Purchasing

There are five ways of ordering supplies and materials at MRI:

• Purchasing Cards: Authorized by faculty, purchasing cards are the primary mechanism to purchase supplies and equipment under $2000.
• Limited Orders (LOs): For purchases up to $500 from outside vendors only when purchasing card cannot be used.
• Purchase Orders (POs): For purchases over $500 from outside vendors.
• Interdepartmental Charges and Credits (IDCC): For all purchases from other departments at Penn State.
• Petty Cash: Purchases up to $50 are reimbursed in cash and $50 for group meals; receipts are required. Due to limited funds, please use departmental purchasing card if possible.

A supply of blank request forms is kept in room 243 and can also be downloaded from Forms. Completed forms should be placed in the Accounting bin in room 201 MRL. LOs, POs, and IDCCs require three days to process; orders to be phoned or walked through should be marked prominently on the request form. Packing slips must be signed and dated by the person receiving the order and returned immediately to the Accounting office.

MRI Order Form

The MRI Order Form is used for vendors who cannot accept a visa card, or for items over $2000.

• Please be sure to attach a quote from the vendor
• If the item is over $10,000 you must complete a sole source form.

Purchases of $10,000 or more from a specific vendor: If you are placing an order for $10,000 or more and you specifically want to purchase from a particular vendor, you will need to complete the Single/Sole Source Justification Form along with the department order form stating why, otherwise Purchasing will send your purchase order out for bid.

Purchasing equipment > $50,000 from federal funds: If you are purchasing an individual piece of equipment that cost more than $50,000 and is being purchased from federal funds, you must complete the Federally Funded Capital Equipment Form along with the department order form.

For ordering gas cylinders: contact Gaylord Shawver at 863-7169 or Validate to view address - Send Email via form.