About the Procurement Card
The Office of Procurement Services began using Procurement Cards in October of 2002 under a contract established by the State of Missouri to facilitate purchases from vendors who would not accept Departmental Order Forms and/or Purchase Orders. Following approval by the Board of Governors, a pilot program was implemented in March of 2005 with six departments and forty-two cardholders. During the first five billing cycles of the pilot program, 2,603 transactions were processed using Procurement Cards. Rather than processing and issuing as many as 2,603 small-dollar checks, the University issued five checks to VISA Card Services. Based on the success of the pilot program, approval was obtained from the Board of Governors to begin expanding the program campus-wide.
The Procurement Card Program utilizes a VISA credit card as the purchasing instrument. The credit card is issued by United Missouri Bank (UMB) through a contract established by the State of Missouri, Division of Purchasing and Materials Management.