Purchasing Guide

• Select Vendors

• Entering a GoFast Requisition

• Appending a Requisition

• Creating a PO Voucher

• How to Unmatch a PO Voucher

• GoFast (Drupal)

• GoFast FAQ’s

• Training Guide for Requesters

• Training Guide for Approvers

• How to Approve or Deny Requisitions in GoFast

• Contract Requisition Training Guide

• GoFast Training Videos

• SFUSD Procurement Manual - Non-Construction (contracts)

• Procurement Department (Drupal)

• Purchasing FAQ's (reinforces other existing resources)

The Procurement Department’s purchasing function (Purchasing) is responsible for:

• Dispatching purchase orders.
• Placing orders that require a purchase order (except online orders).
• Providing customer service support for purchasing-related questions.
• Asset management inventory for equipment/furniture costing more than $500.
• Managing the district’s Amazon, ODP, Staples, and Canon copier accounts.

Direct Purchases

• For the purchase of supplies, materials or services under $1,500 including shipping/handling and sales tax except for furniture, fixtures, audio visual, computers and equipment which require a PO when items are $500 or more each. Direct Purchases are initiated by the school or site. Payment to vendors is processed using GoFast and is initiated by the school or site that made the purchase.

Purchase Orders

• For the purchase of equipment, supplies, and materials and services in excess of $1,500, or when otherwise required by a vendor to accept an order.
• For the lease/purchase of equipment being paid in annual installments
• Requisitions for Purchase Orders are processed through GoFast.
  Purchasing personnel typically place the order on behalf of school sites/departments.

Encumbrance Requests

• Repetitive purchases of a recurring nature, for varying and indeterminable quantities, anticipated for periods in excess of two months.
• Leases/purchases which are being paid in monthly, quarterly or semi-annual payments.
• A Purchase Order is required.

Board Approval

• Purchases of equipment, materials, supplies and services (other than construction contracts) over $114,500 must be approved by the Board of Education prior to issuance.

San Francisco Unified School District is firmly committed to an affirmative action policy. Your assistance in promoting this policy within your school or department by seeking out minority or female owned businesses is essential to the success of this program.

The phrase “Gift of Public Funds” has been used frequently in recent months as the district is aligning its practices more closely to accepted fiscal practices and state law. School district funding is acquired from a combination of federal, state and local sources. As the school district is a public entity, any funds administered by the district are considered “public funds” and are subject to the restrictions of the California Constitution, Article 16, Section 6 which prohibits a gift of public funds to any individual, corporation or even other government agency. Additionally, California Education Code further defines the parameters for the use of public funds as they relate to educational purposes.

Expenditures of school public funds must be for a direct and primary public purpose and within the scope of the school district’s jurisdiction and purpose. In general, the responsibility of the district is to show that the expense benefits the education of students within its schools.

There are many expenses that, while well intentioned, are not appropriate uses of public funds.

•  Flowers and Candy - unless they are part of an awards ceremony or public event
•  Gift Certificates or Gift Cards
•  Donations for charitable purposes other than support of student essential needs for educational purposes (supplies, uniforms, are appropriate)
•  Expenses to support ‘goodwill” or “public relations - i.e. a community appreciation dinner
•  Staff or community gifts (including food) in recognition of holidays, birthdays, weddings, funerals, retirement, etc.
•  Student awards that are not in recognition of achievement -( gifts for attending or participating in an activity)
•  Student awards of significant value – Currently, this is limited to $15.00
• Food expenses for staff not associated with Professional Development
  • See also Purchase of Food 2024-25

Reimbursements or invoices for expenses that appear to be a Gift of Public Funds will be reviewed by Accounting and, if found to be inappropriate, will be returned to the requestor.

Gift of Public Funds – What is it and how do I avoid it?

See also Entering a GoFast Requisition.

A Requisition for a Purchase order is a GoFast requisition. They are used to copy information to a Purchase Order in GoFast.

A Purchase Order is the basic document to be used for outside purchase of materials, supplies, equipment and services (except Construction Services).

GoFast requisitions require certain information for entry.

Price Quotes

Sites/departments are responsible for obtaining price quotes from their vendors.

A valid price quote will include:

• The name of the vendor
• Quote number
• Shipping/Billing information
• Item name(s), price per item,  and quantity for order
• Total per item and a subtotal for the order
• Estimated tax (this may be omitted)
• Cost for shipping/freight
• A grand total for the order
• Information for how to place the order, e.g., an email address. If this is not included on the quote, include this information for Purchasing personnel in the requisition comments.

Providing Purchasing with a quote that does not include all the required information will delay processing.

SACS Code

All requisitions must be charged to the proper object code. Questions on the correct object code should be directed to General Accounting if district funds, or Federal/State Accounting for Federal/State projects.

Requisitions/requests for purchase orders are required for the following purchases and are excluded from Direct Voucher Payment purchases (except where noted):

• Any purchase totaling $1,500 or more (including tax and shipping).

• Computer equipment – all computers, computer hardware and related equipment (i.e. printers, scanners, etc.) over $500 each (Ed Code § 35168). These items will be identified with a permanently attached numbered property tag.

• Consumable supplies for computer and related equipment (CD/DVD media, toner, ink cartridges etc.) may be ordered direct to the vendor utilizing Direct Voucher Payment; these purchases must not exceed a total order amount of $1,500.00, including sales tax and delivery charge.

• Computer software – all computer software totaling over $200.

• Audio-Visual Equipment – televisions, DVD players, cameras, projector screens, voice recorders, listening centers, audio equipment, etc. over $500 each (Ed Code § 35168). These items will be identified with a permanently attached numbered property tag.

• Furniture/Equipment – all furniture/equipment  over $500 each (Ed Code § 35168).

• When required by the vendor to accept an order.

If the order exceeds $114,500, it is placed on the agenda for approval by the Board of Education. Orders over $114,500 cannot be processed until they have been approved by the Board of Education.

Requisitions for Purchase Orders are created to obtain services or supplies from vendors through purchasing procedures.

1. After appropriate school/department approvals, Requisitions for Purchase Order funded from the General Fund are received by Purchasing personnel in an automated email and assigned to a Buyer.
2. Requisitions for Purchase Order using Trust, State or Federal, goes to Federal/State Accounting for fiscal approval. Federal/State Accounting will forward these requisitions to Purchasing personnel in an automated email and assigned to a Buyer.
3. At Purchasing, Requisitions for Purchase Orders are reviewed and analyzed for completeness, clarity of description, appropriation number, and price estimates. The most frequent causes for delay in processing are:
   • Budget error, wrong SACS codes
   • Budget not loaded and waiting for approval
   • Requester missed the check for approval
   • Supervisor have not approved or it is still pending for approval
   • Valid quote is not included with the requisition.

If making a purchase of $10,000.00 or greater, but less than $114,500, you are required to obtain three quotes. These quotes can be in the forms below:

• (i) Email from the vendor (with identifying information showing the vendor as the sender);

• (ii) Letter/quote/proposal on vendor's letterhead;

• (iii) Price sheet taken from the vendor's website (Best if SFUSD has a print-to-PDF with date of snapshot visible. This can be a screenshot, or a shopping cart converted to a PDF); or

• (iv) Phone call with vendor (could work only if documentation is in writing (i.e., signature of staff member certifying authenticity of quote, date of call, name of person spoken to, company, etc.).

Attach documentation for the three quotes to your GoFast requisition requesting a purchase order.

For purchases of $114,500 or greater, see SFUSD Procurement Manual - Non-Construction.

Including online accounts that require Procurement’s assistance to set up new users. For all purchases maintain vigilance to avoid the appearance of making gifts of public funds.

Amazon.com

SFUSD has a Business Prime account allowing authorized users to place orders online for office, school, and cleaning supplies. Contact Procurement to have new users and approvers added/changed.

Orders are subject to the same purchase order (PO) requirements that Procurement-placed orders are subject to.

At Step 5 of the checkout process a pdf of your entire order can be created to use for your GoFast requitison’s quote (ctrl + P on Windows devices, command + P on Apple devices). PO numbers are entered at Step 1 of the checkout process in the PO number field.

See Amazon Step-by-Step Guide to Locating Invoices on Amazon Portal for how to access invoices.

ODP

SFUSD has a Business Solutions account allowing authorized users to place orders online for office, school, and cleaning supplies. Contact Procurement to have new users and approvers added/changed.

Orders are subject to the same purchase order (PO) requirements that Procurement-placed orders are subject to.

PO numbers are entered during the checkout process in the REQ# field.

Invoices are emailed to the address of the user placing the order.

Staples

SFUSD has a Business Advantage account allowing authorized users to place orders online for office, school, and cleaning supplies. Contact Procurement to have new users and approvers added/changed.

Orders are subject to the same purchase order (PO) requirements that Procurement-placed orders are subject to.

At the Review & Checkout stage of the checkout process there is the option to Print Quote to use for your GoFast requisition’s quote. PO numbers are entered at this stage in the ENTER YOUR PO or REF. # field.

Invoices are emailed to the address of the user placing the order.

Canon

SFUSD contracts with Canon for preferred copier pricing. Toner is included in the pricing, but other items such as staples are not and the site would be billed separately for those expenses. Call (847) 706-4620 for billable products. You will need to know your copier’s serial number.

To inquire about additional copiers for your school site or department, or other services provided by Canon, you can contact our sales representative Jeff Carvalho at jcarvalho@csa.canon.com, or (415) 815-7948.

If your copier is connected to the network it will make automatic toner orders. You can also register for an account at mycsa@csa.canon.com to order supplies and request maintenance, or call (800) 355-1385. 

Procurement pays the monthly leasing invoices on behalf of a majority of sites/departments, then has Accounting do a chargeback to the SACS code the site/department has provided to Procurement.

Sites/departments receive a separate monthly invoice for their copier’s usage based on the number of copies and scans made during the period. If your copier is connected to the network the usage will be fed to Canon automatically. If it is not connected to the network you will be asked to provide numbers manually.

Xerox

Xerox is the school district’s outgoing preferred copier vendor. When a site/department’s copier is nearing the end of its lease, Procurement submits a letter to Xerox advising them of our intention to not renew the lease.

As the date draws nearer, Xerox will provide a Xerox Pickup Form to the site/department’s billing contact of record. The form needs to be returned to Xerox prior to the end date of the lease. If it is not returned timely, Xerox, based on terms of our contract, will continue billing for the copier.

Following the termination of the lease, Xerox will arrange for the copier to be picked up. Please note that it can take up to two months for these arrangements to be made. After the copier is picked up, Xerox will invoice the site/department one final time for a removal fee of $450.00.

See Warehouse Catalog and WAREHOUSE CATALOG. Included are instructions for obtaining BART and Muni passes.

See WAREHOUSE SERVICE REQUEST FORM.

All purchases over $1,500, school and office sites are required to create a Requisition for Purchase Order. Purchasing will encumber the required funds, conduct bidding (if required) and issue a Purchase Order. Any purchase placed directly with a vendor for more than $1,500, by a school or office site, is contrary to this procedure, and becomes an Unauthorized Purchase.

Purchasing Requirements may not be “split” into smaller amounts to avoid the $1,500 limit.

If there is an emergency need for materials or services, which exceeds the Direct Voucher Purchase limit and, therefore, requires the issuance of a Requisition for Purchase Order, do not anticipate the issuance of the Purchase Order by contacting the vendor directly. Rather, contact the Purchasing Office and assistance will be provided in obtaining a Purchase Order as quickly as possible.

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