Qualified vendor listing or approved contracts section. This section lists the vendors that are pre-approved by the university for various commodities and services. Also included in this section is a listing of any special agreements such as state contracts or purchasing cooperatives and consortiums. Often times, a university will not reimburse a purchase made when an unapproved supplier is used. Dollar limits and required approval.
Different schools have their own dollar amount limits that determine what procedure to use.
Some schools have charts and grids that are broken down by dollar amount, to identify the specific procedure to follow for a purchase. The approval level here is usually the department head. The required approval may be a department head, or the finance department. This type of purchase will surely involve the finance department and maybe the school's chancellor. The approval level may be the school's chancellor or the president.