Making a Purchase

How Do I Buy Things?

Stockrooms – Need instant gratification? Stop by the basements of Sabin-Reed or Ford Hall. We keep a variety of frequently-used items such as personal protection equipment, culture plates, tubing, and glassware, as well as a selection of chemicals and solvents.

What you need to do:

  • Call or Stop in during our open hours, or send an email.
  • Be sure to tell us what you need, where it needs to go, and when you need it by
  • We’ll need you to provide financial information (cost center, gift, grant, internal grant) about where you would like to charge your purchases
  • We might need to verify that you are authorized to purchase against the financial information you provide.

Workday offers real-time viewing of the stockrooms’ inventory. If you are interested, please email us to be given access.

Centralized Ordering – You fill out a requisition and we do the rest. Checking for the best prices, dealing with the vendors, and making sure it’s delivered on time and in good condition. We’ll let you know if there’s a pricing problem or if something’s on backorder. It’s all part of the service we provide. Need a quote for some equipment or an especially large consumables order? Not sure where to find something? We can help point you to some vendors who can provide what you’re looking for. We have all the contracts and pricing agreements and we know where to look so you get the most out of your funding.

What you need to do:

  • Requisitions can be found here for download. Please fill out all highlighted areas. You or your authorized signer/admin can email it to us from your/their Smith email account.
  • Please be sure to indicate the date you really need your order by and where (building and room number) it needs to go.
  • If you purchase fully-regulated hazardous material or items containing fully-regulated hazardous material, PLEASE BE EXTRA CAREFUL ORDERING! Even if a vendor is able to ship the product to us, and will accept a return, we may not be able to ship it back because of shipping regulations for hazardous  materials.

Have more questions? Don’t hesitate to call, email, or stop by!