Procurement Card (Pcard) Program

No. Obtaining a Pcard will not access or impact your personal credit history.  Your credit history will not be checked when applying for the Pcard.

No. University Pcards are individually held by a single person and centrally billed to the University.   All cards have the individual cardholder’s name inscribed on them and that person is responsible for assuring that any purchases made with the card are appropriate and fall within University policy.   Sharing or delegating use of the card to another individual is prohibited and does not relieve the department from that responsibility and may waive the cardholder’s right to dispute unrecognized charges.

Cardholders may contact US Bank directly using the number on the back of their card, to ascertain the reason for the decline, or contact the Pcard Administrator for further information.

Individual departments do not have the authority to override University policy.    Certain categories of transactions are prohibited from use on Pcard because they pose a higher physical or financial risk to the University when purchased outside of the PO process.     Purchases from those restricted categories (listed in Appendix A – Approved and Restricted Use) require additional review from Purchasing due to contractual obligations with preferred suppliers, elevated insurance risk, or other regulatory concerns, and that review takes place through the PO Request Process. Departments may request a one-time exception to use their card for a restricted category by submitting a fully signed copy of the Transaction Exception Form to the Pcard Administrator.    This option should be used only in rare circumstances where there is a reasonably urgent business need that cannot be otherwise met utilizing other procurement/payment options.

Note: The Pcard Administrator reserves the right to deny any exception request if business justification is not deemed reasonably sufficient. Frequent exception requests will result in the department receiving an audit review from the Pcard Administrator and possible corrective action.

Contact the Pcard Administrator and your Department Pcard Approver for guidance on how to proceed as this is determined on a case-by-case basis. The card will be subject to temporary suspension for noncompliance and other corrective actions may apply.

Only the Group Travel subset of Pcard can be utilized for any travel expenses, and then only when utilized with larger groups of three or more individuals traveling to the same business function. Pcards cannot otherwise be used to facilitate business travel for individual employees. For individual business travel expenses, an American Express Corporate Card or personal credit card should be used. Reimbursement would be obtained through expense report procedures established in the Business Expense & Travel Reimbursement Policy.

Contact the Pcard Administrator or the Procurement Service Team to obtain a tax-exempt form copy for the specific supplier in question. If the supplier charges tax up front, work with them to ensure the tax is credited. If a particular supplier refuses to honor the University’s tax-exempt status, make notation of this within your supporting receipt documentation.    The Pcard Administrator may recommend you not utilize that supplier again in the future if sales tax cannot be honored.

While the program single purchase limit of $5,000 cannot be increased permanently, if any temporary exception needs to be made, the cardholder must request a temporary increase prior to making the purchase utilizing a fully signed copy of the Transaction Exception Form. As with any other exception, requests for per-transaction limit increases should be rare. Most purchases that exceed the per-transaction limit should either be submitted via SIR or PO.

Requests for monthly credit limit increases may be made, either temporarily or permanently, if the level of spend and program compliance warrant, and there is reasonable business justification for the increase. The department can make this request utilizing the Pcard Change Form and forwarding a fully signed copy to the attention of the Pcard Administrator.

Note: Frequent requests for limit increases may result in the department receiving an spend review audit from the Pcard Administrator.

Note: Departments can also request lower single purchase & monthly limits on their cards if $5,000 (program default) is not considered necessary for their department needs.    This should be noted on the Pcard Authorization Request Form when first requesting a new card.

Contact US Bank’s customer service number on the back of your card to get more information about the vendor who charged your account. Contact the Pcard Administrator for assistance if initial efforts are unsuccessful. Depending on the outcome, if the charge is deemed unauthorized/fraudulent and the cardholder did not initiate the charge, the bank will close the card and issue a replacement and will open a fraud case that will result in the erroneous charge being credited.

Contact US Bank Fraud Prevention at 1-800-523-9078 as well as the Pcard Administrator immediately to report the card as lost or stolen so the account can be closed to prevent unauthorized or fraudulent use.

No. Pcards are non-transferable between departments. The Cardholder or Department Pcard Approver will need to notify the Pcard Administrator within one week prior to the transfer so the card can be termed. To obtain a Pcard with a new department, individuals must complete a new Pcard Authorization Request Form.

As the card is tied to the individual employee, the card cannot continue to be utilized upon separation of employment. Notify the Pcard Administrator at least one week before your last day of work, and return the physical card to your Pcard Approver to be destroyed.    Ensure that any outstanding Pcard transactions are properly verified & reconciled in Workday.

If the department wishes to assign Pcard duties to another individual within the department, a new Pcard Authorization Request Form must be submitted to the Pcard Administrator.