The following are the procedures for doing purchases through the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
1. Check with your advisor before completing forms to ensure they will authorize the purchase. Be sure forms are filled out as completely as possible. The purchasing staff are not responsible for providing the details for you, if phone numbers, address, or fax numbers are missing your order will be delayed until you either provide the details, or when time allows the purchasing staff to get them for you !!!!!
2. Contact the company to check to ensure they accept credit cards as payment. If not, see if they will accept a university purchase order. If so, you will need to get their complete mailing address and fax number before handing in the purchase request. Make a note on the form that credit cards are not accepted. If you get a quote from a company, be sure to include a hard copy of the quote and the contact name of who you spoke to so the Missouri S&T Purchasing Department has something to refer to.
3. If you need to return anything you ordered, or there is a problem with the order, let the purchasing staff handle it. DO NOT call the company to yourself, the purchasing staff need to document all returns / resolutions to problems on the order forms.
Note: Prior authorization for purchases must be requested or the person placing the order may ultimately be personally responsible for paying for the order.The Purchasing Policy Manual addresses this issue at: http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/rules/bpm/bpm300/manual_301.
4.If you need to make a purchase from a local company, please see staff in main office BEFORE making the purchase. There are student credit cards available for use with prior approval from your advisor (For request form) Student purchasing cards can only be checked out for up to 4 hours and the latest checkout time will be 3:00 pm and it must be returned to the office no later than 4:00 pm on the day checked out (they CANNOT be kept overnight or over the weekend under any circumstances).
5. For Purchase Orders and other Procurement guidelines please go to the Procurement website at: http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/fa/procurement/procureguide
6. When packages arrive, DO NOT take them from Rm. 232 until you see your name on the side of the box. This tells you that we have taken the information that we need to finalize the purchase and make payment. Only the person named on the box (or their advisor) can remove orders from room 232. Chemicals must be logged in by Environmental Health & Safety at 6672. If you have chemicals and will use the entire order on the day they arrive they do not need to be bar coded .
If you have any questions regarding the purchase of something, please check with the department office to ensure policies are being followed.
Gas Cylinder Orders: It has become evident that during EHS laboratory inspections and chemical inventories that our compressed gas cylinder policy as regards Chemtrack, our chemical tracking system on campus, is not being followed consistently. Here is the directive from the EHS web page: When you obtain gas from distributors, make sure you arrange to have the vendor pick up the empty cylinders. Avoid purchasing lecture bottles - their disposal is extremely expensive. When you receive a new product, notify your AMR and they will get it into the inventory. The bar-code will be attached to a removable tag. When you exchange the cylinder for a new one, you may transfer the tag ONLY if the size and contents are identical. If a contractor exchanges cylinders, make sure they know to exchange the tags. If you receive a new gas or a different sized container, it will need a new bar-code.
For information on currency conversion, daily meal rates, and allowable daily rates for foreign travel, please go to the Accounting Office website at: http://www.umsystem.edu/oei/sharedservices/apss/travel_and_expense.
Follow Materials Science and Engineering