SUNY Administrative Procedure Manual Item 7553
- As a result of legislative action to help SUNY fulfill its educational mission, changes have been made to the SUNY Administrative Procedure Manual. The Comptroller's Office has enacted new rules to simplify the procurement process.
- In April of 2011 Governor Cuomo signed procurement legislation allowing SUNY to procure certain items without NYS Attorney General (AG) and NYS Office of the Comptroller pre-approval (OSC).
OSC and AG approval is not required for the following contracts regardless of amount:
- Procurement of materials, equipment and supplies (including computer equipment);
- Procurement of motor vehicles;
- Construction contracts;
- Construction-related service contracts, such as architectural or surveying services;
- Printing contracts.
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- All other contracts, excluding any of the above, but including those specified below, of an amount exceeding $250,000.00 and other applicable oversight approval thresholds, must be pre-approved by OSC and AG.
- Real Estate: Acquisition and disposition of real estate, such as real property purchases, deeds, leases, revocable permits, etc;
- Services: Contracts for services, other than construction related services contracts. Service contracts or those which required the vendor to perform a task or tasks or those which the bulk of the expenditure on the contract is for the payment of vendor's personnel costs;
- Technology: Contracts which involve the vendor's deployment of a technical means or method in providing a solution to SUNY, such as the acquisition of computer software systems and products etc;
- Revenue contracts;
- Article 11-B (contracts with not-for-profit organizations).
VERY IMPORTANT: Please note this legislation does not change the need for SUNY to comply with the procurement requirements and procedures in the New York State Finance Law, Education Law, Economic Development Law, other applicable State laws, OSC bulletins, Procurement Council Guidelines, OGS Guidelines and SUNY policies and procedures etc. Existing State requirements for advertising procurements, competitive bidding using IFB's, RFP's, justifying sole or single source procurements, documenting procurement methods and decisions in the Procurement Record and reviewing and verifying vendor responsibility, procurement lobbying et cetera, must be complied with.
OSC still has the authority to post-audit ALL SUNY's contracts. Every procurement and facilities office must be vigilant in maintaining strict adherence to the State and SUNY's procurement requirements so that our new procurement flexibility is not jeopardized.
Related Links
Documentation Requirements
According to SUNY Central Administration we are allowed to purchase up to $30K directly from a certified MWBE without the need to advertise in the NYS Contract Reporter, providing we can demonstrate fairness of price and reasonableness of selection.