Be aware of ethical considerations and potential conflicts of interest. Anyone responsible for any aspect of purchasing on behalf of OSU should complete the Ethics Statement. There are policies pertaining to purchasing and contracting ethics that OSU employees should be aware of and must adhere to when purchasing on behalf of OSU. This includes, but is not limited to purchasing from employees, relatives of OSU employees or members of the employee’s household, personal purchases using OSU Contracts, declaring a potential conflict of interest, accepting honorariums and responsibilities for selection committee members. These rules and policies pertain to all OSU employees for any kind of purchase at any dollar level.

OSU Surplus Property

Check to see if the goods you are seeking are available through OSU Surplus Property. Surplus Property has a wide variety of items available for sale to departments.

$0 - $5,000

With the exception of Bureau of Labor and Industries Prevailing Wage Rate related purchases, OSU Departments have a delegated authority for procurements of goods and services up to $5,000.  Competition is not required.  This means for orders which total less than $5,000, you may place the order directly with the vendor. To the extent practicable distribute purchases equitably among qualified entities.

$5,000.01 - $25,000

When your total order will be between $5,000.01 and $25,000, Business Center staff will review the order prior to processing. Competition is not required. To the extent practicable distribute purchases equitably among qualified entities. 

$25,000.01 - $250,000 (Informal/Small)

If your purchase total is $25,000.01 to $250,000, informal methods of competition are required.

$250,000 and Above (Formal)

Procurement will work with you to issue a formal solicitation for procurements that are over $250,000.

Sole Source Procurements

Sole Source procurements are only allowed when it can be thoroughly documented that the Vendor holds a unique (no other sources have it) set of skills or expertise that make it impossible for anyone else to do the work or that the goods are not available from another source. For purchases and contracts $25,000 or higher, you will need to complete and submit a Sole Source Request Form along with the Purchase Requisition or Contract to Procurement.