Procurement

Basic rules for procurement are set out in the procurement instructions of the Chancellor of the University of Bremen. The updated version of January 11, 2011 is available here (in German only).

Depreciation is used to record planned or unscheduled depreciation of assets in corporate accounting. The depreciation corresponds to the loss in value of company assets within a period. The loss of value can be caused by general reasons such as aging and wear and tear or by special reasons such as accident damage or a drop in prices.

The depreciation in value, that is to be determined under tax law and deductible as a business expense, is called the depreciation for wear and tear (depreciation). In the new depreciation table for generally applicable assets, the normal useful life (Section 7, Paragraph 1, Clause 2 Income Tax Act) is shown for assets that are not used in a specific sector. The new depreciation table applies to all fixed assets that are acquired or manufactured after December 31, 2000.

In contrast to tangible assets, intangible assets are not physically tangible. However, they represent an economic value that can be assessed independently.

Intangible assets produced in-house or acquired free of charge (e.g. MARUM film, in which no external director takes overall responsibility for the film) must not be activated. Intangible assets can therefore contain significant hidden reserves. If these assets are acquired against payment, there is an obligation to activate them. When capitalized, depreciable intangible assets are to be written off in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 (1) of the Income Tax Act.

An asset is:
1. Long-term use (> 1 year) owned by the University of Bremen;
2. an independently usable asset (e.g. device, software, etc.);
3. an acquisition value > € 800 (net).

Assets (see LINK Gerätegruppenschlüssel einfügen! *** device group code) receive a asset master record number when ordering. The asset master record number can be requested using the following form to the right.

In EU projects, assets are subject to the statutory depreciation rules, i.e. the loss in value due to aging and wear and tear. At the University of Bremen, the deductible loss of value is regulated by the DFG device group code.

Competent help is available to all at the email address 
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Each Department is obliged to report changes to the bookkeeping. In particular, asset disposals are part of this. A In our administration, a system is:
1. Long-term use (> 1 year) owned by the University of Bremen;
2. an independently usable asset (e.g. device, software, etc.);
3. An acquisition value> € 800 (net for taxable funds, e.g. R&D contract research; gross for non-taxable funds, e.g. cost centers, DFG funds / government research, e.g. RCOM, ExIn and also EU funds).

Systems (see device group code) receive a system master record number when ordering. The system master record number can be requested using the following form: Form

In EU projects, plants are subject to the statutory depreciation rules, i.e. the loss in value due to aging and wear and tear. At the University of Bremen, the deductible loss of value is regulated by the DFG device group code.

Everyone in Department 3 receives competent help from Ms. Hensel (0421 / 218-60536) and Mr. Krause (0421 / 218-60537).

Each area is obliged to report changes to the bookkeeping. Especially system disposals are part of this. In the form to the right, a distinction must be made between scrapping, theft and sale. Scrapping is to be understood as all asset outflows that are no longer available to the university. In the event of theft, the police must always provide a brief explanation of the facts and the registration number of the criminal complaint. In the case of sales, an outgoing invoice has to be written. In doing so, reference must always be made to the inventory / asset number in the pre-linker. must be made in this form (form) between scrapping, theft and sale. Scrapping is to be understood as all plant outflows that are no longer available to the university. In the event of theft, the police must always provide a brief explanation of the facts and the registration number of the criminal complaint. In the case of sales, it is important that an outgoing invoice is written. In the form for the invoice (Kontierungsvorbinder), the asset master record number has to be mentioned.

Since 15.07.2022, there is a new regulation for reimbursement of expenses:

If private expenses are indispensable, the following rules must be observed:
With immediate effect, it is no longer necessary to create a SAP order in combination with reimbursements of expenses!

• We will not continue the previous practice of creating subsequent SAP orders or orders in the WebSystem any longer, because it is neither possible to create SAP order in advance of a reimbursement of expenses, nor to create orders on employees.
  
• Reimbursement can only be made in EURO.
  In case of payments in foreign currency, reimbursement will be made in EURO according to the statement of bank account / credit card plus fees. If you need to convert an amount of foreign currency into EURO, you need to attach a proof for the exchange rate on the date of the receipt (e.g. a printout of “Oanda Währungsrechner”).
  
• A handwritten notice "Auslagenerstattung" must be given in the upper right-hand corner of the form “Kontierungsvorbinder”.
  
• In general, you can order goods from companies and not from private individuals, only.

Important note:
You must process purchases on sales platforms, especially on Amazon, via a business account, i.e. invoice addressed to university and stating the VAT ID no. DE 811 245 070.

For reimbursements you need to hand in:

1.) correctly filled form “Kontierungsvorbinder“:

• Please note: According to the „four-eyes-principle“ it is not allowed that the recipient of the payment / reimbursement also signs the “Kontierungsvorbinder”.
  
• Please fill the section „Be­stel­lung ohne SAP"
  
• Original signatures are necessary under „sach­lich und rech­ne­risch rich­tig" as well as
  „Un­ter­schrift Fis­tl./​Fond­Ver­ant­wort­li­cher"

2.) correctly filled form „Auslagenerstattung”

(Please always find up-to-date forms at the internal section of the university’s website:
“Be­schäf­tig­ten­por­tal” under the section Fi­nan­zen/​Be­zah­len/​For­mu­la­re & In­for­ma­tio­nen.
These are available in German only).

• You must give a compelling reason why this emergency purchase is so indispensable and cannot be processed in accordance with the purchasing guidelines of the University of Bremen!
  
  Examples for reasons which are not accepted as compelling reasons:
  “It’s much faster to order the goods from my private account at home than via university…”
  “I’d rather like to have the Mont Blanc baller, but this is not available at Plate…”
  
• Everyday consumables, like stationry, IT software and equipment or books, but also IT hardware like PC and notebooks and books in general etc. for business purposes of university must be purchased in the name of University of Bremen. Orders have to be made at the standard suppliers of university who partially have framework contracts with university (if necessary please check with Thorsten Seliger (Dez. 3) or on the website at “Beschäftigtenportal”).
  
  It is not common practice to buy these goods on applying for reimbursement!
  

3.) Original invoice or receipt:

• All invoices and receipts must be issued in an accurate and complete manner, including all mandatory information in accordance with § 14 UStG (please also take into account the rule on “Kleinbetragsrechnungen” [invoices up to € 250]).
  For this please check “Be­schäf­tig­ten­por­tal: Fi­nan­zen/​Be­zah­len/​Rech­nun­gen (Pflicht­an­ga­ben)
  
• In case that original invoices or receipts are printed on thermal paper, please add an additional copy to ensure the durable readability of the receipts. You need to hand in the documents timely!
  
• To avoid tax disadvantages, it is mandatory that all invoices are issued to University of Bremen as beneficiary and invoice recipient, stating the VAT ID No. DE 811 245 070.
  
  University will no longer reimburse invoices which are issued to employees / private persons!
  
  In case of special constellations for a purchase for plausible justified reasons, please contact “Kreditorenbuchhaltung” in advance of the purchase to agree on the solution for this single case.
  
  

4.) Proof of the provided payment can be done by

Statement of bank account / credit card settlement or - in case of cash payment – by the remark “Betrag bar erhalten”. In case of providing sales slips payment is regarded to have been made without  further proof of payment.

If you do not observe the above guidelines, no payment of expenses will be made and the case will be returned unprocessed to the decentralized purchasing department!

For further information please find all forms and regulations on the university’s internal “Beschäftigtenportal” under https://www.uni-bremen.de/intern/finanzen/bezahlen.

Basics:
A tender is part of the process for assigning contracts in competition. They invite potential bidders to submit an offer.
It is procured according to the procurement instructions of the University of Bremen.
Thorsten Seliger (Department 3) must be consulted before any procurement with a tender (VWG 1110, e-mail seliger(at)uni-bremen.de, Tel .: 60581).

Order value of an order amount:
- from > € 50,000 (net), according to GWB §101 (Act against Restraints of Competition), the following must be advertised: (1) public; or (2) limited; or (3) hands-free;
- from > € 150,000 (gross), the DFG itself procures (depending on the approval, see DFG information sheet exin15.pdf);
- from > € 214,000 (net) must be tendered Europe-wide (see EU regulation No. 1177/2009);
- from > 200,000, - € (gross) it may be a funding of large research equipment according to Art. 91b GG (ex HBFG) (see DFG leaflet 21.1)
Investive vs. Consumable:
- A procurement for an existing system (see "Assets") is consumable if it has the character "replacement" or "exchange"; However, it is an investment when it comes to accessories that add value to the system as a whole. Replacement does not upgrade the system.

Types of award
(1) The award of public supply, construction and service contracts takes place in open procedures, restricted procedures, negotiated procedures or in competitive dialogue.
(2) Open procedures are procedures in which an unlimited number of companies are publicly invited to submit offers.
(3) In the case of restricted procedures, participation is publicly requested, and a limited number of companies from among the applicants are invited to submit offers.
(4) A competitive dialogue is a procedure for the award of particularly complex orders by clients according to Section 98 No. 1 to 3, provided they are not active in the field of drinking water or energy supply or transport, and Section 98 No. 5. This process involves an invitation to participate and then negotiations with selected companies on all the details of the contract.

2. Information for suppliers / issuers of invoices

• Since November 27, 2020, the University of Bremen has also been accepting incoming invoices electronically as so-called e-invoices (electronic invoices or X-invoices). Paper invoices are still accepted.
• The e-invoices have to arrive to the university or MARUM via the Bremen e-billing portal zERIKA. A one-time registration of a service account by the supplier at e-rechnung.bremen.de is required.
• The invoices have to be sent in the so-called Xinvoice-format
• Suppliers have also the option of uploading Xinvoices to the Bremen state portal zERIKA via a manual web entry, by e-mail or via PEPPOL.
• Important information for the delivery of Xinvoices via zERIKA:
  a) In the web version of zERIKA, the routing ID of the University of Bremen 04011000-270-26 has to be used.
  b) By e-mail to zERIKA to the following address:uni-bremen@zerika.bremen.de
  c) By PEPPOL as a service for bulk transactions to the address: 0204:04011000-270
• IMPORTANT: The following information is essential for the correct allocation of the incoming e-invoices:
  - Order number (format: 10-digit starting with 3, 4 or 6)
  - Fund / financial center / asset number (format: 8 digits)
  - Name and area of ​​the purchaser or the recipient of the order.

Fur­ther in­form­a­tion can be found at www.e-rechnung.bremen.de.

When ordering using SAP, the supplier must be selected in the system. Of course, this only works if it has already been created in the system.

The application form for setting up a supplier is available here.

See Nominal accounts.

This list of nominal accounts is used to determine the depreciation periods and helps with the question of whether it is an independently usable asset or not.

At the University of Bremen, every procurer has to fill in a form of assignment to an account for the invoices he/she has caused. This form is called "Kontierungsvorbinder".

Account assignment is the definition of the account, an invoice has to be booked to. A causal allocation of invoices is therefore a basic requirement for tracking actual costs and for carrying out plan-actual comparisons.

Account assignment forms are available here.

For a numer of suppliers, there are framework agreements with the University of Bremen. These must be taken into account in accordance with the procurement instructions of the Chancellor of the University of Bremen. There is an overview of existing framework agreements on this page.

Invoices received by MARUM (so-called incoming invoices) must include the legal entity in their address. The correct address on an invoice is as follows:

University of Bremen
Title name first name
MARUM
Leobener Straße 8
28359 Bremen

G/L accounts, financial positions and product group plan are subject to permanent improvement and expansion. They are available at the employee portal of the University of Bremen at Einkauf - Webbeschaffung (https://www.uni-bremen.de/intern/einkauf/web-beschaffung). This site only exists in German.

When ordering with or without the SAP-MM / Uni-Web-Tool, a VAT code must be given. The cause depends on many factors: Who delivers where (inside Germany, abroad: EU, non-EU, etc.)? Is it a delivery or service? Incoming or outgoing invoice? Is it a tax-free fund (sovereign area) or is it a taxable fund (taxable area/contract research)? Etc.

A working aid for the use of tax keys is available here.

Especially in non-German payment transactions, the MARUM bank information is sometimes requested. But: MARUM does not have its own bank account.
See bank information.

For orders in other European countries, the contractor sometimes needs the V.A.T. Reg. No., which is: DE811 245 070.
(Can only be found on the SAP orders under the designation "USt-Ident-Nr.")

See Plan of G/L accounts.