The State System has moved to a Procurement Shared Services (PSS) approach for the acquisition of equipment, suppliers, and services and construction. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is a State-Affiliated Agency and the below guidelines are for the universities reference concerning the procurement of suppliers, goods, services, and construction under the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Procurement Code.
Internal University User Information and Resources
Procurement Shared Services Office
The Procurement Shared Services Office has an internal shared site for users to find the most current information regarding purchasing. PASSHE Procurement (sharepoint.com),
Information Found on This Site
- Who do I contact in Procurement?
- Procurement Policy and Shared Services Overview – a great resource for new and existing employees.
- PA Procurement Code, Handbook, and other policy and procedure materials.
- News and announcements highlighting the latest system-wide contract awards by the PSS Strategic Sourcing team.
- System-wide contract list with links to how to use the contracts and place orders.
- State contracts and cooperatives
- PCARD information
- SourcePoint Portal guides and resources
- As a state-affiliated agency, PASSHE is subject to the PA Procurement Code. A procurement or resulting contract shall adhere to the provisions of the Commonwealth Procurement Code and the PASSHE Procurement Handbook. Additional information on these policies can be found in the PSS Procurement Handbook at PASSHE Procurement (sharepoint.com).
Construction Support
The Construction Support Office provides standard procedures, system guidance, assistance, training, and oversight of university capital projects. Core services include procurement and administration of centrally held contracts for various design professional services, training for construction specialists and project managers, coordination of commonwealth capital projects with the Department of General Services, maintenance and management of the university construction authority process, and monitoring compliance of the State System universities with statutes, policies, and procedures/standards.
The PSS office provides the university project managers without a construction specialist with procurement and administrative services on an as-needed basis. Additional information about the system office CSO can be found on the State System website.
SourcePoint eProcurement System
The Procurement Shared Services Office utilizes the SAP Business Network (Ariba) as the systems eProcurement system. PASSHE’s name for this tool is SourcePoint.
The SourcePoint portal can be accessed from the PSS website or by going directly to the SourcePoint Portal (sharepoint.com). Below is a list of many of the resources you will find on the portal:
- Training resources – includes quick reference guides listed by the modules within the system.
- Video guidance.
- PSS and SourcePoint support contacts.
- Commodity codes – helpful listing of the commodity codes used in SourcePoint.
- Catalog supplier information.
- Supplier management – helpful information to onboard/register suppliers.
External University User Information and Resources
Doing Business with the State System
Procurement Shared Services supports the State System’s universities and the System Office by identifying strategic sourcing opportunities and establishing best-value contracts in partnership with its suppliers. Additional information about the PSS Office is available on the State System website.
SourcePoint is the system the State System uses to streamline its procurement and accounts payable processes. The State System partners with the SAP Business Network (Ariba) to make it easier for suppliers to do business with the universities. PSS manages all procurement transactions, including supplier registration, solicitations, automated purchase orders, and invoice processing.
Registered suppliers within the SAP Business Network have access to all State System procurement opportunities and are free to join.
More information on how to join or how to utilize SourcePoint can be found on the State System office website.
Please contact procurementhelp@passhe.edu for all of your procurement-specific questions or questions concerning the entry of your PR (Purchase Requisition) or PO (Purchase Order) processing.