School District Buyer Resource Page
Below are links to the documents that our purchasing teams believe make our purchases as effective, cost-efficient and compliant as possible. These documents are merely presented here as best practice recommendations and as a resource to school district buyers. Questions may be directed to the Purchasing Webmaster.
Due Diligence Information
MPS Purchasing Handbook
AZPurchasing as a Tool for School Districts
Cooperative Purchasing/Website Powerpoint
(Presented to MPS Governing Board on 11/12/08)
Sample Documents from the
Arizona State Procurement Office Website
INTERNET RESOURCES
Included on this page are the current Arizona rules, regulations and laws regarding procurement in school districts. A school district may adopt stronger or more restrictive language, but cannot adopt polices which dilute these requirements.
FORMAL PROCUREMENTS
Arizona Revised Statutes 15-213 authorizes the State Board of Education to submit rules to the Auditor General. The Arizona School District Procurement Rules apply to purchases above the bid threshold established by the Arizona State Board of Education (currently $33,689).
Arizona School District Procurement Rules
WRITTEN/VERBAL QUOTE REQUIREMENTS
The Auditor General is responsible for establishing rules for purchasing below the bid threshold. These rules are found in the Uniform System of Financial Records (USFR) and apply to all purchase below the bid threshold.
Guidelines for Competitive Purchasing Below the Bid Threshold
GOVERNING BOARD POLICIES
The purchasing rules and guidelines above along with each school district's own Governing Board policies guide procurement procedures so that we may best utilize taxpayer funds and obtain the greatest value for our purchasing dollar.
AUDITING REQUIREMENTS
School Districts subject to the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-156) must contract with an independent audit firm to conduct an annual audit of financial transactions and accounts kept by or for the District.
The State of Arizona Auditor General publishes the USFR Compliance Questionaire which must be used by the independent audit firm in conducting the audit of each District. The purpose of the questionnaire is to determine whether districts are in compliance with the State's laws, applicable rules, regulations and each District's own Governing Board policies. The applicable section for procurement is the "Expenditures" section of the questionaire.
AUDITOR GENERAL FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The Auditor General also maintains a webpage called, “School District Frequently Asked Questions” which addresses school business issues including procurement. The link below is another useful tool for the school district purchasing professional.
Auditor General FAQ’s for Procurement
RECORDS RETENTION
The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records is charged with dictating the records retention schedules for Arizona School Districts. The schedules can be found at the links below:
School District Records Retention Schedules
School District Purchasing/Procurement Retention Schedules
EMAIL LIST SERVES FOR NETWORKING
Arizona School District Buyers have many email list serves that are available to them to help them network with purchasing professionals across the State. The AZPurchasing List Serve and SAVE List Serve are open to all school district purchasing professionals across the State.
The GPPCS List Serve is available to School Districts in and around Maricopa County. Contact the GPPCS List Serve coordinator via email for more information.
We hope that school district buyers find this resource page beneficial. If there is additional information that you feel we should post here, please contact the Purchasing Webmaster. Thank you.
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