Division of Financial Services
Procurement Services
A caterer is a service provider who performs food preparation, event setup, delivers food, serves food or beverages, or cleans up food on Cornell-controlled property, including facilities owned by Cornell and facilities that may be rented or leased and only under Cornell’s control for the period of the event.
Catering should not be confused with simple delivery, when no service is performed on-site, i.e., pizza delivery.
Catering services require the issuance of a purchase order and proof of insurance, see Paying for Services section of the Buying Manual for further details. For a list of service providers who have insurance, see the Suppliers and Caterers with Insurance page.
It is important to select the correct vendor number. Many hotels are owned by parent companies, and the parent company is selected in error. To make sure you select the appropriate vendor, make sure that the vendor name matches the location of the hotel.
For example, to select the Wardman Park Marriott use vendor 15650-1.
A price certification is needed when:
In compliance with policy, Procurement and Payment Services must verify that the purchase is, in fact, a sole source and that the pricing is reasonable and justified by the vendor (e.g., discount, NYS contract price, and so forth). Procurement and Payment Services’ role is to make sure that the university is paying the best price for goods or services.
Please refer to section 402, Bid Solicitation and Exemptions (sole source) of the Buying Manual.
For more information, see University Policy 3.25, Procurement of Goods and Services or the Purchase Order Process section of the Buying Manual.
In accordance with university policy, we are required to bid any goods or services that have a total cost of more than $25,000 and when the purchase is not a single/sole-source situation. Please refer to Buying Manual section 402, Bid Solicitation and Exemptions (sole source).
If you are considering soliciting bids for your purchase, we recommend that you consult with a purchasing agent. Bids are not required for purchases under $25,000. Procurement and Payment Services will solicit formal, written bids for purchases over $25,000. If using a preferred supplier, bidding may not be required. Please complete the Request for Competitive Bid Form, and submit it to procurement@cornell.edu.
Per University Policy 4.2, Transaction Authority and Payment Approval, a contract must not be executed without an authorized procurement agent’s signature. Procurement and Payment Services will send the executed contract to the vendor. Procurement and Payment Services has delegated to the financial transaction and business service center directors signature authority for caterers, performers and services provider contracts under $25,000 only. Refer to Buying Manual section 502, Contracts.
According to University Policy 3.25, Procurement of Goods and Services and the Purchase Order Process section of the Buying Manual, single/sole-source justification is required for all purchases over $25,000 for all funds where competition may be restricted due to technical specifications, proprietary information, method of distribution, upgrades of existing equipment, etc.
A procurement agent must review and sign the following Cornell agreements:
A procurement agent must review and sign vendor contracts related to a purchase order.
A procurement agent’s signature is not required for the following:
See Buying Manual section 502, Contracts.
No, you cannot process the order as an APO.
Signature Required? Check the restricted box on the line item if any of the documents must be signed. In the Notes and Attachments tab of the I Want Doc or KFS Requisition, attach the documents (e.g., agreements, contracts, quotes, etc.), and enter a note indicating that the document needs to be signed. Procurement will review the attachments, sign the required document, and send the document with the purchase order to the vendor.
Attachments for vendor? If the attachments do not require review or signature by a procurement agent, you do not need to check the restricted box. To send a document to the vendor, you can attach the document to the I Want Doc with a note to send to vendor or to the KFS requisition and select Yes in the Send to Vendor column for each attachment. The document will be sent to the vendor when the purchase order is released. Once you process an APO, you are the agent for the purchase, and all attachments are your responsibility. If you have any questions, please contact Procurement and Payment Services at (607) 255-3804.
The user submits the contract with the I Want Doc. The BSC completes the KFS Requisition (REQS) and checks the Restricted box on the line item to ensure that KFS routes the order to Procurement and Payment Services for review, regardless of dollar amount.
If the user emails the contract to Procurement and Payment Services before the REQS is submitted, the BSC should be copied on the email. A final copy of the contract should be attached to the KFS REQS.
Cornell requires that suppliers submit evidence of adequate insurance coverage before performing work or services on campus. For more information, see the Insurance Requirements section of the Buying Manual.
Cornell University requires that vendors who perform a service that may result in liability to the university meet certain minimum levels of insurance coverage. Vendors must submit evidence of adequate insurance coverage before performing work or services for the university. If you are unsure whether the intended service provider must provide proof of insurance, contact the Risk Management and Insurance.
A service is defined as an activity in which labor is the major factor and not merely incidental to the production, acquisition, and/or delivery of a good. Examples of services include hay delivery, catering, equipment repair, and web site design. For more information, please refer to section 405, Insurance Requirements of the Buying Manual.
Written permission must be obtained from the Cornell Brand Communications for the use of any Cornell-affiliated artwork or text. Departments are responsible for applying to use names, logos, artwork, or text owned by Cornell. For more information and an application, please visit the Cornell Brand Communciations website or refer to Buying Manual section 612, Use of Cornell Logo, Name and Insignia.
See University Policy 3.25, Procurement of Goods and Services or the Buying Manual.
To sign up for KFS training, please visit the Training library.
For help with Purchasing module e-docs, including Requisitions, Purchase Orders, etc., call us at (607) 255-3804.
Depending on the nature of the requisition and the dollar amount of the order, as well as whether the requisition has all of the necessary information, most standard orders can be processed within 24 hours of submission. There may be a delay when a supplier is not in the KFS vendor database, or when insurance, attachments, bid requirements, and single/sole source justification or other/additional approvals are needed. If you have questions, please contact Procurement Services at (607) 255-3804.
You can check the status of a Requistion (REQS) or Purchase Order (PO) using either the Procurement Gateway or KFS.
Go to the Procurement Gateway and login with your Cornell NetID and password, if necessary. The status of your orders is available on the home page under My Orders.
Go to KFS and login with your Cornell NetID and password, if necessary. From the KFS Main Menu tab, under Custom Document Searches, select either Purchase Orders or Requisitions. Enter the appropriate information in the search field and click the search button. Select the appropriate PO or REQS from the search results.
The status is identified at the top and bottom of the e-doc, and more detailed information is available in the Notes and Attachement tab.
Top of the document:
Notes and Attachments tab:
Check with your department administrator or BSC. They can check the line item in the PO and tell you if that item has been received.
The most time consuming part of the purchase order process is the new vendor setup. You can facilitate the process by making sure you provide the e-mail address for the supplier when you submit an I Want Doc or a Requisition (REQS) e-doc. This makes it much easier for Procurement and Payment Services to contact the supplier quickly to begin the supplier registration process.
You can facilitate the process by having the foreign payee submit a completed IRS W-8 form to confirm that the vendor is foreign. If the payee does not complete the IRS W-8 form, you must provide the foreign address, and include any documentation showing the foreign payee's name and address. All foreign vendor requests are routed to DFA’s Tax Office after the Disbursement Voucher has been approved by the fiscal officer. Refer to Buying Manual section 205, Vendor Setup.
Preferred suppliers have participated in a negotiation process to implement a university-wide agreement, endorsed by Cornell Procurement and Payment Services to provide products, services, delivery, and customer service with the "best overall value" to Cornell. To learn more about the preferred and contract suppliers, please review the supplier table on our website.
For Payment Reason Codes J, M, F, B, X, P, and Z, follow these steps:
) in the Payee ID field to search for a payee.
Note: The Kuali Identity Management (KIM) system is not functioning as detailed in the DV Standard Operating Procedure. Therefore, the faculty, staff member, or student may have to be added to the vendor database; otherwise, KFS might not return an "Inactive Payee ID" to the DV initiator, and the initiator will not be able to pull in the faculty, staff member, or student on the DV.
Try to pull the faculty, staff member, or student into the DV through the KIM system, and then use the Vendor Search feature to see if they have already been set up as a KFS vendor.
To learn more about e-SHOP, please visit our e-SHOP pages, and review our e-SHOP FAQ.
When searching for a non-Cornell individual, select the Payment Reason Code, and then enter the individual’s name – last name, first name with a space between the comma and the first name – in the Vendor Name field. If the vendor is not in the database, you must submit a request to add the vendor to the database as a new vendor.
To learn more about the pcard program, please visit our Credit Card Programs pages.
"KFS" is the acronym for "Kuali Financial System."
