Purchasing/Reimbursements
General Guidelines
1. The Cary Institute is a tax-exempt organization in New York and Maryland. If you need to make purchases for Cary Institute projects, please make sure that you have a tax-exempt form for the appropriate state, available in the Comptroller’s office.
2. All purchases must be reasonable and allocable to the project and allowable under federal guidelines and the terms and condition of the award that is being charged. The PI or their designee must approve all expenditures and exercise best efforts in obtaining the most cost effective price. This pricing should be reflected in the proposed budget and budget narrative at the time the proposal is submitted for funding to the appropriate agency. For EPA specific awards, backup documentation will include reasons for choice of purchase including description of pricing comparison that was done and reason for choice.
3. If you need to order items you may obtain a purchase order number and fill out a Purchase Requisition. A copy of the requisition should be submitted to Purchasing. If you will be calling in your order, please note that on the requisition.
4. If you have purchased supplies for the Cary Institute totaling $25 or more and you have paid for it with your own money, you must fill out a Check Requisition and submit this to Accounts Payable in order to be reimbursed. You must attach your original receipts and have the PI or their designee’s signature and account number before submission.
5. If you require a reimbursement less than $25, you must fill out a petty cash request and submit it to the Payroll Office. You must have the PI or their designee’s signature and account number. Original receipts must be attached where appropriate. A cash reimbursement will then be issued.
6. If you are purchasing on a Cary Institute account at a local vendor, you must print your name and your account number on the in-store receipt. You must turn your original receipt in to Accounts Payable with the PI or their designee’s signature and account number.
7. If you are requesting reimbursement for travel expenses, you must fill out a travel voucher (attach original receipts) and have the PI or their designee approve and note account number on the voucher before submitting to Accounts Payable. See Travel Reimbursements for more details.
8. If you are requesting reimbursement for Business meals, you must have an original itemized receipt and a meal expense form must be completed and approved. The purpose for the meal and the names of people attending must be included.
9. The Cary Institute follows the OMB threshold for equipment but may elect to tag and inventory items valued over $1,000 for insurance purposes.
10. Federally Titled Equipment and/or equipment purchased with federal funds are physically inventoried via an internal audit every other year. Any findings with the record are then corrected. Other equipment, non-federally titled or purchased with non-federal funds, is inventoried the same as equipment purchased with federal funding via an internal audit every other year with any findings corrected.
11. Recipients of grant(s) shall avoid purchasing unnecessary items. When appropriate, an analysis should be conducted of lease and purchase alternatives to determine which would be the most economical and practical procurement for the Federal grant monies. For all items that exceed the small purchase threshold and that cost over $10,000, three written quotes must be obtained regardless of funding source.
12. No employee, officer, or agent shall participate in the selection, award, or administration of a contract supported by Federal funds if a real or apparent conflict of interest would be involved.
13. Please print your name legibly on any paperwork. It is sometimes difficult to decipher signatures. The transaction will be delayed if we cannot understand your writing.
Ø All paperwork (timesheets, receipts, requisition forms, etc.), must have the PI or their designee’s signature and account number prior to submission.
General Supplies
Mail and copy supplies are located in the upstairs mailroom in the Plant Science Building. Forms needed for routine procedures (i.e. check requisitions, travel vouchers, etc.) are also located there and on the Intranet. All other general office supplies are located in the downstairs stockroom. Please sign out all items indicating the account number that should be charged for the supplies. Please notify Purchasing when taking the last of an item so it can be restocked. Toner cartridges for printers can also be obtained through Purchasing.
Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders
When purchasing an item, you will need a PO number and a completed purchase requisition form. You can obtain the PO numbers from the Comptroller’s Office. When filled out, it should be returned to the Comptroller’s Office. When the items and invoice are received, the appropriate PI or their designee must approve the original invoice and attach the packing slip and forward to Comptroller’s Office for payment.
If an item is over $5,000 it must be tagged and inventoried. If an item is over $10,000 three written price quotes must be obtained.
Travel Reimbursements
The Institute policy provides reimbursement for actual reasonable expenses incurred while traveling in connection with Institute activities. “Reasonable” means the use of common sense tempered by a healthy measure of frugality.
Transportation - air and train fare will be reimbursed at the economy rate unless first class fare can be justified. Original receipts (not copies) are required unless unique circumstances justify the use of copies (i.e. reimbursement is split between two institutions).
Lodging – travelers should use the rule of reason in selecting hotel accommodations. Original receipts are required. Per Diem lodging rates are not used by Cary Institute.
Rental Car – a number of car rental companies provide discounts and credit cards for Cary Institute staff. Special rates should be used when feasible. Original receipts are required.
Private Vehicles – reimbursement for business use of personal vehicles will be at a rate recognized by the IRS.
Meals – utilize the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of State (DOS) rates in the calculation of meal reimbursement. The rates are recalculated and issued throughout the year, so please refer to the website(s) listed below for the current rates. The per diem rates for the continental U.S. are found at www.gsa.gov/portal/category/104711
The traveler may receive up to 75% of the full per diem rate for the first and last day of travel.
If the location where the traveler is staying is not on the list, then the per diem rate is $46 per day.
In determining the total per diem reimbursement for a multi-destination trip, the rate for each day is determined by the location where the traveler overnights.
If any meal(s) is provided to the traveler during his/her travel, the amount corresponding to that meal(s) must be subtracted from the per diem amount for that day.
Business-related meals (when paying for other colleagues) are permissible, as long as they are allowable, allocable and are approved. The traveler must fill out a meal expense form describing the business, who attended, and provide an itemized receipt. A wavier of tax in NY and MD should be requested. If the charge is to a federal grant, no alcohol is allowed.
Additionally, the corresponding per diem amount for all business meals will be removed from the total per diem reimbursement.
The traveler does not need to claim the entire reimbursement amount.
The traveler cannot use the Cary Institute credit card for meals; reimbursement will occur after a travel expense form is completed, approved and processed.
Day Trips (no overnight stay)
To receive a per diem, the traveler must travel 40 miles from the Cary Institute and must be gone for 12 hrs. If satisfying these conditions, the traveler may be reimbursed up to 75% of the appropriate per diem rate.
International Travel
The per diem rates for international travel are set by the Department of State and can be found at the following website:
aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp
Any city or other area not listed for per diem under a country takes the "Other" rate published for that country.
Whereas the per diem meal allowances are broken down into 6 discreet categories for domestic travel, foreign per diem rates have a much broader range—from $15 dollars in Afghanistan to over $180 in parts of France. Additionally, the amounts for Incidentals ($5 for all US rate levels) can be a large part of the allowable foreign per diem. The breakdown of the per diem rate, into Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Incidentals can be found at the following website:
aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=114&menu_id=81
However, the following percentages can be used to calculate amount/per meal:
· Breakfast = 15%
· Lunch = 25%
· Dinner = 40%
· Incidentals = 20% (or the remainder)
As with domestic rates, the foreign per diem rate is determined by where the traveler overnights.
Credit Cards
Cary Institute credit cards must be used only for Cary Institute business related activities only. All receipts/invoices from charges must be approved by the appropriate PI or their designee and turned into Accounts Payable. All purchasing guidelines must be adhered to when making credit card purchases.
Property and Procurement Standards
All individual items purchased with a cost of $1,000 or more maybe required to have a Cary Institute inventory tag. The purchaser will receive an Inventory ID form from the Comptroller’s office. The completed form should be returned to the appropriate contact person in the Comptroller’s office. A physical inventory of equipment is performed every other year.
The Cary Institute follows the guidance of the OMB circulars A-110/A133 in regard to purchase of equipment. When required, three quotes are obtained before purchasing equipment and the cost of leasing is evaluated if applicable. The Cary Institute does not normally lease equipment that is used for sponsored projects. Outright purchase is usually more cost effective, and the leasing period often exceeds the life of an award.
Title for the equipment vests with the Cary Institute, unless otherwise specified in the terms and conditions of the award. As specified in OMB Circular A-110 section .34 (c) The recipient shall use the equipment in the project or program for which it was acquired as long as needed, whether or not the project or program continues to be supported by Federal funds and shall not encumber the property without approval of the Federal awarding agency. When no longer needed for the original project or program, the recipient shall use the equipment in connection with its other federally-sponsored activities, in the following order of priority: (i) Activities sponsored by the Federal awarding agency which funded the original project, then (ii) activities sponsored by other Federal awarding agencies.
Revised April 2013