OVERVIEW

Purchase orders created by State agencies that serve as the complete purchase agreement with the vendor (stand-alone POs) are subject to the Office of the State Comptroller’s (OSC) review when they exceed OSC pre-approval thresholds (see Section 2.A - Thresholds of this Chapter, for additional information). This section provides guidance on State agency creation and submission of these transactions in the SFS as “OP” transactions.

OP transactions are generally for one-time purchases that exceed the OSC pre-approval thresholds and do not require a formal contract document beyond the standard terms and conditions associated to a purchase order (see Purchase Order Standard Terms and Conditions for additional information). Upon OSC approval of the OP transaction, agencies are able to create and dispatch the represented purchase order to the vendor.

Process:

The SFS does not allow the direct submission of purchase orders to OSC for review. In order to submit a purchase order to OSC for review, a contract transaction with an OP prefix must be created in the SFS to represent the purchase order.

Transaction Creation:

Use the OP prefix when creating a contract transaction in the SFS to identify the transaction as a Purchase Order (stand-alone) subject to OSC review and approval (see Section 2.B.1 – Contract Prefixes of this Chapter, for additional information). The Begin Date should be the earliest date the PO would be dispatched to the vendor. The Expire Date should be the last day of the fiscal year associated to the funds being used. If fund sources with different fiscal year end dates are being used, the Expire Date should be the earliest fiscal year end date. The Comment Status must be “Active” on the contract header, and the Send to Supplier and Copy to Purchase Order boxes must be checked. This triggers the Standard Terms and Conditions to be displayed on the resulting purchase order. Additional terms and conditions can be noted in the Additional Comments field and will be displayed on the resulting purchase order.

The entire value of the purchase order must be entered as the Contract Maximum Amount for the OP transaction, and is the amount of funds which must be reserved (see Section 2.C - Contract Funds Reservation of this Chapter, for additional information).

Transaction Submission to OSC:

The OP transaction should be routed to OSC for review using the appropriate Audit Type. Include an AC 340-S or STS signed by an agency Authorized Signatory (see Section 2.K – Authorized Signatures of this Chapter, for additional information), in addition to the supporting procurement documentation, vendor responsibility documentation, etc. OSC reviews the signature to verify the individual’s authority to execute and submit the purchase order for OSC review.

OSC Approval Process:

To indicate approval of the purchase order, OSC will approve the OP transaction in the SFS. OSC will also provide the agency with a printout of the OP transaction’s Contract Page from the SFS, with OSC approval affixed. This document should be maintained by the agency to demonstrate the State Comptroller’s approval of the referenced purchase order. After OSC’s review and approval, the agency will be able to create and dispatch the purchase order represented by the OP transaction. No copy of the dispatched purchase order will be submitted to OSC for review.

Changes to Purchase Orders subject to OSC review are processed as amendments to the OP transaction (see Section 2.E.2 – Paper Submission of Amendments of this Chapter).

Note: Purchase orders related to, but outside the terms of, a lease agreement approved by OSC are subject to OSC review. These purchase orders should be submitted to OSC using an OP transaction. The lease contract number must be entered in the NYS Description field.

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 01/27/2020