The Business Contracts Office provides service to all University campus departments and units. Note that the Business Contracts Office does not furnish services to individual faculty members, staff or students.

The Business Contracts Office helps campus customers with non-research business contracts, including agreements associated with business relationships for strategic alliances, intangible rights and business intellectual property licenses, consultant services, and revenue generating business opportunities. For more information, see: Business Contracts Office: Roles & Responsibilities

In contrast to the Business Contracts Office, Procurement Services works with campus departments in the acquisition of common goods and services, including the purchase and/or lease of tangible personal property. See Purchasing Contracts for more information on the types of contracts which are considered purchasing rather than business contracts. Procurement activity typically involves an expenditure of funds governed by California Commercial Code and public contracting regulations. Services acquired include professional services and common services.

Procurement Services' operations are primarily governed by University of California Business and Finance Bulletin 43
See Purchasing Contracts for more information.

The Business Contracts Office is governed by a separate and specific signature delegation from the President of the University to the Chancellor of the Berkeley campus and further delegated to the Business Contracts Administrator of the Business Contracts Office, "to execute various service agreements required with outside organizations, agencies and individuals to implement approved programs and activities, whether the university is the supplier or recipient of the service covered by the agreement." This BCO delegation is not used for transactions that are governed by other campus signature delegations.

A BCO Request Form. For all requests (except requests for consultant agreements) submit a completed Business Contracts Office BCO Request Form through e-mail, fax, or hard copy. Attach supporting documentation, including a copy of any agreement given to you by the other contracting party. See the BCO Request Form Guide for more information, and for instructions and issues pertaining to completion of the form.  (To request a consultant agreement, see below.)

A BCO Request Form is the form used by the department to request services from BCO. It is signed by the department's Management Services Officer (or equivalent or higher position) and should be furnished to BCO with appropriate backup documents. See the BCO Request Form Guide for more information, and for instructions and issues pertaining to completion of the form.

No. For all types of business contracts and consultant agreements  issued through BCO, a BFS Requisition is not used.

After the business contract negotiations are complete and the agreement is signed by both parties, the department prepares the BFS Purchase Order for all business contracts and consultant agreements, regardless of dollar amount. See Business Contract Payment.

Yes, BCO needs the BFS purchase order number. After creating the BFS purchase order number, the department forwards the purchase order number to BCO. BCO will cross reference it in BCO's database of contracts, and furnish BCO's internal contract number to the department for referencing in the BFS purchase order.

No. For agreements issued through BCO, the fully signed business contract acts as the sole document between the University and the outside party, and includes deliverables, partial payments, test and acceptance, etc. The BFS purchase order acts to reserve the University funds for payment to the outside party when the terms of the vendor's performance are completed

Consultant agreements issued through BCO are for organizational analysis and advice related to University administration or management. See Consultant Agreements.