Purchasing

After the Fact

Prior to ordering goods or services for USF, an appropriate, fully approved Purchase Order must be in place or payment at the time of shipment must be made with a USF PCard in accordance with PCard policies and procedures.

Possible After-the-Fact (ATF) purchase orders will be monitored by Procurement Services.  After-the-Fact purchase orders are identified by comparing the purchase order date to the invoice date and where the invoice date falls before the purchase order date, a possible After-the-Fact situation has occurred.

Requisitioners will receive a “Possible After-the-Fact” notification via email to which a response is required.  No response indicates acceptance that an After-the-Fact purchase order has occurred.

ATF responses will be made in FAST.  Possible ATF Notices contain the following instructions to respond in FAST.

If there are justifiable circumstances that caused the discrepancy between the invoice date and purchase order date, please provide the justification on the FAST ATF Justify page. The FAST ATF Justify page is in FAST under the Nav Bar:  Navigator → USF Menu Items → ATF Justify. Once on the ATF Justify page, use the information below to retrieve the ATF Justify page for the specified voucher and complete the justification form by selecting the appropriate reason providing comments (if necessary).

The acceptable reasons, abbreviated in some instances, for an After-the-Fact purchase order are listed in the new response tool as:

• Contract in place prior to invoice
• Emergency purchase
• Invoice date data entry error
• Invoice has incorrect date
• Previous PO existed for purchase (identifying previous PO# is required)
• Sub-Agreement purchase order
• other (explanation required)

After-the-Fact reporting is made periodically to department leadership as well as when requested by Audit during departmental audits.