Center for Regional Excellence Fellows Reference Manual

Making purchases and paying for expenses with your award

There are various methods for you to utilize to make purchases and/or pay for expenses associated with your project. Your award letter details all approved funds for your award. All purchases and/or expenses are required to follow within the scope of the award letter. If you are unsure about any purchase, please contact the Center staff before a purchase is made.

The University has its own printing and copying service and pre-approved vendors for most purchases. Fellows are expected to use these University services and to utilize the EPIC system to make all purchases. Each IU Northwest Department has staff who utilize this system (usually the departmental secretary) and fellows are expected to work with their designated departmental staff to make all purchases for their award.

No fellow has been given permission to utilize vendors not associated with the IU system. This means that there is no permission for reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses. Fellows are expected to plan ahead for all purchases/expenses and to use the IU system approved vendors unless they have received permission in writing from the Center staff to make out-of-pocket purchases.

What if I want to use a company not currently listed as an IU vendor?
To use a company not listed as a current IU vendor, you will need to have the company added to the IU system as a vendor. Please have the company complete a US vendor packet and have your departmental secretary add the vendor to the IU system. After the vendor has been added, you may either make purchases, or pay invoices from the company through the EPIC system using your departmental secretary to input the information into EPIC. Copies of all invoices and US Vendor Packets must be sent to the Center for Regional Excellence for permanent filing.
Note: If your department uses a procurement card for expenses, you may still use this method to make purchases and transfer the expenses to your Center for Regional Excellence account through FIS.

What if I need to pay persons, rather than a company?
To pay an individual you will need to issue a disbursement voucher though FIS. If this individual has never been issued disbursement vouchers, or hasn't been issued one in the past 6 months, he or she will need to complete a W-9 form with your department and have your departmental secretary enter them as a vendor in the IU system.  When work has been completed by the individual, they will need to complete a Disbursement Voucher Payee Certification Form and submit it, along with their original W-9 form and an invoice for payment that details the work they are being paid for and the amount they are charging for their services.  A sample invoice can be found here.  It is imperative that the original W-9 be sent to the Center for Regional Excellence for permanent filing, along with the original Disbursement Voucher Certification and invoice.  No Faxed copies will be acceptable.

What information will my departmental secretary need to make purchases through EPIC?

Your departmental secretary will need your account number (listed on your Project Reference Sheet) to make any purchases. He or she will also have to add a description to your EPIC requisition to be sure that the Center staff are aware of the project for which the purchases are being made. A note should be sent to whenever an EPIC requisition is created for your award. If your departmental staff have any questions about how to make purchases, please have them contact the Center's staff.

You mentioned FIS, what will my departmental secretary need FIS for?

There are typically only two occasions when FIS will be needed for purchases made though your grant.

1. If your department uses the procurement credit card for expenses, they will have to transfer the expenses of the card related to your grant to our account through the EPIC system. We ask that your departmental secretaries contact to inform us of the Doc # when you are transferring funds to our account so that we can approve the transaction.
2. If you need to issue a disbursement voucher to a person who is working on your project, your departmental secretary will need to use the FIS system for these payments. Again, please have your secretaries contact us with any questions.

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