Referrals

Introduction: A referral is also known as a five (5). These always have high priority. You want to get them to the departments as soon as possible. The referral forms are located on the Desktop of the Receptionist's computer. There are two basic referral forms that are used. They are the Bid Referral document and the RFP Referral document. (There are also two documents on the Desktop which are modified versions of these two basic referral forms - these are named one each for the Lab Buyer and the Furniture/Printing Buyer. Each of these contain specific language for each of the two Buyers referred to.

  1. Referrals

    1. Click on the appropriate document on the Desktop.

    2. Use the online staff directory to look up the person in the "Requested by" field on the bid. If there's no name, or if you can't find that person, look on the RX and use the name in the Requested by (1st choice), Responsible Person (2nd choice), or Prepared by (3rd choice) fields.

    3. Use the Copy and Paste functions to transfer the person's name, department, campus mailing address, and campus to the referral form. Also type onto the form today's date, the full RX number, the buyer's name/your initials, and any comments the buyer might have written on the cover of the folder. If no comments, then type, "Please review and advise. Thank you."

    4. Print two copies of the referral. Important: Do not save the referral. When you close out of the application and Acrobat asks you if you want to save your changes to bid1.pdf, click the NO button.

    5. On one copy of the referral form you just printed, in red ink, write the word copy and circle it. This stays in the folder. With the other copy of the referral form, attach behind it a copy of the tabulation, if there is one. Behind these documents, attach all the bids in the order they appear on the tabulation. Do not include late, unsigned bids, or No bids. For bids, all valid bids are sent. For RFPs, the original set is kept in our file. All other copies are referred.

    6. Call the department. Tell them that you have a bid ready for their review. Ask them if they would like you to send it out in the campus mail, fax it to them (if it is small enough), or if they would like to have someone come and pick it up. Sometimes the buyer will have told you to have it couriered to them. If they want it couriered, the department pays unless we are in error. (Look for notes/directions to you from the buyer on the cover of the folder.)

    7. On the cover of the folder, cross out the 5 and referral note and write in your initials and the date. On the top left edge of the folder, in red ink, tag the folder with a date of four weeks from today. Verify that it is not a weekend or holiday. If it is, move it to the next working day.

      8. Note: Bids are in plain manila folders. Proposals are in yellow folders. Proposals are not tabulated (except in special circumstances). Only the names of vendors submitting proposals are provided to the public (vendors) until the proposal process is closed. In other words, a tabulation for a proposal usually consists of only a list of vendors. Sometimes there will be a more extensive tabulation done on a proposal. This goes to the department. It is never scanned. The original paper Referral form was Business Administration form #5. (BA#5)

    8. CED Procedures for RFPs

      9. After referring the proposals to the evaluation team, check the yellow folder for the rubber stamp impression, "SEND DRAFT OF RFP (Not RFB) TO CED". This will be on RFPs (in yellow folders) that are $500,000 or more on NON-federal funds.

      If the above rubber stamp impression is found, one copy of the Vendor's Response must go to Craig Taylor of CED:

      See CED Procedures for additional details.

  2. Referral Call Log (Recalo)

    3. This is an Excel log of referrals with notes regarding the referral, and the method of delivery, ie: US Mail, Campus Mail, Couriers, etc. Click on the Recalo document on the Desktop. Fill in the area number, bid number, date, name, results, courier/campus mail, and any remarks. Save the updated log and close the document.

  3. Referral Log (Referlog)

    4. This is an Excel log containing the statistics of the number of referrals that were done on each day of the current week. The current total number for the week is shown in bold at the bottom of the page. Excel adjusts the total amount of referrals each time an additional referral number is added to a day.

    When the first referral is completed, click on the Referlog document on your Desktop. Enter a (1) in the field next to the name of the day of the week that you are working in. Tab to the Total box field. Excel will fill in a (1) in that field. Save the updated log and close the document.

    The next time a referral is completed, again click on the Referlog document on the Desktop. Again, go to the field next to the current day of the week. Fill in a (2) in that field if it is the second referral of the day. Tab down to the Total box field. Excel will adjust the total to (2).

    For each referral that is done, follow this procedure. On the last day of the week, at the end of the day, print a copy of the Referlog and place it in the Office Manager's in-box. The Office Manager maintains these statistics in a file in order to keep a running total of how many referrals are being done.

  4. Returns

    5. If the department has not responded with a recommendation on their referral by the due date, (one month after the original referral form was sent out), the buyer will have you sent out a Second Request.

    1. On the Second Request form, cross out the original referral date and handwrite today's day above the line. Add the date four weeks from today on the line to the right of the words, "Please return by:".

    2. Turn back the left hand corner of the page so that the word "copy" does not show. Make two copies of the revised referral form on yellow paper.

    3. On one copy, write the word "copy" in red ink in the upper left hand corner and circle it. This copy stays in the folder. Send the other copy out to the department through campus mail. This time, don't call them. Cross the old date off the folder. Retag with the new due date.

    4. Sign in to the Recalo Log and update the information.

      5. Third Request follows the same procedure as the Second Request, except use pink paper instead of yellow.

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Last Revised: April 30, 2002
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