Policy: Policy 7-3-3: Policy for Equipment Purchasing and Inventory Control Date Adopted: Sep 20, 2005
Department: Finance & Administration Contact: Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services
Statement: WNC process governing the purchasing and inventory control of equipment

Table of Contents:

  1. Purchasing of Equipment
  2. Definitions
  3. New Hire Furniture and/or Equipment
  4. Replacement of Furniture and/or Equipment
  5. Purchase Orders and receiving procedures for purchases over $2,000 and Computer Equipment
  6. Credit Card Procedures
  7. Inventory requirements
  8. Exceptions

Section 1: Purchasing of Equipment


  1. Individual departments and divisions must purchase equipment using standard purchasing procedures and funds from their individual operating accounts, or institutional accounts with appropriate approval. Purchases under $2,000 can be completed utilizing purchase orders through the college Business Office or departmental purchase cards. Purchases over $2,000 will be forwarded to Business Center North for completion. Furniture purchases must conform to WNC policies, including a choosing from a list of approved ergonomic products for chairs and receiving quotes from Nevada Prison Industries for office furniture. Items listed in 2 A of this policy must be included in the colleges inventory of sensitive equipment.

Section 2: Definitions


  1. Sensitive Equipment: Equipment valued between $2,000 and $5,000 and all computer equipment. Regardless of the source of funds, approval for purchase of these items must be obtained from the realevant college service area (i.e., Computing Services for computers, Media Services, etc). These items are tracked and inventoried separately by the institution and a report of these items must be provided to the Chancellor and/or Board of Regents upon request. The following items are considered sensitive equipment:
    1. Bicycles
    2. Camera, digital, film, video
    3. Cell phones, two way radios, individual communication devices
    4. All computers costing less than $5,000, desktop, servers, laptop, PDAs regardless of acquisition cost
    5. Copy, fax and multi-function machines
    6. Lawn mowers
    7. Microscopes and telescopes
    8. Printers
    9. Music systems and components
    10. Scales and balances
    11. Televisions
    12. Video: projectors, recorders, monitors
  2. Fixed assets or Inventoried Equipment: Any items with an initial value of over $5,000 or any firearms. The ownership of this property is vested in the Board of Regents of the NSHE. These items will be purchased by Business Center North and are depreciated on a fixed asset schedule. These items are tracked by System and the inventory records are maintained by BCN. Inventoried equipment is defined as all merchandise meeting the following criteria:
    1. Has an unit cost of $5,000 or more
    2. Is complete in itself
    3. Does not lose its identity even though it may become a component part of another item when placed in use
    4. Is of a non-expendable, non-repairable, durable nature with a life expectancy of one-year or more.
    5. Any firearms regardless of value.

Section 3: New Hire Furniture and/or Equipment


  1. The purchase of furniture and/or equipment for new employee positions, not previously filled, utilizes this same process and follows this same policy for all furniture and equipment. Departments anticipating filling new positions should budget for furniture and equipment, including computer equipment, which will be needed by the person hired for the position.

Section 4: Replacement of Furniture and/or Equipment


  1. The purchase of furniture and/or equipment for vacant or reallocated positions utilizes the same process and follows the same policy for all furniture and equipment, except the requesting department is responsible for the funding required for the purchase. The requesting department must request a transfer of funds from their operating account to the appropriate College equipment account before the purchase can be made. The College equipment account number may be obtained from the Budget Office.

Section 5: Purchase Orders and receiving procedures for purchases over $2,000 and Computer Equipment


  1. Accounts Payable will send Central Receiving a copy of the purchase orders Receiving Document for any purchases over $2,000, which requires processing through Business Center North.
    1. Upon delivery of the equipment, Central Receiving will attach the Receiving Document to the items received and deliver to the requesting division/department. Upon receipt of the invoice, Accounts Payable will send the invoice to the receiving department for signature signifying the purchase was received and approving payment, once the signed invoice is received back to the Business Office it will be paid.
    2. For computer equipment, a copy of the purchase order will be sent to Computing Services at the time it is ordered. This will enable Computing Services to match the item upon receipt with the requesting department. Computing Services will deliver the items to the requesting department with a copy of the purchase order. Once the invoice is received it will be forwarded to the receiving department for review and approval. Once a signed invoice is received back to the business office, the invoice will be paid.

Section 6: Credit Card Procedures


  1. Sensitive equipment referenced in section 2 of this policy cannot be purchased with a WNC credit card. Violations of this policy will result in exception notices as follows:
    1. First occurrence: letter of explanation from the employee with whom the purchase was generated (explaining why proper procedures were not followed) sent to the Controller. The Business Office will direct the employee to review the WNC policy on purchasing and provide additional training if needed.
    2. Second occurrence: letter of explanation (why the purchase was not processed within policy guidelines) from the employee who authorized the purchase with approval from that employees Vice President sent to the Controller. Upon review of the circumstances, the employees purchase card may be revoked depending on the circumstances of the purchase. If the card is retained, additional training will be provided to the employee on proper purchasing procedures.
    3. Third occurrence: Card will be suspended/revoked. Upon an explanation of the circumstances of the purchase, and in conjunction with additional training, the card may be reinstated depending on the situation.

Section 7: Inventory requirements


  1. Fixed asset or inventoried equipment will be subject to an annual inventory. NSHE will forward inventory forms to the Business Office and these forms will be then forwarded to the department having custody of the item(s). The department with custody of the equipment will be required to complete the inventory within the stated timeframe, sign and date the inventory forms and return it to the Business Office. The Business Office will return the completed forms to BCN.
  2. For sensitive items as defined in Section 2 A., these items will be tracked using WNC campus-based records and the department having custody of the item will be responsible for conducting an annual inventory and forwarding the results to the Business Office. Actual inventory procedures will be promulgated via memorandum from the Business Office, normally in the 4th quarter of the fiscal year along with the sensitive item inventory list from the previous year. The responsible department will conduct an inventory and annotate on the list as inventoried or if not located, what the disposition of the item was (i.e. disposed of through normal channels, transferred to another department, lost or stolen. For new sensitive items received, the receiving department will forward the following data to the Business Office:
    1. Description of item including serial number and manufacturer
    2. Item location including campus, building name and room number
    3. Date acquired and purchase order number
  3. Once this information is received by the Business Office, the item will be added to the departments inventory list and an equipment tag will be sent to the department to affix to the item.
  4. If a department disposes of a sensitive item using approved NSHE procedures, a note must be sent to the Controller stating the reason for the disposition of the item and if applicable, the asset tag will be removed from the item and returned to the Business Office. The Business Office will then remove the item from the departments inventory listing.

Section 8: Exceptions


  1. Any exceptions to this policy require the written approval of the college president or designee(s).

Date(s) Revised April 6, 2010; September 2, 2008; Date(s) Reviewed