Purchase of Equipment & Space Renovations

Start-Up Funding

Funding for tenured/tenure-track faculty must be approved by the chair, dean and provost.

The total cost of faculty start-up funding is shared by:

• the department (33.33%)
• the college (33.33%)
• the provost’s office (33.33%)

The Office of the Provost will fund equipment up to a third of the total.

Using Plant Funds

Plant funds can be used for planned and substantial (in terms of total dollars and/or total items purchased) equipment purchases and/or space renovations. Plant funds can also be used for substantial emergency equipment purchases.

Plant funds are not intended to be used for routine, reoccurring and/or small purchases. Instead, stateside non-personnel operating budget monies, student class/lab fees and current fiscal year self-support revenues should be used for such purchases. This is an important change from previous purchasing behavior.

Definitions

• Equipment is defined as an article of physical non-expendable property having a useful life greater than one year and an acquisition cost of $500 or more per unit.
• Space renovation is defined as remodeling, renovation, restoration or updating of university space with a total cost of at least $2,000. Construction of new offices / space within an existing university building space is permissible with appropriate approval from the college dean and the provost. 

How to Purchase Equipment and Pay for Space Renovations

Paying for Equipment

Using plant funds to purchase equipment (as we have defined) must be processed by using a university purchase order (PO) or by acquiring an invoice. Any single piece of equipment costing $5,000 or more must use a PO and work with the Procurement Department.

Invoices for any single piece of equipment costing less than $5,000 should be sent directly to the Provost’s Budget Office for processing.

Paying for Space Renovation

Paying for space renovations (as we have defined) using plant funds must be coordinated with the Provost’s Budget Office.

Requests for space renovations must be initiated by the Provost’s Office which in turn will contact Facilities Management. Please do not contact them directly. 

Appropriate Plant Fund Use Examples