Procurement

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Purchasing Methods

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Buying Services

Using a Requisition PO in UCIBuy+ is the preferred method for purchasing most services. With an approved exception or services rendered off campus, the PALCard may also be used.

As you approach any purchase, the fund source and total amount of your purchase will determine competitive bid thresholds and policies that apply.

For non-federal fund purchases:

For federal fund purchases:

If your purchase involves a combination of federal and non-federal funds, the more restrictive Federal Fund Purchase Requirements shall apply.

For purchases greater than $50,000, contact a Procurement Services Team Member for assistance with benefits and savings negotiations. For purchases using federal funds and/or purchases greater than $100,000, see Competitive Bidding (RFX) for policies that may apply.

Copier Services

  • Differences between copiers and printers
    • Copiers are the large, stand-alone machines that are used to make, collate and staple copies as well as scan and FAX documents. Printers are the small desk-top units that are typically used by individuals.
    • Note: The cost per Black and White copy for a copier is approximately $0.005 while a printer can cost up to $0.15 per copy. Color copies cost considerably more. Desktop printers should only be used for small, low-volume applications.
  • Authorized Suppliers - The University of California has agreements with the following companies. Contracted suppliers are subject to change.

Differences between copier purchase and lease - Copiers may be either purchased outright or leased. If purchased, the end user's department owns the copier at the point of sale and is responsible for its maintenance, disposal and purchase of toner and other supplies. If a copier is leased (rented), ownership remains with the leasing company (typically, the manufacturer) until the lease term ends. The department is still responsible for maintenance but has the option of renewing the lease either prior to or at the end of the lease term. At the end of the lease term, it is up to the department to decide whether to lease a new machine or purchase the existing one. Maintenance is handled one of two ways: 1) Pay for maintenance when it is needed, or, 2) pay for maintenance through "click charges". Click charges are accrued every time a copy is made and are invoiced either monthly (Xerox) or quarterly (Ricoh). Paying the click charges can be viewed as "insurance", in other words, paying the click charges pays for toner and any maintenance that is needed. However, if no maintenance is needed, then there is no reimbursement of the click charges - the end user pays regardless of the amount of maintenance required.

Once you have selected the copier/copier services, get a price quote from the supplier, which should include all charges. A quote for the purchase of a copier should clearly show the purchase price and include "click charges" as optional. A quote for a copier lease should show the monthly lease charge and include "click charges" as optional.

Create a Requisition in UCIBuy+, attach the quote and reference the quote number provided by the supplier you select. 

Covered Services Contracts

UC Irvine will utilize its employees to perform Covered Services to the greatest extent possible before resorting to the use of contractors to provide such services (See Article 5 University Collective Bargaining Agreement and Regents Policy 5402: Regents Policy Generally Prohibiting Contracting for Services). As such, contracts that include covered services will only be allowed sparingly and will require demonstration that all other options to utilize or create career UC positions have been exhausted. 

Request for Carve Out

Exemptions to the policy will be rarely granted. Reduced cost is not an acceptable justification. By requiring wage and benefit parity in any contract for covered services, there will be no cost advantage to using contracted services in lieu of services provided by a UCI employee.

Regents Policy 5402 explains that contracting for covered services is only permitted when:

  • Required by law, grants and/or court decisions.
  • Needed to address an emergency.
  • Not available at the location in sufficient quantity or expertise level.
  • Incidental to a leased property.
  • Urgent, temporary or occasional.
  • Securing equipment, material, or services the campus cannot feasibly provide, this can include work beyond 10 miles of campus.
  • Performed in clinical operations to address short-term needs.

California Senate Bill 820 (SB820) imposes additional restrictions beyond Regents Policy 5402 and Article 5 for contracting out for certain covered services in buildings that have received capital state funding. Each year UC is required to legally certify that during the subsequent fiscal year all cleaning, maintenance, groundskeeping, food service, or other work traditionally performed by persons with University of California Service Unit (SX) job classifications, shall be performed only by employees of the University of California at each beneficially affected facility, building, or other property. There are no exceptions, carve outs, or any other workarounds in this law.

Requests for SX covered services in identified SB820 buildings MUST be serviced by UCI SX employees. Contracting out requests in SB820 buildings will be denied. Failure to comply with SB820 may cause the UC System to lose critical, invaluable state capital funding. Please review the UCI SB820 buildings as of June 30, 2025.

To request Enterprise Workforce Relations review and approval, please complete and submit the Rationale for Contracting Covered Services form. Should you have any questions, please contact Enterprise Workforce Relations (EWR) directly at ewr@uci.edu.

Events & Venue Agreements

Venue or Facility Use Agreements for UCI Events

Rental of venues or facilities for official UCI events will usually require execution of a signed agreement. Signing any agreement in the name of UCI requires Delegation of Authority. Besides the event specifics, like menus, pricing, and services, those agreements will include important legal/liability terms related to the event.

If a venue accepts your reservation without need to execute an agreement, then you do not need to submit anything to Procurement for review.

UC or UCI controlled venues do not require Procurement’s review and execution. UCI controlled venues include Student Center, The Cove @ Beall Applied Innovation, Bren Events Center, etc. (University Club is controlled and operated by Wedgewood Weddings, not UCI.)

If you need assistance locating a venue, it might be helpful to inquire with Special Events & Protocols.

Start Here

Booking events at UC or UCI controlled venues do not require Procurement’s review and execution of the agreement. UCI controlled venues include Student Center, The Cove @ Beall Applied Innovation, Bren Events Center, etc. The UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center is an example of a UC controlled venue.

The University Club is operated by Wedgewood Weddings, so it is not a UCI controlled venue. However, Procurement negotiated a master agreement with Wedgewood Weddings to establish the legal/general terms for all UCI events. To book an event at the University Club, your department may approve through their online portal and do not need to submit your event agreement to Procurement for review. You may pay through the UCI corporate card or requisition/PO. If you pay by requisition/PO, please upload the final agreement to the requisition.

Research Park is owned/operated by The Irvine Company. If your department leases space in Research Park, please book use of the common areas through The Irvine Company’s portal. You will receive a reduced rate as a tenant and be billed through The Irvine Company system (do not submit a KFS requisition/PO). If your department does not lease space in Research Park, you need to contact UCI Real Estate Services (RES) at res@uci.edu to coordinate booking of your event at the reduced tenant rate. Real Estate Services will book your event through The Irvine Company’s system, and assist you with the invoice/billing process for the charges:

  1. Send an event booking request to res@uci.edu with sufficient time, date, specifics for your event (the same information you would provide to The Irvine Company).
  2. RES will submit a request using The Irvine Company system.
  3. The Irvine Company will send an invoice to RES after the event.
  4. RES will forward the invoice to your department so it can be processed and paid on time.

Once you determine the location of your event, review the proposed agreement to ensure the details (time, date, estimated attendees, menu, pricing, etc) are correct, but especially review the cancellation rights and liquidated damages clauses. Venues often include payment obligations (liquidated damages) in the event UCI chooses to cancel. Your department should discuss and negotiate (if necessary) those percentages or amounts to minimize UCI’s potential risk.

When your event agreement is ready for review, please open a ServiceNow ticket and select Contracts as the Request Type and Venue Event Agreements as the Request Area. Upload a Word or PDF version of the agreement with answers to the event specifics (listed below) to the ticket and press submit. Please do not have the venue DocuSign or electronically route the agreement to Procurement/Contracts for signing.

  • Name of the UCI school/department/program hosting the event.
  • A description of the event and anticipated activities.
  • Does this involve meeting/event space, securing a block of rooms for guests to book themselves, booking rooms for UCI employees, all of the above?
  • The number of attendees.
  • Who those attendees are (UCI employees, students, external guests, all of the above).
  • Whether alcohol will be served. If yes, by whom? (If yes, be sure to follow the Alcohol Approval Process).
  • Whether you plan to hire any outside (non-venue) service providers.
  • The planned method for paying the venue fees (Req/PO or corporate travel card).
  • The name of the department signer/approver for the DocuSign routing.

The following venues have agreed to acceptable terms for past UCI events (not an exhaustive list). (Note that being on the list does not mean pre-approved such that you can bypass review by Procurement. It only means this venue has agreed to acceptable terms in the past.)

  • 21 Oceanfront
  • Andrei's Conscious Cuisine
  • Ayers Costa Mesa
  • Balboa Bay Club
  • Bayside restaurant
  • Beckman Center
  • BLK Earth Spirits
  • Bowlero
  • Costa Mesa Country Club
  • Coyote Hills Golf Course
  • Cucina Enoteca
  • Dave & Buster's
  • El Torito
  • Hotel Fera Anaheim, a DoubleTree by Hilton
  • Hyatt Huntington Beach
  • Hyatt Newport Beach
  • Hyatt Palm Springs
  • Il Fornaio restaurant
  • Irvine Barclay Theatre
  • Landry’s Affiliated Restaurants (Del Frisco's, Chart House, McCormick & Schmick's, Maggiano's Little Italy)
  • Lucky Strike bowling
  • Marriott Bonvoy properties
  • Newport Beach Country Club
  • North Italia restaurant
  • Orange Hill restaurant
  • Seasons 52
  • Sheraton Hotels & Resorts properties
  • Sol Mexican Cucina
  • Sonesta Hotel
  • The Ranch restaurant
  • Twenty Eight restaurant
  • University Club/Wedgewood Weddings
  • Westin South Coast Plaza

The following venues that UCI would not negotiate acceptable terms, thus are not options for UCI events include:

  • Any Convention Center (LA, Long Beach, Anaheim, Ontario, San Diego)
  • City of Irvine controlled venues
  • City of Newport Beach controlled venues
  • Flight at Tustin
  • Irvine Ranch Water District controlled venues
  • Newport Dunes
  • Orange County Mining Company

Painting/Flooring/Modifications

UCI Sec. 707-10: Purchasing Procedures requires special purchasing procedures.

  • Any purchase, lease, or service that will involve modifications to UCI facilities, or alterations to building systems, requires review and approval from UCI Facilities Management. Alterations to UCI buildings and property are typically requested from Facilities Management, not Procurement Services.
  • Painting Services: Regardless of the dollar amount, requests for painting services should be reviewed by the Assistant Director, Skilled Trades & Construction Services.
  • Carpets, Flooring, Draperies, Window Treatments or Tinting: Proposals or requests for purchasing and installing carpets, flooring, draperies, and window treatments or tinting in University facilities, regardless of funding source, must be directed to the Facilities Management for review. Facilities Management may conduct the work in-house, obtain bids to contract out the work, or approve the transaction proceeding as a purchase order, in which case the requesting department should submit a High Value Requisition.

Submit request to appropriate Facilities Management contact.

Facilities Management reviews the request and provides their recommendation. Facilities Management may conduct the work in-house, obtain bids to contract out the work, or approve the transaction proceeding as a purchase order.

If Facilities Management approves the transaction proceeding as a purchase order, then departmental buyer submits a High Value PO Requisition. Attach the approval from Facilities Management to the Requisition.

Performance Agreements

Hiring individuals or groups to provide a musical, dance or theatrical performances may require different terms than a general service hire. The individual or group is the marquee/headlining performer who the audience is specifically coming to see. An individual or group that simply provides background music or plays a part/role in a UCI theater production are services hires, not performance hires. Performances are governed by UCI Policy Sec. 712-12: Guidelines for Performance Agreements. Performances may include the following:

  • Music - Bands or individual musicians.
  • Dance - Dance companies or individual dance performers.
  • Play/Theatrical – company or individual presents the entire play (this category is not applicable when UCI produces/presents the play)

Speakers do not typically require a performance agreement unless they are the keynote speaker at a very large event. Most speakers/DJs/background musicians/lecturers can be hired as a Low-Risk Procurement.

Performances Over $2,000

A Performance Agreement is required between the university and artist and/or agency for performances over $2,000.00

The following steps are required BEFORE a performance:

  1. Draft a Performing Artist Agreement.
  2. Initiate a KFS requisition and upload the draft agreement to the Notes and Attachments section. Route the requisition internally through your fiscal officer/unit.
  3. The assigned Procurement Team member will assist with completing the agreement and approving the PO.

Performances $2,000 and below

Performances $2,000.00 and less do not require a signed Performance Agreement. The department is only required to complete and sign the Independent Contractor Pre-hire Worksheet. See the Low Risk Procurements page for information to add to the requisition.

The following steps are required BEFORE a performance:

  1. Complete a Independent Contractor Pre-hire Worksheet.
  2. Initiate a KFS requisition and upload the signed worksheet to the Notes and Attachments section. The PO needs to contain a full and complete description of all the work requirements – a detailed description of the performance, date, time, duration, location, and any other particulars the artist is required to perform.  Route the requisition internally through your fiscal officer/unit.

Please note, people invited by the university to serve as guest speakers or participants and paid via Honorariums do not require a Performance Agreement. For more information review the Honoraria guidelines.

Purchasing Agreements & Statement of Work (SOW)

Purchasing Agreements are drafted and executed for the procurement of Independent Contractors, Consultants, or Professional Services. It is widely used when sensitive information is shared with vendors to carry out the scope of their work.

  • Contractors provide services to complete a defined end-product.
  • Consultants provide opinions and recommendations to a particular problem/situation.
  • Professional Services are highly specialized functions performed by a supplier that most commonly a) has a professional license; b) is licensed by a regulatory body; and/or c) is able to obtain professional errors and omissions insurance.

As you approach any purchase, the fund source and total amount of your purchase will determine competitive bid thresholds and policies that apply.

For non-federal fund purchases:

For federal fund purchases:

If your purchase involves a combination of federal and non-federal funds, the more restrictive Federal Fund Purchase Requirements shall apply.

Please complete the Purchase Agreement with as much detail as possible, and upload the draft Word version to the KFS requisition.

Additional UCOP Forms

Source Selection and Price Reasonableness Justification Form
This document must be completed by the requesting department for all federally funded purchases that are ≥$10,000.00 (including tax and shipping) & non-federally funded purchases ≥$100,000.00 (excluding tax, but including shipping), to substantiate the appropriateness of source selection and price reasonableness. Please visit UCOP's internal site for instructions and FAQs .

Appendix - Data Security ("APP DS")
Attached to an agreement when a third party creates, store, manage, use or transmit UC information or when a third party obtains non-public information or protected information.

Such information may include: PII can be information that may describe or identifies an individual such as:
  • confidential and proprietary information
  • trade secrets
  • business information
  • Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
  • credit card data
  • student records
  • individual financial information
  • information with additional statutory protections
  • name
  • social security numbers
  • physical description
  • home address
  • telephone numbers
  • email addresses
  • education/financial matters
  • medical or employment history
  • statements made by an individual

 

Appendix HIPAA BA
Attached to an agreement when a Business Associate will have access to, utilizing or disclosing Protected Health Information (PHI) or performs HIPAA covered functions. It is UCOP policy that the university requires third parties to agree and sign the university's HIPAA BA.

Amendments

Contractual changes to any existing agreement requires an amendment (scope of work, duration, compensation, T&C's, etc.). View sample Amendment draft .

If payment is through a KFS PO, please initiate a KFS Amendment to the existing KFS PO with requested changes. Send a drafted amendment form to your designated analyst for review along with the corresponding KFS PO number for reference.

  1. Initiate a KFS Purchase Order Amendment.
  2. Draft a Purchase Agreement Amendment , filling in as much detail as possible regarding the changes. (Do NOT upload the draft amendment to the POA).
  3. Email the draft amendment to the Contract Manager assigned to the KFS Purchase Order. They will assist you with finalizing the amendment for signatures.

Relocation Services

Contact Procurement Services (Request Type: High Value Procurement/Strategic Sourcing, Request Area: Relocation) at least six weeks prior to the desired move date and before arranging any relocations.

Verify with your supervisor or department head that the appropriate approvals to hire are in place and the employee has been offered assistance with moving expenses.

Complete the Household and Library/Laboratory Moves Questionnaire. After successful submission, you will receive the completed form via email.

  • Initiates supplier contact with the requester:
    • Initiate moving arrangements.
    • Arrange for adequate insurance coverage.
  • Supplier provide quote to requester.
  • If requester accepts the following quote, a purchase requisition will be initiated.

Create an appropriately authorized purchase order requisition, including name, current address, and telephone number(s) of the employee, and account, fund, sub code to be charged.

  • Attach Move Questionnaire PDF
  • Relocation Tax Agreement (applicable to household moves)
  • Offer Letter
  • Quote
  • Exceptional Approval Letters (if applicable)
  • Commodity code: 78101804

Approval will be completed, once Procurement receive finalized invoice from Supplier.

  • Approve PO to match invoice.
  • Assist with loss or damage claims.

The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and Public Utilities Commission (PUC) permit the university to obtain government tariffs and discounts from moving companies

By law, moving companies do not extend the government rates to an individual. Discount rates are only available through agreements established by Procurement Services.

The University of California has agreements with the following household moving and transportation companies. Contracted suppliers are subject to change.

For a full list of relocation companies, see the Contracted Suppliers List.

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