AVERT Policies & Procedures 1065
Blanket Order Purchases

1.0 PURPOSE

In order to expedite the acquisition and payment of purchases of small amounts, AVERT organizations may be given blanket authorization to acquire goods and/or services, after approval from the Procurement Committee. The Procurement Committee does not actually order the goods. Procedures under the blanket order system are used for the following reasons:

1.1.1 to make purchases of repetitive lower cost items more convenient for the initiating AVERT organizations;

1.1.2 to simplify and reduce acquisition cost on repetitive purchases;

1.1.3 to provide for timely payment to the vendor.

2.0 DEFINITIONS

2.1 AVERT - Acronym for the Association of Valley Emergency Response Teams.

2.2 ERTs - Acronym for Emergency Response Teams.

2.3 BOARD - The Board of Directors of the Association of Valley Emergency Response Teams.

2.4 ORGANIZATION - Any Member Team, District Representative, Committee or other subdivision authorized by the Board, within the State of Utah whose operations are funded by AVERT. The "organization" is the standard term to reference subdivisions of the AVERT Board. Financial policies of AVERT provide that accounting, budgeting and fixed asset information be maintained by "organization." Each AVERT subdivision is assigned a unique "organization" number.

2.5 MEMBER - A general term to mean any emergency service trained individual, business entity, municipal entity, governmental entity or Board Member that has made application to and has been accepted by the AVERT Board of Trustees. The various categories are collectively known as the MEMBERSHIP.

2.6 VOLUNTEER - A general term to mean any individual that provides services to the Corporation without receiving monetary or material compensation or any person providing services under Court ordered Community Service.

2.7 EMPLOYEE - A general term to mean any individual that provides services to the Corporation and is receiving monetary or material compensation and benefits in accordance with State and Federal Labor laws.

2.8 PURCHASE ORDERS - AVERT's written document (contract or agreement) to a supplier formally stating all terms and conditions of a proposed transaction. By AVERT Articles and Bylaws, the Treasurer, with approval of the Board, is the only officer authorized to issue purchase orders.

2.9 SMALL COST PURCHASE ORDER - Purchase order for those items having a cost of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or less. The purpose of the small cost purchase order system is to allow AVERT organizations to purchase goods and services, as required, on an expedited basis, in order to meet their daily demands without a major involvement of the Procurement Committee. AVERT organizations may acquire goods less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) without competitive bids, but it is suggested that phone quotes be obtained by the using AVERT organizations to insure that the item acquired is at the lowest price available. The Procurement Committee must approve each small cost purchase before the organization orders the goods or services from the vendor.

2.10 SMALL COST BLANKET ORDERS - Orders Repetitive purchases throughout the year of miscellaneous items of small dollar volume described as small cost items. Small Cost Blanket Orders are subject to a one thousand dollars ($1,000) cost per transaction (invoice) from the same vendor per organization.

2.11 LARGE COST BLANKET ORDERS - Repetitive purchases of non-capitalized items which are acquired through an underlying Vendor or Service contract.

2.12 VENDOR - Any individual, company or other organization from which goods or services are acquired.

3.0 PROCEDURES

3.1 Small Cost Blankets

3.1.1 Blanket purchase orders may be established in the procurement system, as requested. These types of purchase orders will be originated by a requisition as in the attached form 1065 R. Once a blanket purchase order is approved, AVERT organizations may make releases against the total dollar amount of the blanket order. Generally, Small Cost Blanket Orders are not printed or mailed. Buyers may establish and approve small cost blankets if the supporting funds were provided by AVERT Specific Funds in accordance with AVERT Policies & Procedures # 1062 - "Management of Corporate Funds".

3.1.2 The using AVERT organization identifies a need for goods or services. The organization initially determines the approximate cost for those goods or services. At no time should the using organization actually commit to purchase the goods or services until a purchase order number has been authorized by the Procurement Committee.

3.1.3 An AVERT organization may be issued only one small cost blanket purchase order for each vendor used. The total amount of any one invoice must not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000).

3.1.4 Small cost blanket purchase orders are to be used where an AVERT contract exists.

3.1.5 Small cost blanket purchase orders are not to be established if the Treasurer suspects they may spend more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in one year without a cost recovery. If transactions of multiple purchases are going to exceed the limit, procurement of these items should be acquired by competitive bidding or by other means under the AVERT Policies & Procedures.

3.2 Large Cost Blanket Orders.

3.2.1 The maximum cost per transaction invoice set for this type of blanket order is set by terms of the applicable Vendor or Service Contract as the items are procured after competitive bidding. The total blanket dollar amount will be based on the anticipated usage of the AVERT Organization. The same reviews, approvals and signatures from the Purchasing Agent, Corporate Attorney and the Board of Directors will be as specified by AVERT Policies & Procedures. Large cost blanket orders may be established by the Procurement Committee to permit all AVERT organizations to utilize the same contracted blanket orders. The use of the large cost (LC) prefix allows all of the AVERT organizations to enter releases against the large cost blanket orders. This type of blanket order can be identified by suffix to the blanket order number of "S" just prior to the year (example LC8212S98).

3.2.2 Orders that are over the limit should be ordered on a regular purchase requisition and processed through the regular purchase order approval process, so an inventory tag will be generated.

3.2.3 Before an order is placed using these blanket orders, using organizations will insure that the proper approvals have been received and are shown on the blanket order through the purchasing system.

3.2.4 Large cost blanket orders will be printed and mailed to vendors.

3.3 Restrictions

3.3.1 Blanket orders are only established for the current fiscal year shown on the blanket order. If the contract expires prior to the end of AVERT's fiscal year, the blanket order will expire on the contracted date.

3.3.2 Invoice amounts will not be split into parts to produce invoice amounts for the purpose of avoiding any limitation set forth herein.