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Low-Risk Procurements

To expedite the processing of "low-risk" services, and as part of DFA's broad efforts to improve speed of such review, effective October 1, 2018, the Procurement Services Contracts team will approve "low-risk" procurements subject to the prevailing UC Terms and Conditions of Purchase (PDF) in lieu of requiring a Purchasing Agreement.

Some “low-risk” purchases can be approved without having to utilize the bilaterally signed Purchasing Agreement. In these circumstances, Procurement may issue the Purchase Order with all service requirements included on it, or may issue a Purchase Order and Statement of Work to serve as the agreement.

What qualifies as a “Low-Risk” Procurement?

Low-risk purchases need to have the following characteristics:

  1. Does NOT involve the transfer, handling or access to sensitive UC data (Protected Health Information (PHI as defined under HIPAA), Personally Identifiable Information (PII may include names, addresses, phone numbers, SSN, ID numbers, etc.), Student Records, or access to university networks and/or data systems);
  2. Services are performed off-campus;
  3. If services are performed on-campus, the services do not involve inherently risky activities or use of heavy machinery, (e.g. construction, experiments, chemicals)

Examples of purchases (not an exhaustive list) that qualify as “low-risk” include, advertising, editing, DJ’s, event face painter, balloon artist, graphic design, musical performers (less than $2k), photography, videography, publishing, training workshops, writing/translating/indexing, translating, freelance writing, etc.

The KFS Requisition/Purchase Order approval process to obtain services would still apply; however, the department would no longer need to complete and submit a draft agreement to the Contracts team.

Steps to help expedite the review process:

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“The services do not involve the transfer, handling or access to sensitive UC data - Protected Health Information Personally Identifiable Information, Student Records - or access to university networks or systems”

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You must include sufficient detail that the supplier is contractually bound to provide all of the required services.  The description must include the start and end dates of the services, or a completion deadline.  One or two generic sentences is NOT sufficient -- insufficient details will result in disapproval of your PO. 

For example, if you are hiring a supplier to provide photography services, your description should include:

  • a detailed description of the activity to be photographed,
  • the date, time and location of the photography session(s)
  • the deadline for delivery of prints or digital files of the photos will be delivered,
  • a statement that the services are work made for hire and “UC shall own the copyright rights to all images and videos, vendor restricted from using such images for marketing purposes"

An example that is not sufficient:

               “Editing services. Supplier is assisting Dr. Jones in editing her new book.”

If the services are more involved, you can use the Low Risk Procurement Statement of Work and upload it as an attachment to the requisition. 

Note that if you upload a supplier’s statement of work, it must contain all of the relevant details.  If it does not, you must add additional detail in the Notes and Attachments section so that Procurement has the required information to complete the PO.

You must state where the services will be performed, either in the Notes and Attachments section or on the Low Risk Procurement Statement of Work

For more training and general questions regarding KFS, visit UCI's Kuali Financial Systems main webpage

PLEASE NOTE: The Contracts team may require a Purchasing Agreement to be completed for the services if significant facts or circumstances are discovered during the review of the KFS PO and such services would no longer be considered "low-risk"

If you have questions regarding this newly updated process improvement, please contact the Contracts team