Purchasing

Our goal is to provide service, training, and value to the procurement process of supplies, materials and services needed to support the education of our students.

We are committed to:

• Conducting all purchasing activities according to the NC General Statutes and school board policy.
• Encouraging fair and competitive purchasing procedures.
• Maintaining the highest level of ethics and purchasing integrity.
• Treating suppliers fairly and professionally.
• Receiving new ideas and products with an open mind and determine if the product or service will benefit our schools.
• Promoting and supporting historically under utilized businesses.
• Attempting, whenever feasible and practicable, to purchase products that have recycled content.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we pay sales tax? Yes, we are required to pay North Carolina sales tax. The purchase order has a tax encumbrance of only 4.75 percent. Your invoice should reflect NC sales and use tax of 7.25 percent.

How do I get on your internal vendor list? To be added to the list, vendors must fill out the Vendor Application form. Please note that being added to the vendor list does not guarantee business as WCPSS does not have “preferred vendors.” It is an internal vendor listing used only as a resource guide by WCPSS employees when accessed on our Intranet webpage.

What is your purchasing policy?

• Make all purchases from the appropriate state term contract located at http://www.doa.state.nc.us/PandC/ or a Wake County Public School System established contract, whenever one exists.
• If an item is an open market purchase (a term contract does not exist) the following shall apply:
• Purchases $2500 and greater, but less than $5000 require competition that may be obtained by the requestor.
• Purchases $5,000 and greater must be bid by the Purchasing Department.
• Methods of purchase include purchase orders for items over $25, school local fund checking accounts and procurement cards for items up to $2,500 per transaction. All methods must follow the appropriate purchasing rules.