Policy Notes: Ensuring Price Reasonableness
For Orders over $25,000:
It is required that you either attach competitive bids or a completed Single / Sole Source Justification form to the requisition. Purchasing will reject requisitions submitted without the necessary attachments.
For Orders $25,000 and Under:
It is your responsibility to ensure reasonable pricing. Your school or department may have specific guidance or policy related to purchase justifications and documentation.
It is recommended that you do one or more of the following to ensure and/or document price reasonableness:
- Compare pricing using online catalogs or web searches
- Solicit competitive bids
- If competitive bids are not solicited, complete a Single / Sole Source Justification form
- A Single Source is a supplier specifically selected amongst others providing same or similar goods or services, due to superior compatibility, quality, service, support, continuity, etc.
- A sole source supplies a product or service for which there is no alternative that can meet delivery requirements, compliance requirements, quality or design standards, brand requirements, or emergency need such as responding to major facility failures, disasters, or immediate safety and security issues.
It is best practice to attach documentation that demonstrates appropriate due diligence. Attaching supporting documents to the requisition relieves the need to retain documents in your files and is helpful should there be an audit.
