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Before You Buy

Before you make any type of purchase on behalf of the university, there are several things you should always consider:

University credit, purchasing power and facilities have been granted to you to make purchases for official business use only. Always ask if the purchase is necessary, and if there are existing supplies that meet departmental needs.

Per university policy, there should always be a business need for each purchase (i.e., teaching, research, administrative). Items for personal use (e.g., coffee makers) are not generally considered necessary or appropriate purchases.

When making a purchase, it is important to consider the effects of the item on the environment. Purchasing considerations include recycled content, energy-efficiency, and type of packaging. More on sustainable purchasing ...

There may be restrictions on what can or cannot be purchased on certain types of accounts (i.e., federal, agency-funded). In general, if an account has more restrictive policies than the university, the more restrictive policy applies.

In addition, some funding sources may require that purchases are made from Certified Small Businesses or Certified Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises. See the Selecting a Vendor page for more information.

UCD Buy and campus sources often provide items at the lowest overall cost. Lowest overall cost is more than just the price of the item - it includes the cost of time spent issuing the order, traveling to get the item, processing the invoice(s) for payment, etc.

Purchasing Tip! UCD Buy can be one of the most effective ways to make purchases: Take full advantage of multiple university agreements Several campus sources available Same-day delivery for many items Save valuable resources! Recycled products appear first in search results

University agreements have been competitively bid with outside vendors and generally offer favorable pricing and terms. Most agreements are optional, but there are several that must be used for a specified commodity.

If you can't find what you are looking for from a campus source, or from one of the vendors with which we have an agreement, you may need to choose an alternate vendor. More on selecting a vendor ...

The university is committed to complying with the ADA. With every purchase it is important to consider options that would accommodate the needs of individuals with disabilities. For example, videotapes, DVDs, or any other visual aid for classroom instruction that provides "closed captioning" for the deaf or hearing impaired should be purchased over those that do not have this option.