Board of Trustees Approval Thresholds and Schedule

Approval Thresholds

The following purchase transactions require prior approval by the Board of Trustees (Board):

• Contracts for professional services requiring payment by the University of Illinois System in one fiscal year of $1,000,000 or more.
• Purchases of supplies, equipment and non-professional services requiring payment by the U of I System in one fiscal year of $1,000,000 or more.
• Individual capital project budgets of $5,000,000 or more.
• Contracts for professional services related to capital projects requiring payment by the U of I System of $1,000,000 or more.
• Construction contracts requiring payment by the U of I System of $2,500,000 or more.

Change orders related to medical center operations that exceed 25% of the original Board of approved contract or purchase agreement, and change orders that are not related to the medical center operations that exceed 5% of the original Board approved contract for construction or professional services or original Board approved purchase agreements for supplies or equipment, will be reported to the Board at its next scheduled meeting, but do not require prior authorization of the Board.

Submission Deadlines

Purchase requests at or above the Board approval level identified above must be presented to the Board for review and approval at regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meetings. The Board meets every other month, visit the Board of Trustees – Meetings – Schedule page for upcoming meeting dates.

Prior to submission of a purchase to the Board of Trustees, a solicitation (including evaluation), or sole source purchase process must have all necessary approvals and be ready to award.

The competitive solicitation or sole source purchase process may require a purchase request submission to the Purchasing Division at least six (6) months* prior to the Board of Trustees meeting date.
* This is a guideline for a typical purchase, any purchase which is complex in nature or for an excessive dollar amount may require additional processing time. This guideline accounts for an additional month of time for submission to the meeting minutes of the Board of Trustees and for review by sub-committees as may be necessary.

Departments should note that failure to provide the appropriate documentation by the specified deadlines may result in a delay in issuing a contract or purchase order since approval may be required at a subsequent Board meeting.