Employees

Purchasing Items

Emergency Purchases

Purpose: To document the procedure for purchases processed on an emergency basis.

Scope: This procedure applies to all Lee College District employees who are directly and/or indirectly related to ordering goods and services classified as an emergency.

Procedure: Individual Departments will submit a requisition to justify the emergency purchase. The requisition shall provide detailed information on the goods and/or services purchased. In addition, the requestor will also provide justification for the emergency purchase. The requisition may be faxed to Purchasing and must be followed by an original requisition. The purchasing department will issue a confirming order to the Vendor. The requestor shall obtain a packing list and/or delivery document and will forward it to the receiving department for processing. As defined by Texas Education Agency Financial Accountability Resource Guide 3.2.5.7 Emergency Purchases.

Two types of emergency purchases are made in districts. One type results from an eminent threat to the health, safety, or welfare of students. Such purchases must comply with state law and may be made only after a formal board action declaring an emergency and authorizing the purchase. An example of an emergency purchase of this type is the authorization to repair a school after a fire or a natural disaster.

Emergency purchases exceeding the bid triggering requirements shall be made in conformance with paragraph (h) Section 44.031 Texas Education Code which states: “If school equipment, personal property, a school facility or a portion of a school facility is destroyed or severely damaged, or experiences a major unforeseen catastrophe, emergency or operational or structure failure and the board of Regents determines that the time delay posed by the contract methods required in this section would prevent or substantially impair the conduct of classes or other essential school activities, then contracts for the replacement or repair of the equipment, school facility or portion of the school facility by a method other than the methods required by this section.

The second type of emergency purchase is defined by local policy to provide for the acquisition of goods or services to meet an immediate need such as purchases to repair damage to a facility, which may imperil students or the security of the facility. For example, if windows are broken at a school by vandals, an immediate need exists to not only secure the building, but also to protect the contents from damage by the elements.

This type of emergency purchase is normally utilized after regular business hours or on weekends and holidays. After purchases of this type are made, a purchase order should be issued after the fact on the next business day or the credit card system may be utilized. Should a purchase order be issued after the fact, on the next business day, care should be taken that emergency purchases do not result from improper planning rather than from a true emergency. It is important that Lee College District attempts to eliminate emergency purchases for non-emergency situations as much as possible and requires that all emergency purchases be fully justified.