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 approval thresholds (see Section XI.2.A - Thresholds, for additional information). This section provides guidance on State agency creation and submission of these transactions in the SFS as “OP” transactions. For guidance on creation and submission of purchase orders issued from OGS centralized contracts for OSC approval, see Section XI.8.A Centralized Contracts.  

OP transactions are generally for one-time purchases that exceed the OSC 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 XI.2.B – Contract Prefixes, 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 XI.2.C - Contract Funds Reservation, for additional information).

EDSS Transaction Submissions to OSC:

The OP transaction should be routed to OSC for review using the appropriate Electronic Audit Type listed in the chart below:

For OP transactions submitted through EDSS document files should be uploaded and placed in one of the following four categories;

• Transaction Identifying Documents
• Amendment
• Supporting Documents
• Vendor Responsibility and Integrity

Attached are the Documentation Order Guides for Procurement Contracts and Amendments and Construction Contracts, Contract Amendments / Change Orders; the documents are sorted into their appropriate category. Submitting your documents in this order will assist in OSC’s review.

OSC Approval Process:

When the purchase order is approved by OSC, OSC will email an approval notification and a copy of the OP transaction’s Contract Page from the SFS, with OSC approval affixed will be available for download in the EDSS. 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 XI.2.E.– Electronic Submission of Amendments through the Electronic Documents Submission System (EDSS) 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.

Process for Host/Hosted Agencies:

Agencies that have been authorized by another agency to act as a Host Agency can administer purchase order transactions within EDSS on behalf of the Hosted agency. Host/Hosted Agency must submit a New York State Office of the State Comptroller Electronic Documents Submission System (EDSS) Hosting Access (AC3347) form for the required EDSS system access.

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 03/29/2023