BluCard Defined: UC Berkeley’s procurement credit card program issues BluCards to individuals within departments that have prior approval from their Department Management. A BluCard should be used to pay registration fees, make one-time orders with suppliers, or if the supplier won’t accept a Purchase Order (PO). BluCard should only be used when purchasing items in BearBUY isn’t feasible.
Confirm the Suppliers is not an active Supplier in BearBuy. Then Confirm with the Supplier if they can or can not accept a PO before using the BluCard process. It may be prudent to set up a Supplier profile in BearBuy if the intention is to repeatedly purchase from the Supplier and it accepts POs.
Consult with your Buyer for any orders over $9,999. Buyers have the ability to make high-dollar BluCard purchases if the supplier does not accept purchase orders. All other requirements related to a purchase will apply to these transactions.
Examples of acceptable goods and services:
- Low-risk service labor that is not performed on UC property; i.e. transcribing, photocopying, catering, hotels, venues,
- Common off-the-shelf goods not available in the Bear Buy Catalogs or Strategically Sourced Agreements
Examples of what is not acceptable:
BluCard orders regardless of dollar value need to be processed by a Buyer if they fall into one of the categories below or into any Special Considerations categories. The Buyer may need to flow down UC Terms and Conditions to the Supplier.
- On-site third-party labor-related services of any kind (on-site includes University owned, leased, or rented properties) that may be Prevailing Wage or Covered Services work
- Services where the Supplier will maintain, store, review or transmit UC-protected or UC Institutional Information including but not limited to FEPRA, Credit Cards (PCI), GDPR, Health and/or HIPAA data requiring an ISO Vendor Security Assessment
- Contracts that transfer any UC patent, copyrighted material, trademark, or involve commercial filming
- Construction/services involving structural modifications to buildings
- Goods or services purchased from an employee or near relatives of any University employee - See the Conflicts of Interest policy
- Laboratory and other animals - contact the Office of Laboratory Animal Care(link is external)
- Specialized capital equipment of more than $4,999.99 - Equipment Management
- Charter bus/vehicle services
- Vehicles/Fleet purchases(link is external)
- Restricted items - guns, ammunition, explosives, controlled substances, toxic chemicals or gases
- Goods and services that may require Environment, Health, and Safety review
- Public-facing websites, software, or online content platforms that require Disability Access & Compliance
How to create a BluCard Tracking Order:
- Use the following Form in BearBUY: “Non-Catalog Items Form”.
- Select 'BluCard Tracking' as the supplier, and provide the suggested Supplier name, and contact information.
- Select Buyer Intervention if the order is less than $10,000 to route it to your department Buyer.
- The department should attach the following Required PO Documents to the Form as directed in BearBUY:
Required documents from the Department:
Required documents from the Supplier:
- Other Considerations:
- Orders created using BluCard tracking process, requiring separate payment via BluCard, will not dispatch to the vendor or to BFS. Only the Req creator can change the supplier on the requisition to BluCard Tracking.
- When the requisition is fully approved, the BluCard holder will place the order directly with the supplier.
- Items paid via BluCard will appear on a separate BluCard order and in the PO History with an order number similar to the format "CC1234567890.” The order number can be referenced in the transaction notes in BFS during reconciliation. BluCard transaction reconciliation in BFS remains the same.
- See Special Considerations for additional potential issues.
For more information, see Finance Bulletin: BFS-BUS-43 Material Management
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