Procurement Card Program
Program Overview
The Johns Hopkins University Procurement Card Program is one of the University's two recommended methods for making small dollar purchases of urgently needed supplies and services. The Procurement Card Program is designed to provide authorized faculty and staff with a cost-effective and convenient method of procuring and paying for small dollar purchases of regularly consumed supplies and services. The University Procurement Card is a MasterCard obtained from JPMorgan Chase and should be accepted by any authorized supplier that accepts MasterCard cards.
Each card is assigned a default non-sponsored cost center or internal order and G/L account codes in the University accounting system. These defaults may be changed when approving transactions. Payments for all transactions made with Procurement Cards are made directly to suppliers by the bank. The University subsequently makes a single monthly payment to the bank.
The Procurement Card Program is not intended to supplant the purchase order system. It is intended to broaden the University's portfolio of procurement methods. The Procurement Card is to be used for the purchase of supplies and services less than $3,000 in value. Items valued at more than $3,000 should be procured through the issuance of a purchase order. The Procurement Card program is also not intended to be used for travel/hospitality expenses. These types of services should be procured through the Corporate Travel Card program (administered by the University Finance Office, Travel Section).
The maximum single transaction limit for Procurement Card purchases is $3,000. Splitting a single order greater than $3,000 in total value into multiple orders to evade the $3,000 Procurement Card transaction limit is contrary to University policy and should not be done. Such practices violate University competitive bidding policy, and unnecessarily increase administrative costs. Cardholders may charge up to $10,000 in a single month. Individual Cardholders will be extended monthly credit limits based upon their needs.