Procurement Card Policy

For Full Document and FAQ's please refer to our Policies Page

 

1.      POLICY

It is Queen’s University Procurement Policy to use the procurement credit card for departmental purchases and payment of goods and services where it is cost effective, efficient and feasible operationally to do so. 

Inappropriate use of the card will be viewed by Queen’s as a serious matter.  Cardholders are responsible for compliance with these policies and procedures, including requesting appropriate approvals, retaining original receipts, and obtaining proper signatures/approvals on all applicable documents. 

Cardholders must reconcile their card statements on a monthly basis and have the monthly activity statement signed off by their immediate supervisor.  The university expects cardholders to act with strict prudence and professionalism.  Strategic Procurement Services may cancel procurement cards for non-adherence to the Procurement Card Policy and Procedures.

The Procurement Card can be used for the purchase of goods and services up to a transaction limit of $5,000. There are number of items that the Procurement Card may not be used for as outlined below.

The Procurement Card is not intended to be a vehicle to avoid or bypass Procurement Policies or Procedures.  Purchases greater than $5,000 must be entered on a Purchase Order.

It is the responsibility of the department head and the cardholder to ensure Strategic Procurement Services is notified no less than 2 weeks prior to the cardholder leaving the university upon termination of employment, sabbatical, maternity or parental leave, or any other applicable circumstances.

Use of the Procurement Card for the following is prohibited but not restricted to:

• Travel and entertainment purchases, specifically:
  • Airline tickets
  • train tickets
  • bus or coach tickets
  • Ferry tickets
  • car rental
  • taxis
  • hotel bookings
  • food
  • entertainment tickets for theatres, cinemas, theme parks and events
  • Internal service providers (any supplier using Queen's internal chart of accounts numbers)
  • Hazardous or Radioactive materials
  • Office furniture
  • Long term (1 year or more) rental or lease of equipment
  • Automatic annual payment of subscriptions (Manual payments are permissible when it has been confirmed funds are available)
  • Materials requiring a Government permit 
  • Personal purchases
  • Alcohol 
  • Gift certificates or flowers intended for employees may not be purchased from a University account due to Canada Customs and Revenue Agency Guidelines.  Please refer to Financial Services website.
  • Departmental Food purchases from restaurants or fast food restaurants.
  • Any computer hardware, computer consumables computer peripherals and computer software that have been identified as being readily available and competitively priced from the Campus Computer Store. To check if product is available go to the CCS website at http://www.queensu.ca/its/ccss.html  or call CCS at 533-2058. Cardholder must retain written proof, in Visa file, from CCS that the items could not be supplied by them.
  • Donations of any kind of charitable organizations

 

Cardholders should refer to the SPS Credit Card website  for detailed information on the use of your Procurement Card.

 

If there is an operational or research need to seek exemption from this policy, Cardholders must contact the Director of Strategic Procurement Services providing justification for their request on form P0004 http://www.queensu.ca/procurement/forms.html.  Approval, if given, will be in writing and Cardholders must retain a copy of the approval with their receipts for audit purposes.

 

1.1            Exceptions

Requests for exception to this policy must be submitted in writing to the Director of Strategic Procurement Services for approval. The cardholder should keep the exception approval on file for future audit purposes.