DPO Information

Effective August 1, 2003, the Departmental Purchase Order system will be discontinued as approved by the ETSU Senior Staff on June 30, 2003.  

WHAT IS A DEPARTMENTAL PURCHASE ORDER (DPO)?

The Departmental Purchase Order, or DPO, is available beginning July 1, 1995 for departments to make purchases directly with vendors for authorized items under $2000 (including shipping and delivery charges).

HOW TO ISSUE A DEPARTMENTAL PURCHASE ORDER?

Complete the Departmental Purchase Order form. This is available on diskette for use on the WordPerfect word processing package, or in single sheets which can be duplicated on a copier.

Complete the appropriate information:

• Vendor Name and Address
• Ship to Location
• The items and the Cost per Item
• Total Amount of DPO Including Shipping
• Departmental Contact
• Account Code
• Building and Room Number
• Department Name
• Department Phone Number
• Department Internal Number
• Obtain Signature of Authorized Person

Send the original DPO to the vendor. Maintain a copy in the department.

The DPO may be:

• taken directly to the vendor for pickup;
• mailed to the vendor;
• faxed to the vendor, or;
• phoned in to the vendor.

When the items are received, and the invoice is obtained, the person authorized to spend against the account (department head, principle investigator) is to authorize the payment and send the original invoice directly to Accounts Payable for processing. These payments will be made directly from unencumbered funds.

At fiscal year end, purchases on DPO's should be timed so that the goods, the receipt, the invoicing, and the payment occur prior to June 30th. Payments not made in the current fiscal year will be made from funds in the following fiscal year.

WHAT SHOULD BE ON THE LABEL AND INVOICE FROM THE VENDOR?

When placing the order, tell the vendor they MUST put the following information on each package and invoice:

1. NAME of the contact person and department ordering the item(s).
2. Departmental budget ACCOUNT CODE to which it will be charged.
3. BUILDING AND ROOM NUMBER of the ETSU person ordering the goods.

Some departments use an order number specific to their department and may also wish to instruct the vendor to include it.

Please note that because of the volume of shipments, packages without this information may be hard to identify and therefore may not be deliverable to the proper persons in a timely manner.

Packages may be:

1. Picked up personally by the department;
2. Delivered directly to the department;
3. Sent to: Central Receiving, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-1710.

Invoices may be:

1. Picked up with the purchase;
2. Mailed to: East Tennessee State University, PO Box 70729, Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-1710, or;
3. Mailed to the department.

EQUIPMENT

You may use Departmental Purchase Orders for office equipment items costing less than $2000. These items will not automatically be tracked for inclusion on your equipment inventory lists. You may, however, have them added to your list. It may be in your department's best interest to list all your inventory items for security and tracking purposes. Send a copy of the invoice with the appropriate departmental information to the Property Control Manager, Box 70713, to have items added to the departmental inventory list.

WHEN NOT TO USE DEPARTMENTAL PURCHASE ORDERS FOR ORDERS LESS THAN $2000 Click Here

• Advertisements-Personnel (must be approved by Human Resourves prior to placement)
• Advertisements (must be approved by University Relations prior to placement)
• Animals (must be approved by Division of Lab Animals)
• Carpet (must be approved by the Associate Vice-President of the Physical Plant)
• Contracts or licensing agreements (must be processed by Comptroller)
• Food orders for $100 or more (must be placed with ARAMARK if over $100)
• Maintenance and Service agreements (require additional review for legal wording)
• Memberships and Dues
• Printing (must be placed with University Press)
• Radioactive materials (must be approved by the Radiation safety officer)
• Subscriptions (initial subscriptions over $1,000 must be approved by the Vice President)
• Telephones, Cellular Phones and Pagers (must be approved by the Office of Information Technology)

Don't use DPO's to bypass the bid process. Per state requirements purchases for items totalling $2000 or more must be bid. A department should not issue two or more separate DPO's to the same vendor in order to bypass the bid process. DPO purchases will be periodically reviewed. Should departments use DPO's to bypass the bid process, the ability to use DPO's by that department may be suspended.

Don't use DPO's to reimburse out-of-pocket personal expenses. See Petty Cash policy FP-3 for purchases under $25.

The university is exempt from paying taxes for purchases, so don't include any sales tax.

The state does not allow the payment of insurance charges, so you may not pay to insure your package.

Questions or Comments? Call Purchasing Dept., (423)439-4224, for any information.

Return to Purchasing Home Page Menu

Return to ETSU Home Page