Purchase Authority

Purchase Authority
Local government employees ordering from your firm must have the proper authority for placing an order. Make sure that you obtain this authority (purchase order or emergency order number) before your staff issues any merchandise. Every purchasing agent will appreciate this bit of caution on your part as it will assure the agent as well as you that the purchase is authorized and legal. Nothing is more frustrating to an agent than to receive an invoice from a vendor stating that "Joe" (the squiggly signature on the receipt) received $200 worth of tools from your firm and charged it to the "County" (without using agency name or purchase authorization). Invoices like this get gray with age as they are processed through several agencies looking for a home. You are in business to turn a profit from your sales; be certain that the sales you make are identifiable, authorized and payable.

The ordering of material without purchase order or emergency authorization numbers is all too common. Vendors who release merchandise to customers who claim that they are local government employees or even to known employees take a chance of not getting paid for the sale. Every purchasing code requires that the funds for the purchase be allocated and encumbered before the purchase is made. This is done through the issuance of a purchase order or emergency purchase number. The same codes include a provision that the County may disclaim all responsibility for unauthorized purchases such as these and not pay the vendor. Vendors issuing materials without proper authorizations can get into serious payment problems. A popular way to resolve the problem is to ask the County to include on the original purchase order the name of those employees authorized to order and pick up material and to be sure that your order desk staff is aware of the need for purchase authorizations and the requirement to put the authorization on the sales ticket along with the name and department of the County employee.