Making Purchases and Placing Your Orders

Making Purchases

As a cardholder, you can buy any commercially available supply or service within your spending limits and not prohibited by either Federal or agency-specific procurement regulations.  The A/OPC or contracting officer can provide you with agency specific requirements regarding purchase amounts and types of purchases needing independent receipt documentation and/or approval. If a purchase appears questionable to you, consult your A/OPC or contracting office.

Purchases that are STRICTLY PROHIBITED include:

• Long-term rental or lease of land or buildings
• Travel or travel-related expenses (not including conference rooms, meeting spaces, and local transportation services)
• Cash advances (unless permitted by your agency/ organization)

Placing Your Order

You can place orders either over the counter, by phone/ fax, or online.  GSA offers e-Tools to help manage an agency’s GSA procurement transactions, place orders, or learn about business opportunities.  Click here for a list of GSA’s e-Tools.

When placing your order, make sure you:

• Identify the purchase as an OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PURCHASE so that it will be exempt from Federal taxes and, if applicable exempt from state/ local taxe
• Get a copy of the itemized receipt
• Place the receipt in a safe place to use in reconciling your monthly invoice statement
• Record the purchase in your purchase log
• Verify that the item and price are correct upon arrival and if there is any discrepancy, call the merchant immediately