Executive Order, Small Purchase Procedures authorizes the governor to establish procedures for the procurement of small purchases with the caveat that "procurement requirements shall not be artificially divided so as to constitute a small purchase under this Section." In other words, a department cannot submit two or more requisitions to the same vendor or similar vendors in order to avoid competitive bid requirements or to avoid the formal solicitation of competitive sealed bids.

This also applies to LaCarte purchases as well. A department cannot make two or more separate purchases to the same vendor or similar vendors or make purchases on separate cards in the same department in order to circumvent the $5,000 limit. (If your LaCarte limit is greater than $5,000, the only purchases that can be made for a total cost greater than $5,000 are non competitive purchases. See FASOP: PUR-01 - Non-Competitive Purchases for a listing of these non competitive purchases.

The following examples and comments concerning artificial division of purchases are offered as guidelines:

1. Departments submitting two or more requisitions or making 2 or more separate lacarte purchases with a total cost in excess of $5,000 for the identical commodity on the same day or within the same week.

Example:
(1) desk @ $3,000 & (1) desk @ $2500 received/purchased 2/21/10

2. Departments submitting two or more requisitions or making 2 or more separate lacarte purchases with a total cost in excess of $5,000 to the same vendor on the same day or within the same week.

Example:
(1) desk @ $3000 to Acme Office Company received/purchased 2/13/10
(1) chair @ $2500 to Acme Office Company received/purchased 2/14/10

3. Departments submitting two or more requisitions or making 2 or more separate lacarte purchases with a total cost in excess of $5,000 to similar vendors* for identical or similar commodities** on the same day or within the same week. Example:
(2) desks = $1,700 to Acme Office Coreceived/purchased 1/16/10
(8) chairs = $2,400 to Wholesale Office Supply received/purchased 1/16/10
(9) File Cabinets = $2,200 to Best Buy Office received/purchased 1/16/10

*Similar vendors are suppliers selling products within the same industry category, i.e., athletic, automotive, data processing, electrical, medical, office, scientific, etc.

**Similar commodities are items which possess general characteristics within the same industry category, i.e., athletic, automotive, data processing, electrical, medical, office, scientific, etc.

4. Two or more individuals associated with different Departments knowingly collaborate to submit separate requisitions or make separate lacarte purchases with a total cost in excess of $5,000 for commodities to be used together which meet criteria 1, 2, or 3 above.

5. Regular recurring pattern of requisitioning over the course of a fiscal year exceeding $5,000 for the same commodity from the same or similar vendors*.

The Purchasing Department will combine requisitions it interprets in possible violation of the Executive Order and it will solicit the necessary bids unless the requisition is accompanied by suitable documentation for dividing a purchase.

All requests for exceptions to these guidelines require adequate documentation and prior purchasing approval.