UC Berkeley maintains a Procurement Card program (sometimes referred to as pro-cards), administered by the Berkeley Card Program and issued by US Bank. Cardholder accounts are available to approved employees in order to facilitate the acquisition of goods and services for the University. Procurement Cards function like any credit card, subject to individual account, transaction, and vendor limitations and program policies. Procurement Card accounts are a liability of the University and cannot be used to purchase personal or non-business related goods and services. Only the individual cardholder may use his or her card.
The bluCard is our basic pro-card that enables the timely purchase of low-value goods or services up to $4,999 per transaction (including taxes, shipping, and handling). A bluCard cannot be used for Travel and Entertainment purchases.
A cardholder can place orders with Suppliers using a bluCard when a PO won't be accepted, except when the order includes excluded items and purchasing activities that violate policy.
Please submit all bluCard program inquiries to purchase@library.berkeley.edu.
How the Program Works:
- The cardholder purchases directly from the supplier by phone, fax, over the Internet, or in person.
- The vendor directly sends goods to the department, whenever possible, with packing slips and billing receipts.
- U.S. Bank pays the supplier within 48 to 72 hours.
- The bank batches all card transaction data and submits a daily summary bill by EDI (electronic data interchange).
- Disbursements pays the bill using EFT (electronic funds transfer). The daily transaction data received by EDI is loaded into the Berkeley Financial System (BFS), and charges for each Cardholder are loaded into the BFS staging table for reconciliation.
- The Library Purchasing Unit has up to 15 days to reconcile and approve the online data with transaction paperwork provided by the cardholders and the suppliers. (See Documentation Requirements for more information) Library Purchasing Staff must apply the tax calculator within the 15-day staging period to ensure sales and use tax is properly recorded in BFS. Cardholders must send all the back up documents to Library Purchasing within 5 days receiving the Procurement Statement Report sent by Library Purchasing.
- After 15 days, transactions automatically clear from the bluCard screens and load to the General Ledger.