Sourcing Your Purchase

Understanding your purchasing options and limitations is a critical component to ensuring compliance with university policies and state and federal regulations. Requisitioners are required to understand purchasing rules prior to using University funds. Both internal and external sources are available to meet resourcing requirements for goods and services. It is prudent for requisitioners to consider all purchasing options prior to making a final purchasing decision.

Buying Internally

 

The University has several internal sources available to meet requirements for goods and services, which may cut down on cost and time to execution. Consider UVA internal resources before exploring externally sourced products and services.

• Gently used University-owned property at the UVA ReUSE Store
• Cavalier Computers, UVA's non-profit tech store
• Full-service digital design, development, and hosting solutions from ITS Custom Applications and Consulting Services
• Departmental gifts, promotional items, general books, clothing, computers, and more at the UVA Bookstore
• Printing, copying, design, and mailing services at Printing & Copying Services
• Research Core lab services supported by the School of Medicine
• Maintenance, signage, recycling, and many more services from Facilities Management
• Information Technology Services from ITS
• Strategic and operational planning, process improvement, organizational effectiveness, and project/change management services from Organizational Excellence

Buying Externally

Consider an Existing Contract: The University, along with peer and State institutions and agencies provide access to cooperative agreements that improve buying power and lower costs to users. Purchasers are encouraged to leverage these agreements to achieve high value purchasing outcomes. These contracts offer:

• The best prices negotiated on historical and forecasted University usage
• Hassle-free purchasing. Using a contract vendor means that there's no need to obtain quotes, register a vendor, or check eVA status
• Known, approved vendors. Vendor performance is monitored, and they have a vested interest in keeping all their University customers happy.

Identify New & Diverse Suppliers:

• Depending on Guidelines for Competition and operational requirements, seeking external sources of supply not currently on contract may be needed. The Strategic sourcing team is available to help through the request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) processes.  
•  Source New & Diverse Suppliers