Purchase Orders

When a department identifies a need to purchase a good or service, the departmental requisitioner should complete an online requisition within the Enterprise Accounting System (EAS). The requisition is then received by Procure-to-Pay and the necessary steps are taken by the assigned buyer to acquire the commodity.

Once all information is complete for a purchase, the requisition will be turned into a Purchase Order. A Purchase Order (PO) is a written authorization from the MFA requesting a supplier to provide goods or services.

When a signed Purchase Order is accepted by a supplier, a contract is created. The Medical Faculty Associates, Inc. Standard Terms and Conditions will govern the purchase and acts as an offer from the MFA to purchase the requested items. The offer is accepted by the supplier when they supply the requested items. The contract is formed through offer and acceptance, and the supplier can expect payment by the MFA in return for the delivered items.

The MFA is required to enact data protection obligations upon Service Providers that process personal data that originates from the European Economic Area/European Union (EEA/EU). In the event that the Service Provider intends to process MFA data from the EEA/EU, the Data Protection Addendum must be included with the Purchase Order. Appendix 1 of Schedule 1 of Attachment E should be completed and sent to: privacyofficer@mfa.gwu.edu

The MFA reserves the right to pay any or all amounts due under the contract by using either a procurement card (p-card) or a Single Use Account (SUA) method of payment. The Contractor must accept the MFA’s p-card or a SUA method of payment, as applicable. Contractor is prohibited from charging the MFA any additional fee, charge, or other obligation related to the MFA’s use of either a p-card or a SUA method of payment.

NDAA Section 889 Compliance

Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits recipients of federal funding awards from using or procuring certain covered telecommunications equipment or services. Section 889 regulations apply to grants, contracts and cooperative agreements, including outgoing subcontracts and subawards.

Covered Technologies

View covered telecommunications and/or video surveillance equipment and service providers full list of prohibited suppliers and technologies here

Proper GL Codes

Purchases of goods and services are charged to "natural accounts". These are five digit numbers that determine in which account the expense is recorded on the MFA's financial statements.

To properly record the purchase of goods and services, you must have a basic understanding of the MFA's accounting structure. If you are unfamiliar with this structure, please contact Sonia Singh at ranis@mfa.gwu.edu.

Generally, purchasers of goods and services will use natural accounts in the following ranges:

52xxx - General operating expenses
53xxx - Travel/training/communications
54xxx - Materials and supplies
55xxx - Purchased services

The MFA Cost Center and Account to EAS Mapping workbook provides a mapping from MFA cost centers and account numbers to the values to be entered into the EAS P2P system.

Liquidating Funds

When a Purchase Order is approved and submitted to the Enterprise Accounting System (EAS), the funds of the budget being charged are encumbered (funds reserved) and cannot be used for any other purchases. When encumbered funds are not used; for example, due to amount expended is less than the original amount encumbered, these funds should be liquidated (process of releasing the unused funds) in order to free the funds for other uses.

  • Run the PO-266 Encumbrance Activity Report by GL Accounting Flexfield (EAS access required)
  • Select "Yes" for parameter "Show Detail Lines"
  • For Grants: Run the GM-410 Award-Project Encumbrance Report for your PTA and attach it to your liquidation request.
  • Download the Liquidation Request Form, complete the form, and email it to poliquid@mfa.gwu.edu .

    .  Note:  If when opening the form you see the "Please wait..." message, there is an alternate access method.