POLICY STATEMENT

Nevada State College shall use reasonable care reviewing all contracts in the most expeditious and judicious manner. Any purchase contract with an aggregate contract value not to exceed $50,000 may be executed by an authorized institutional approver without further review by legal counsel provided the language of the contract is good to form as determined by the judgment of the Vice President for Finance and Business Operations (VPFBO) or designee. In such cases, the VPFBO shall be responsible for the review of the contract.

Consistent with the Board of Regent’s Efficiency and Effectiveness initiative’s recommendations, “lower level purchasing below $50,000 is the responsibility of each institution” and campus contracting officials “must have sufficient delegated contracting authority” to execute agreements and the corresponding Purchase Orders, if any, in a timely and responsible manner. The internal review limit for purchase contracts shall be at the same limits as the maximum requirement for one quotation as established by the current competitive threshold requirements.

This policy and procedure should reduce procurement processing time between one to three weeks, which will strengthen college-vendor relations.

PROCEDURES

A. All contracts will be sent for campus review via email attachment, preferably in MS Word format, to Contracts@nsc.edu.

B. All contracts will be reviewed by the VPFBO or designee in accordance with the standards outlined in Chapter 5, Section 3 of the Nevada System of Higher Education Procedure and Guidelines Manual.

C. Following the review by the VPFBO (or designee), contracts determined to be in good form with reasonable terms and conditions whose aggregate contract value is less than $50,000, may be negotiated between the contractor and the institution and executed by an approved campus signatory without further review from legal counsel.

1. 1. 1. The VPFBO (or designee) shall seek advice from or escalate the contract for further review to NSHE Legal Counsel, regardless of the aggregate contract value, when that individual is unsure of the meaning or intent of any contractual term or condition.
      2. The aggregate contract value is determine by adding all consideration (payment) for all contractual periods covered by the contract (i.e. add up all annual amounts for multiple-year awards).

D. In accordance with the Board of Regents bylaws, the following contracts will always be forwarded to legal counsel for the Chancellor’s approval:

1. 1. 1. Contracts for the sale or purchase of real property or the long-term lease of real property; contracts with an aggregate contract value in excess of one million ($1,000,000) dollars OR which are for terms in excess of five years or which provide the automatic right to renew for terms that exceed five years in the aggregate;
      2. Contracts with indefinite contract periods;
      3. Contracts for hiring outside attorneys for legal services (Chief of Counsel approval);
      4. All contracts which, in the judgment of the president of an NSHE institution, have such a serious political, social, or financial impact on NSHE or the public that the Board of Regents or the Chancellor’s review is necessary.

RELATED INFORMATION

• Board of Regents Handbook (Title 4, Chapter 10, Section 1, Paragraph 1)
• Nevada System of Higher Education Policies and Procedures Manual (Chapter 5, Section 3)
• Board of Regents Efficiency and Effectiveness Phase 2 Recommendations
• IT 1: Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Policy

APPROVALS

Approved by President Bart Patterson, December 31, 2014.