MIT Procurement Card User's Guide


Introduction

This card provides another tool for the MIT community to use when making purchases of $3,000 or less. The cardholder can order authorized goods and services directly from suppliers who accept the Procurement Card as a form of payment. Use of this purchasing tool will reduce the cost of doing business throughout the Institute by eliminating the need for requisitions, purchase orders, requests for payment, and paper invoices. The Procurement Card is meant to complement, not replace, other purchasing tools such as the ECAT system used in conjunction with MIT's partners or the MIT Travel Card. It is still recommended that these methods of purchasing be used when appropriate.

Procurement is responsible for managing the Procurement Card program. Each individual academic or administrative department is responsible for managing its cardholder accounts. Two areas of responsibility within each department have been defined to assist in the management of the Procurement Card: cardholder and department verifier. A cardholder cannot act as his/her own verifier; otherwise, the decision as to how each of these responsibilities is assigned will be made within the department.

Definitions

  • MIT Procurement Card - A credit card issued to an MIT employee for the purpose of making authorized small-dollar purchases on behalf of the Institute.
  • Cardholder - Institute employee whose name appears on the Procurement Card and is accountable for all charges made with the card.
  • Department verifier - Institute employee(s) within each department responsible for verifying that all charges against the cardholder's cost object (account) are accurate and have supporting documentation. The department verifier will have the ability to reallocate individual charges. A cardholder may have more than one verifier but may not act as his/her own verifier.
  • Procurement Card Administrator - MIT Procurement Department employee responsible for administering the Procurement Card program for the Institute and acting as the main contact between MIT and the bank. The Procurement Card Administrator is Kathy McGrath, NE49-4122, 617-253-8366.
  • Cost object - The SAP term otherwise known as account.
  • Primary cost object (account) - The main cost object assigned to the Procurement Card. All charges will initially be assigned to this cost object when first received from the bank.
  • Secondary cost object (account) - The secondary cost object assigned to the Procurement Card must be an open-ended, non-research Institute-funded cost object. Charges will hit this cost object if a problem arises with the primary cost object or the charges are not approved within 21 days.
  • Expense G/L account - The SAP term that replaces what was previously known as object code.
  • Reallocate - A department verifier will have 21 consecutive days to review and reallocate a charge to any cost object(s) they have authority to use. After this specified number of days, the system will sweep clean all open transactions and post them to the department's secondary cost object and non-recoverable expense G/L account (object code) 420255.