Procurement and Contract Services Policy & Procedures Manual
Section 100: Purchasing and Contract Ethics
Effective: 1/4/2010
Revised: 1/8/2019

 

Employment at Oregon State University is a public trust.  The ethical standards that OSU employees must maintain encompass the highest standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and professionalism in conducting business on behalf of the University.  As employees responsible for maintaining the integrity of the solicitation, procurement, and contracting processes and as stewards of the University and taxpayers' dollars it is especially important that OSU employees avoid even the perception of a conflict of interest.

 

103-001: Ethics for Employees in the Procurement Process

OSU employees are subject to Oregon Revised Statute 244 for ethics as a public official.  Individuals also involved in the procurement process are responsible to review and comply with Oregon Revised Statute 244 and OSU PaCS Policies. 

 

103-002: Authority to Purchase or Enter into Contracts

Employees may not procure goods or services or enter into Contracts outside of the employee’s budget authority, purchase authority, Institutional authority or Contract signature authority.

 

103-003: Purchase/Payment Fragmentation

Employees shall not fragment purchases or payments in order to avoid following a regulation, policy, or procedure.  Anticipated and estimated purchases shall be aggregated whenever possible to accurately reflect purchase totals and gain economies of scale as available with quantity purchases.

 

103-004: Process Circumvention

Employees may not circumvent regulations, policies, or procedures by using personal funds for the purchase and then seeking reimbursement or by using an alternate funding source or contracting method which will be indirectly reimbursed or paid for by OSU.

 

103-005: Bid Shopping

Employees involved in the procurement process will not disclose a Vendor’s price to competitors in order to have a competitor beat the Vendor’s price.  Price results may only be given to Vendors once the final selection is made.

 

103-006: Collusion

Collusive behavior will not be tolerated from employees or Vendors. Collusive behavior includes but is not limited to, making agreements or understandings between two or more persons to commit a fraudulent, deceitful, unlawful, or wrongful act in order to provide an unfair advantage.

 

103-007: Document Fabrication

Altering, fabricating, destroying, misrepresenting, or forging Contracts or documents for personal gain or an unfair advantage is prohibited.