When to Use a Contract
If any kind of labor or service component is included in a purchase, a contract is required. Service agreements must be with non-UH employees and require prior approval via the standard contract agreement form. The director of business operations can approve such contracts in the amount of $25,000/fiscal year or less. A vendor who will not consent to the UH contract may submit their own agreement form, but those must be approved by General Counsel, which may take as long as 2-3 months. Whichever agreement form is used, a completed, signed contract must be on file prior to receipt of the service.
When to Use a PO
Expenditures that exceed $5000 and are not procured with a contract must be relegated to the UH Purchasing Office. There, qualified UH Buyers will make the purchase after a fair process of inviting competitive vendor bids. This process is initiated by the department completing a purchase requisition in PeopleSoft.
Examples of When to Use a Contract Versus a PO
|
PO |
Contract |
Sales Excellence Institute Program Jackets costing over $5000 (no alterations) |
X |
|
Sales Excellence Institute Program Jackets (including alterations) |
|
X |
Software, databases, electronic information feeds |
X |
|
Photography |
|
X |
Machine rental |
X |
|
Catered meals where caterer will be serving/attending to guests |
|
X |
Entertainment for student graduation celebrations, orientations, special events |
|
X |
Travel Agency payment for complex student trips, such as EMBA IBR |
|
X |
Booth delivery and construction for events such as Career Fair. |
|
X |
Consulting, editing, software creating, equipment maintenance services |
|
X |
Delivery and assembly of furniture items |
|
X |
Delivery of furniture costing over $5000 |
X |
|
Rental of off-site facilities for meetings or events |
|
X |
Proprietary Purchases
In some cases, a particular vendor may be a sole source provider of a particular good or service. An example is The Houston Chronicle. Since there is no other major Houston print newspaper, we do not have to go through a competitive bidding process to place advertisements in that paper. Other examples are many research databases, where the information contained is unique and cannot be obtained from any other source. In these cases, a Proprietary Purchase Form [xls] should be completed and submitted with the requisition or contract.
Event Planning Tools
Catering Worksheet [pdf]
Rental Worksheet [pdf]
Speaker Worksheet [pdf]
Venue Worksheet [pdf]
Volunteer Worksheet [pdf]
Budget Worksheet [xls]
Permits
For special UH hosted events that take place inside or on the lawn of Melcher Hall, please contact the Fire Marshal's office for any relevant open flame, tent or temporary food dealer permits. Their phone number is 713-743-1635.
