LNS Personnel, especially new hires, are advised to contact the LNS Fiscal Office (by phone, email or in person) for guidance on how to place new orders, change orders, set up a new vendor in the system, etc., or any questions regarding fiscal issues.
PURCHASING:
Purchase requisitions are written on-line using Atlas at https://atlas.mit.edu under the Buying tab. This requires installing an MIT certificate on the computer you are using (see https://ca.mit.edu). You will be able to write requisitions on any accounts you are authorized to use. In order to get a new hire (including graduate students and post docs) authorized for purchasing, her/his supervisor should contact the LNS Fiscal Office to set up the appropriate authorizations in the SAP system.
The Buying tab in Atlas has several options for vendors: B2P for catalog orders and external requisitions; external vendors who are MIT partner vendors, offering previously negotiated discounted prices; external, vendors who are outside B2P; and internal, vendors such as MIT catering, the Central Machine Shop, etc.
After you complete a requisition it is routed to the account supervisor for approval, next to the LNS Fiscal Office for review and approval, then to the MIT Procurement Office for review and creation of a purchase order. Note that any item costing more than $10,000 requires a Selection of Source Form to be attached to the requisition (available from the Sourcing & Procurement section of the MIT VPF website: https://vpf.mit.edu/selection-of-source-form). You may use Atlas to view the progress of your requisition through the approval chain.
The MIT Procurement Credit Card is a preferred way to purchase items costing $3,000 or less, with certain exceptions. Please see Lily Xu in Fiscal (26-519) for the appropriate forms and authorizations for requesting a credit card. MIT rules are very strict on ProCard purchases; failure to comply with the rules could jeopardize your usage of the Procurement Card.
All personnel doing purchasing in any form (purchase orders, credit card, or cash) must submit a signed and dated packing slip, receipt or invoice to the Fiscal Office as soon as the material is received. Without your evidence of receipt of goods in working order, the vendor may not be paid (depending on the dollar amount), and government auditors will disallow the charge to a research account. Emailing a scanned packing slip/receipt/invoice (signed AND DATED) is acceptable, as long as the hardcopy is later given to Fiscal.
For credit card purchases, submit documentation to Fiscal within 48 hours (2 business days): original receipts plus the standard LNS ProCard Verification Form showing the account to be charged and information on the purchase. Emailing a scanned ProCard Verification Form and receipts is acceptable, as long as the hardcopy is later given to Fiscal. MIT allows a limited time window from the date of purchase for assignment of a credit card purchase to the correct account number. After that time the charge goes to the default account associated with the card, and will be audited. Your prompt submission of documentation permits LNS Fiscal to meet this limited time window.
We do not recommend the use of personal credit cards or cash purchases but there are circumstances when it is necessary. Original receipts or invoices are required to process a request for reimbursement (RFP – done on-line through Atlas at https://atlas.mit.edu under the Reimbursements section of the Self-Service tab).
For business meal reimbursements, please provide a completed business meal sheet (available in the Fiscal Office 26-519 or on the LNS website) listing date and purpose of the mail, and number and names of people attending. An original detailed receipt with the total dollar amount is also required.
Hard copies of MIT’s Tax Exemption form are kept in the Fiscal Office 26-519 (see Anne Maloney at Bates). The form is also available from the Sourcing & Procurement section of the MIT VPF website under “Forms and Resources”. Taxes charged on purchases made on a personal credit card or paid for by cash will not be reimbursed by MIT. The use of the Tax Exemption form is strongly recommended.
TRAVEL:
MIT uses the on-line Concur system for travel reporting. You can access Concur through the Atlas website. In order to be reimbursed for travel expenses, you must submit all original itemized receipts or a complete and legible electronic image of the receipt associated with each trip. This is necessary for audit purposes and is required for travel under sponsored research projects. Please contact Lauren Saragosa in Building 26/Room 516 Tel: 617-253-2387 for any travel related questions.
Also, please visit the LNS Travel Webpage at https://web.mit.edu//lns/services/travel.html for more detailed information on travel for LNS.
Last updated 4/6/22
