Welcome to the State of Vermont Purchasing Card Program. Your Agency/Department has been selected to participate in the Program.
In order to have a clear understanding of expectations and the role your Agency/Department will assume, we ask that you review the following material provided.
By signing the Memorandum of Understanding, you indicate that you understand the intent of the Program, and will comply with all guidelines of this Manual as well as State of Vermont Policies and Procedures relating to the expenditure of State of Vermont funds.
Those guidelines are:
- All Provisions of the Program Manual.
- Payment to the Department of Buildings and General Services (30) thirty days from Date of Invoice; the Invoice will be dated the last day of the previous month. If payment is not made within (30) thirty days to the Department of Buildings and General Services, Purchasing Cards under the Agency/Department control may be suspended.
- Understand that Non-Payment to the Department of Buildings and General Services is not the process to resolve issues regarding cardholders being charged sales tax and other items under dispute. Those issues need to be resolved using the proper process within the parameters of the Purchasing Card Program.
- There are currently no service or administrative charges being assessed by the Department of Buildings and General Services associated with this Program. However the Department of Buildings and General Services reserves the right to give a (30) thirty day notice to any Agency/Department involved in the Program should the need arise as the program matures, that would result in charges being born by all users.
- Agency/Department agrees to issue Purchasing Cards to an individual only after the individual receiving the Card has signed the “Cardholder Agreement”, and all appropriate training classes have been attended.
- Agency/Department understands the various roles and/or responsibilities of the all parties involved.
- The Commissioner of Buildings and General Services has sole discretion to revoke or suspend a Purchasing Card at any time.
Attachments:
Purchasing Card Program Manual
Cardholder Users’ Guide
Approving Authority:
Type Name: _____________________________________________
Signature: _______________________________________________
Date: ____________________________________________________
CARDHOLDER RESPONSIBILITIES
The Purchasing Card is for State business purposes only, and may not be used for entertainment, cash and other categories as included in the Listing of Restricted Vendors (Attachment II). Misuse of the Purchasing Card by the Cardholder could be subject to disciplinary action, including termination.
If the Cardholder has not been assigned a Departmental Liaison, that set of responsibilities falls to the Cardholder.
The Cardholder shall:
- The Cardholder must use the Purchasing Card for State business purposes only.
- Maintain the Purchasing Card in a secure location at all times.
- Shall not allow other individuals to use the Purchasing Card assigned to you.
- Adhere to the purchase limits and restrictions of the Purchasing Card and ensure the total transaction amount of any single transaction does not exceed the limit assigned to your card.
- Obtain and reconcile all sales slips, register receipts, and/or Purchasing Card slips and/or provide it to the Departmental Liaison each month for reconciliation, approval and allocation of transactions to the Bank of America’s Cardholder Memo Statement.
- Attempt to resolve disputes or billing errors directly with the vendor. Only after an agreement cannot be reached with the Vendor, the Cardholder should contact his or her Departmental Liaison or Agency Administrator. Bank of America may request the Cardholder to mail or fax a signed Dispute Form to document the reason for the dispute.
- Ensure that an appropriate credit for the reported disputed item or billing error appears on a subsequent Cardholder Memo Statement.
- Shall not accept cash in lieu of a credit to the Purchasing Card account in the event of a refund for any reason.
- Immediately report a lost or stolen Purchasing Card to Bank of America at 1-800-822-5985, option 2 Toll Free (24 hours a day, 365 days a year).
- Immediately notify his or her Departmental Liaison or Agency Administrator of the lost or stolen Purchasing Card at the first opportunity during normal business hours.
- If a vendor does not accept Visa, contact the Departmental Liaison or Agency Administrator.
- Report erroneous and emergency transaction needs to the Departmental Liaison or Agency Administrator during normal business hours.
Generally, a Departmental Liaison is assigned when computer access is limited to an individual cardholder and/or department, or when an Agency Administrator determines it is the process effective approach. If applicable, an Agency Administrator will designate one or more Departmental Liaisons for his/her department.
The Departmental Liaison may be required to review transactions of individual Cardholders to make sure the transactions are official business expenses and are classified appropriately. The Departmental Liaison will be designated to keep documentation for the Purchasing Card activities within a Division. Departmental Liaisons are knowledgeable about the Program and can request changes on behalf of the Cardholder(s) with the Agency Administrator.
The Departmental Liaison must receive training before any employees in the department may receive a Purchasing Card.
If a Cardholder is not assigned a Departmental Liaison, the Cardholder will assume many of the responsibilities indicated below and/or work directly with the Agency Administrator.
The Departmental Liaison shall be required to:
- The Departmental Liaison may be required to review vendor receipts attached to the Bank of America Cardholder Memo Statements.
- Utilize Bank of America’s web-based Software “EAGLS”.
- Review Cardholder transactions on the monthly Department report distributed by the Purchasing Card Administrator.
- Request the Agency Administrator to change default accounting codes for individual transactions by updating default accounting codes on the monthly Department reports in advance of the monthly cut-off date established by the Agency Administrator.
- Attempt to resolve any disputes with vendor and/or Bank of America not resolved by Cardholder.
- Notify Agency Administrator in 3 to 5 days of any unresolved disputes, noting the reason for dispute.
- Notify Agency Administrator of lost or stolen cards.
- Request Agency Administrator to cancel a Cardholder’s card (e.g. terminated employees, transferring departments, and loss of Purchasing Card privileges) as approved by Department Manager.
- Collect canceled cards from Cardholders and forwarding to Agency Administrator.
- Notify the Agency Administrator of Cardholder request(s) to have Bank of America set up a vendor to accept Visa.
Every Agency/Department involved in the Purchasing Card Program will assign an individual to the role of an Agency Administrator to be responsible for the overall Purchasing Card Program within an Agency/Department.
Responsibilities include:
- State of Vermont liaison with Bank of America.
- Utilizing EAGLS Web-based Software from Bank of America.
- Reviewing Department approved applications for completeness of required information.
- Submitting completed application to Bank of America and receiving Purchasing Card from Bank of America.
- Training Departmental Liaisons before releasing Purchasing Cards.
- Training Cardholder before releasing Purchasing Card.
- Having Cardholder sign Cardholder Agreement, signifying agreement with the terms of the Purchasing Card Program.
- Handling disputed charges/discrepancies not resolved by Cardholder or Departmental Liaison.
- Initiating change of default accounting codes upon request of Department Liaisons as approved by their Agency Administrator.
- Securing revoked Purchasing Cards and submitting information to Bank of America.
- Receiving and reviewing Bank of America bill.
- Not initially, however will be responsible for processing electronic upload of bill to accounting.
- Assuring payment to the Department of Buildings and General Services (30) thirty days from Date of Invoice; the Invoice will be dated the last day of the previous month. If payment is not made within (30) thirty days to the Department of Buildings and General Services, Purchasing Cards under the Agency/Department control may be suspended.
- Will be responsible for reconciling Bank of America’s bill to Bank of America’s electronic file and to the transaction totals posted to State of Vermont's accounting system.
- Distributing monthly reports to Departmental Liaisons and notifying Departmental Liaisons of cut-off date for approvals and default code changes.
- Reviewing usage of Purchasing Card data for appropriateness.
- Ensuring that lost or stolen cards have been blocked by Bank of America.
- Forwarding vendor set up requests to Bank of America.
- Assist the Departmental Liaison and/or Cardholder with erroneous declines and emergency transactions.