Furniture and Office Accessories

This policy applies to acquiring supplemental furniture/furnishings and removing and/or repairing existing workspace furniture/furnishings located within a faculty office, lab, or department suite.  Examples of new acquisitions include, but are not limited to, desk chairs, end tables, transaction counters, modesty panels, and file cabinets. Additionally, this policy applies only to smaller furniture items outside of the scope of a larger renovation, where furniture is a component of the larger renovation project. FurnishND, a Campus Services furniture management program, serves as the primary vehicle for faculty and staff to utilize for acquisitions, removal, or repair requests. The form at FurnishND must be submitted. A member of the FurnishND team will follow up within two business days to determine if campus resources can be identified first, before contracting the campus furniture vendor.

Furniture acquisitions are considered transactions between the department and Campus Services and, if needed, the primary furniture vendor. All new furniture purchases for the University will be administered through the University’s primary furniture vendor relationship. Furniture purchased with University funds (including any department discretionary and or faculty research accounts) must be procured through this mechanism using the approved primary furniture vendor. Business Furnishings maintains an on-campus office located in the Maintenance Center (north side of campus) with limited office hours every week. The University has pre-approved Business Furnishings furniture products for campus purchases.  These purchases must be procured through the buyND purchasing system and may not exceed $1,500. If the purchase exceeds $1,500, contact the Academic Space Program Manager in the Dean’s Office.

Procedure: 

• Department contacts FurnishND via the request form.
• The FurnishND team will assess the request and either: (1) Cross-reference furniture requests with the existing University’s campus pre-owned furniture inventory, (2) Request a quote from the University’s primary furniture vendor, Business Furnishings, if used inventory cannot fulfill the request or if the request is for modular workstation pieces/panels. They will then schedule a pick-up of unneeded furniture item(s) or schedule repair of broken furniture item(s).
• If a new furniture purchase is approved, the vendor will submit a proposal by e-mail to the department.
• The department must make the vendor aware that they are in the College of Arts and Letters and that the Deans’ Office is to receive a copy of the bid if in excess of $1,500. 
• The Dean’s Office will send purchase approval to the department representative via e-mail for purchases that exceed $1,500.
• The department determines the FOAPAL which will be used for payment (e.g. Department Discretionary Resource, Faculty Research Account, Department Unrestricted Accounts).
• The department selects items and submits a purchase requisition in buyND, attaching the vendor’s bid as reference.
• Upon receiving purchase order, the vendor will order the item and will contact the department when the order has arrived and arrange delivery and set up, if applicable.
• The department receives the order in buyND to trigger payment.

Consider lead-time when ordering new furniture. Delivery can take 4-8 weeks. The vendor may provide a more exact time-line depending on the item(s) ordered.

The FurnishND team will identify furniture solutions in line with the existing theme within the departmental or faculty office workspace. Departmental approval is required for all customer selections of campus inventory furniture. When needed, the University will continue to collaborate with Business Furnishings, the primary furniture vendor, for purchases and to satisfy departmental requests.

When these purchase transactions are necessary, it is considered a transaction between the department and the vendor supplying the furniture. This puts the department/customer in direct contact with the furniture expert thereby offering the highest potential for purchase fulfillment, customer satisfaction, and process efficiency. The department may then follow the purchase from beginning to end to assure that it is accomplished in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of the department.