Procurement Services – Increased Bid Threshold and Other Updates – April 2024

Increased Bid Threshold (Non-Prevailing Wage):

The general goods and services bid threshold will be increased from $39,400 to $110,900, while public work/prevailing wage projects will remain at the University’s current bid threshold of $39,400. Most purchases for the University are not prevailing wage projects (typically Facilities related).

The chart below outlines the major updates regarding the threshold surrounding this change:

*University Contracts (UNC’s) may be utilized for any threshold. University-wide UNCs are posted on the website
**The supplier file can be accessed in Workday to check if these requirements are on file.

• Prevailing Wage Projects: Procurement Services has updated its Requisition Type Methodologies and added a Prevailing Wage Guide to explain further when prevailing wage applies. In addition, a soft alert stating that prevailing wage may apply has been added to relevant Spend Categories within Workday. If a Spend Category does not have this soft alert, the higher threshold should apply.

Additionally, Procurement Services is providing the following updates to the community:

• Signing Authority (Procurement Contracts): In the absence of a Vice President of Finance, Shawn Laidlaw, AVP of Procurement Services, will be signing contracts related to the purchase of goods and services and waiver of advertising approvals under $200,000 temporarily. Please find the chart below for procurement-related contracts:

• •  This will not include academic programs, affiliation agreements, or grants/research agreements. These agreements are primarily signed by the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (Junius Gonzales) or his designee.
  • This will not include Fee-for-Service Agreements, primarily signed by the Assistant Treasurer (Kelly Barros) during this transitional period.
  • These processes are further outlined on the Contract Approval Sheet (CAS).
• Training: Procurement Services has updated its various training documents on the Procurement Training Guides page. Additionally, Procurement is scheduling periodic training within the ITDS Training Portal, with additional training scheduled due to the increased bid threshold. This includes:
  • Overview of Key Montclair State Procurement Policies – Focused on a high-level overview of Procurement-related policies and guidelines to help you navigate through purchases, big or small.
  • Overview of the Supplier Create Process – This new training is focused on helping you navigate adding suppliers or updating supplier information.
  • Procurement Card Training and Refresher – Provides an overview of the P-Card program, including what is permitted, the roles and responsibilities of cardholders and approvers, and other important information.
  • Workday – Procurement Lifecycle – Focuses on the Workday lifecycle of a purchase from checking your budget, creating and managing requisitions, purchase order changes, receipts, returns, and payment through Accounts Payable.
• Waiver of Advertising:  The University has added several new waiver of advertising categories, including (28) Banking and investment services; (29) Energy supply, such as electric and gas, from a third-party supplier; (30) Hazardous waste collection and disposal services; (31)  Supplies and services for the administration of study abroad or remote programs; (32) Transportation services; (33) Vehicle maintenance; (34) Vending services; and (35) Medical testing. The website contains a complete List of Exemptions by Statute to Publicly Advertised Bids. The Waiver of Advertising Form was further updated so that all categories are selectable by a drop-down box when filling out the form.
• Cooperative Contracts: Justification that the cooperative purchase is most advantageous to the University has been required for purchases at or over $100,000. That threshold has been raised to $200,000 at this time. The Cooperative Contracts page clearly outlines the requirements for utilizing cooperative contracts and provides links to the various cooperatives that have been approved for University use to navigate cooperative contracts more efficiently.
• W9 – The IRS has updated its W-9 form. While the IRS will accept the previous form until September 2024, we are sharing this update so that the updated W-9 form can be requested for supplier onboarding or updates.
• Supplier Information: The Supplier Information page is an excellent resource for suppliers as it contains information that may be relevant to onboarding or usage, including our tax-exempt letter, doing business with the University and compliance documentation.
• Change Order Update – End users no longer need to approve a Change Order once all the regular approvals are processed, as Workday now automatically budget checks at the beginning of the process when it is submitted for approval.
• Punchout Catalogs – A Workday update has been made to require that the “Punch-Out Catalog” requisition type is selected when utilizing a punchout catalog.
• Other Items of Note: Procurement Policies and Procedures, Standard Terms and Conditions, and many other related Forms and Documents have been updated to account for the above updates. Please ensure any forms or documents are pulled from the Procurement Services website.