Procurement Process

Purchase Orders

For guidance and/or information on how to raise a Purchase Order on the WesternNow platform, please watch the below tutorial video (staff login required).

A Purchase Order is the University's official order form issued to procure goods and/or services on behalf of the University. Purchase Orders are issued only for goods and/or services which are to be used by the University and cannot under any circumstances be used for staff or student personal requirements.

A Purchase Order is required for the purchases of all goods and/or services over $5,000 in value, and for smaller values, where payment by other methods, such as corporate credit card, is not appropriate.

Some procurement activities are exceptions to the procurement process (procurement process refers to a sourcing activity, or the obtaining of comparison quotes), however, these exceptions still require a purchase order to be raised for the procurement activity to ensure appropriate contract management actions, GIPA Declaration and auto matching of invoices via Basware. Please refer to the Exceptions List for the current approved exceptions.

GIPA Declaration is required for all approved exceptions, where the value is or exceeds $150K inc. GST. For more information on GIPA Declaration, visit our page: Commercial Contract Management & GIPA | Western Sydney University

Contracts

Where a purchase requires the supplier to enter into a contract with the University, the Office of General Counsel must be advised of this fact and be involved in the preparation or review of the contract documentation prior to signing. Purchases under contract should also have a Purchase Order raised by the use of a Purchase and Service Requisition to account for the expenditure in the Oracle financial system.

NSW Government Contracts

University staff are to use NSW Government or other procurement consortium contracts where they exist for goods and services.  Suppliers on these types of contracts have been pre-approved meeting standards set down by the NSW Government Department of Services Technology and Administration or the establishing agency. A list of NSW Government contracts and guides for their use is available on the Buy NSW website (opens in a new window).

The contracts may have single or multiple suppliers and can be for specific products and costs or a more general panel supply arrangement where pricing has to be sought for specific products. Where a contract has a panel of multiple suppliers, University staff are encouraged to obtain quotes from these suppliers to determine the best value for money outcome. These contracts will generally provide good pricing but it is often possible to obtain competitive prices below those offered on Government contracts.

Restricted Items/Preferred Suppliers

Restricted Items
The University has authorised certain business units to negotiate and secure contracts for particular goods and/or services on its behalf.  Only those nominated areas are authorised to procure for these items. These restrictions are approved by the Vice-President, Finance and Resources. Refer to the Knowledge Article for specific items and processes

Preferred Suppliers
These are a list of suppliers who supply specific goods and/or services to the university. All goods or services with a preferred supplier are listed in the Restricted Items Knowledge Article. All purchases must go through Strategic Procurement or the relevant business unit to procure.

Financial Delegates

The authority to purchase on behalf of the University is vested in nominated positions as outlined in the Delegations of Authority Policy.

The Financial Delegate (or holder of the appropriate delegation) for a procurement transaction is responsible to ensure that they are satisfied of all of the appropriate procedures and process have been followed before authorising the purchase transaction.