At AL we use an online purchasing system to purchase goods and services under $5000. The system is called the AL Purchasing System, or ALPS.  It can only be accessed from within the lab’s network or via VPN.  

Most items under $5000 may be obtained by the following process:

1. Determine what you need
2. Select a vendor
3. Submit an ALPS request with relevant details

 

After you submit your request, the Business Office will place the order with the vendor.  These orders are generally placed the same day and are paid by a Purchasing credit card or by using a Small Procurement Order in situations where the vendor does not accept credit cards.  If you need your items expedited to you, please be sure to make note of that in the comments on the ALPS request.  Any costs associated with expedited items will be covered by your account number.

After your item(s) arrive, the Business Office will check the receipts and packing slips against the shipment contents and mark the item(s) as received in ALPS.  They will retain all receipts and packing slips with the order documentation as per audit requirements.  Your item(s) will be placed in your mailbox or by the mailbox area on the second floor.

For Orders Exceeding $5,000

Any purchases which exceed $5000 in total must be submitted on a Purchase Requisition.  The Business Office completes the requisition once you supply a quote from a company you select.

We are not permitted to split purchases over time or between different companies to reduce the order under $5000 because this violates State of Maryland procurement and audit regulations.

Purchase orders are sent to College Park Procurement where they will be reviewed. Procurement may obtain additional quotes for the same item from different companies in an attempt to obtain a lower price or to satisfy State and Federal minority and small business enterprise procurement requirements.  If you have specific needs that justify a specific vendor, a Sole Source justification will need to be submitted that provides a strong justification for not considering alternative vendors. Examples of valid reasons include, but are not limited to:  1) there is only one known vendor, 2) the items must be compatible with existing equipment and the vendor is the only source of the compatible items, or 3) the bidding process (if the purchase is quite large) would take too long and significantly impede your research. The Business Office has examples of successful Sole Source requests that you may review. Any purchase exceeding $5000 for a single unit is generally considered equipment and must be carried on our inventory.

Purchasing Items for Reimbursement

Disbursement vouchers are used when you have purchased an item from a store yourself and you are requesting reimbursement. In general, this is discouraged from an audit standpoint and should be a rare occurrence. AL has accounts at Lowes and Frostburg Rental. To make an authorized purchase, please see Cami Martin in advance. When purchasing from these stores you must provide the receipt immediately afterwards to Cami Martin.

Master Contracts

We have Master Contracts with many common suppliers of laboratory instrumentation and chemicals which provide a heavily discounted price from that shown in the catalog. Master Contracts are purchase contracts that have been pre-negotiated by College Park’s Procurement Office. Purchases made from Master Contracts do not require anything other than you determining what you require, submitting that information via ALPS, and having the Business Office place the order. However, large orders will still need to be processed through Procurement. Some of the more common vendors you will likely use with Master Contracts in place include VWR, Fisher Scientific, AirGas, and Agilent.  Please note that some companies only have specific types of goods or services available under their Master Contract. As with all procurements, please have the Business Office assist you with these types of purchases.

Purchasing Computer-related Equipment

Computer related equipment must have been budgeted and justified in your proposal and those items costing $1000 or more are also carried on inventory as sensitive equipment.

Discounted Pricing

UMCES has accounts with Fisher and VWR Scientific that provide significant discounts through the University System.  It may help to be able to look up pricing on items for proposals, budgeting, etc. applied with our UMD discount.

To set up an online account with Fisher Scientific:

1. Go to www.fishersci.com
2. Register yourself with your own username, email, password, etc.
3. After registering, a page will come up offering you three options.  Click to “Enhance Profile” and then choose “Link to existing business account”.
4. Complete the form with our name, mailing address, phone number, etc. and use the following for a business account number:  051547-001
5. Once the account is approved, you should be able to login to see our discounted pricing.

 

To set up an online account with VWR Scientific:

1. Go to https://us.vwr.com/store
2. Click to register with site.
3. Select creation of “Permanent Profile”
4. Enter your personal information and then enter the following for the VWR Shipping Account Number:  80130199

 

You won’t be able to actually purchase anything with either account but it will allow you to see the discounted pricing.