2.6. Purchasing goods and services

In the projects where the budget includes acquisitions required for the project that are allowed according to the rules and have received a positive decision, the following principles must be followed:

• Purchases must be made in adherence to the framework agreements in force at the university and the Rules for Public Procurements, which apply to purchasing goods, contracting for services or works, awarding concession contracts for works and organising design contests

According to the Public Procurement Act, the supplies and services for the purchasing of which there is a valid public contract shall be bought only from the successful tenderers.

The provisions of the Public Procurement Act apply also to the leasing, rental and hire-purchasing of goods.

• If the equipment/service/low-value goods are not included in any of the valid framework agreements, a public procurement procedure must be initiated or at least three candidates must be invited to bid.

NB! Unless otherwise specified in the grant agreement, for projects funded by the European Commission only the depreciation of non-current assets based on an equipment usage log is eligible, not the acquisition cost.

The type of the procurement procedure applied upon purchasing of goods and services depends on the contract value, value added tax excluded:
- open tendering if the value of the contract is above EUR 60,000; 
- if the value of the contract under simplified procurement is less than EUR 60,000, bids shall be submitted and a contract shall be concluded in writing;
- if the value of the procurement contract is above EUR 30,000, a public procurement report and after performance of the contract also the annex to the report shall be submitted to the Public Procurement Register.

Upon the purchasing of goods or services , where the estimated value of the public contract to be awarded is less than EUR 30,000, at least three candidates must be invited to submit a bid in a form reproducible in writing and it is recommended to award a public contract in writing.  In the case of services, it should be borne in mind that all contracts under the law of obligations also qualify as purchases of services and are the subject of a procurement and the total cost of the contract, incl. labour taxes shall be taken into account.

Attention must be paid to the content of the service described in the framework agreement. For example, the procurement of travel management services includes also conference services and all the seminars organised outside the university should be purchased under this public procurement.

If fixed assets are acquired (the acquisition cost of fixed assets is EUR 5,000 or more excluding value added tax and according to the university’s Accounting Policies and Procedures, fixed assets are assets that the university uses for the performance of its functions arising from the Statutes during a period exceeding one year), it must be made sure that, in addition to the invoice, an instrument of delivery and receipt is prepared when the equipment has been installed and that it is supplied with the number of the fixed asset and a sticker with the funder’s logo.

Upon purchasing equipment, it must be kept in mind that an equipment usage log shall be kept. You can find a sample HERE

Other electronic or paper laboratory logs may also be used. An equipment usage log gives the funder an overview of the use of the equipment for the purposes of the project and provide the basis for making financial corrections.

Low-value assets need not be supplied with logos.

When services are purchased, the requests for price quotes and the price quotes as well as the underlying agenda, list, sample, etc.  shall be preserved.

More information about procurements and the contacts can be found on the intranet.