best the items you need to do your job – always look for the best value.
  
• For all purchasing card purchases, we need an itemized receipt, showing the items purchased and their unit costs.
  
• Never accept gifts or gratuities from vendors.
  
• Do not allow vendors to intimidate you into buying something you don’t need or could buy somewhere else at a lesser cost.
  
• Remember to check prices from other vendors for large orders or large single purchases. Just because a particular vendor had the best deal last time doesn’t mean they will now.
  
• “Stringing” or splitting purchases to avoid the single transaction limit is prohibited.
  
• State law requires campus to support the State of Maryland socioeconomic programs by using State Use Industries, certified sheltered workshops, certified minority vendors and small business reserve programs as opportunities exist. New master contracts have been established by the University. A list of these contracts as well as a list of certified minority preference vendors and certified small businesses is available at the Procurement & Supply website www.purchase.umd.edu.
  
• Reviewers are responsible for ensuring that prices paid are reasonable.

State Highway Administration Cardholder Fired

According to the following article from http://www.therepublicannews.com, another State Highway Administration employee has been charged with accepting bribes resulting from a recent investigation of purchasing card activity:

Local Woman Charged with Accepting Bribes

Mar. 24, 2005

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. announced last week that a "criminal information" charge has been filed against Lori Hare of Grantsville in the Garrett County Circuit Court.

The charge alleges that Hare, 34 – a former employee of the Maryland State Highway Administration maintenance facility in northern Garrett County between January 2001 and November 2002 – received bribes from Stone Cold Chemical Inc., a janitorial and maintenance supply company from whom she ordered numerous items using her state credit card.

Hare is accused of accepting hundreds of dollars in gift certificates from Wal-Mart and Lowe's for the purpose of influencing her in the performance of her official procurement duties as a state employee and for neglecting and failing to perform the same.

Stone Cold's owners and salespeople have been successfully prosecuted in Georgia and Florida state courts for bribing state employees. To date, Curran has charged six former state employees with corruption in connection with his ongoing criminal investigation into Stone Cold Chemical.

A criminal information (charge) is merely an accusation of wrongdoing, and every individual is presumed innocent until the charges are proven by the state. The maximum penalty for bribery is 12 years' incarceration. The matter was referred to the Attorney General's Office by the legislative auditor, and was investigated by the Curran's Criminal Investigations Division and the Maryland State Police.