Delegation of Signature Authority for Procurement Contracts

Owned by Stacy Johnson
Oct 13, 2024
2 min read

From: Cynthia Best
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2024

To:  SOM Academic Department Chairs and Administrators

Delegation of Signature Authority for Procurement Contracts

 

As detailed in this memo from Dr. Good, effective August 1, 2024 you have been delegated signature authority for the purpose of signing Purchasing/Procurement Agreements less than $50,000.

Please keep in mind the following:

  • You cannot delegate this authority to anyone else---only the academic department chair and head administrative officer have designated procurement signature authority.

  • You may approve agreements up to $49,999 (as a lifetime amount, not an annual amount).

  • Note that there are several purchase types that require special handling regardless of the amount:

    • Purchasing Department review is required for “confidential info, event services, financial assets, food handling, foreign entities, hazardous materials, healthcare, increased liability risk, information sharing or storage, minors, Personal Health Information (PHI), Personal Identifiable Information (PII), rental of U of U space, safety issues, security services, software, sub-contractors, transportation, travel, trial use, recruiting/staffing, etc.”

o     Independent Contractor Agreements must be reviewed by the Purchasing Department regardless of amount.

  • Dean’s office approval is required for recruitment, alcohol and social events (same as before).

  • Contracts and agreements, equal to or greater than $50,000, and revenue generating contracts will still need to route via the Archer system for SVPHS signature.  Departments may continue to use Archer for routing internal to the department and as a repository.  In that case, within Archer the College/School Dean’s Approver and the Senior VP Approver should be marked as “N/A” to prevent any routing.

  • Purchasing will continue to serve as a resource to departments, and can supply Governmental Entity Addenda or work with OGC as needed.  The expectation is that departments will not reach out to OGC directly on procurement contracts < $50,000 that can be signed at the department level.  Departments should work with OGC directly only on agreements that require SVPHS signature.

  • Agreements with University entities (e.g., renting a University venue for an event) can always be signed by the department, regardless of amount.  Such agreements are considered internal to the University.

Please refer to the Signature Authority Flow Chart or the Pulse page on SVPHS Signatures for more detailed information.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Cynthia

 

Cynthia Best, M.B.A.

Vice Dean for Finance and Administration

 

University of Utah School of Medicine

27 South Mario Capecchi Drive

Salt Lake City, UT  84113 | 801.581.7443