Salem State Vendor Expenses, FY15-FY24

AJ Vincelli filed this request with the Salem State University of Massachusetts.
Est. Completion None
Status
Payment Required

From: AJ Vincelli

Hello,

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I am hereby submitting a Public Records Request for all money given from Salem State University to external vendors/suppliers in FY2015 through (and including) FY2024, a total of 10 years.

Specifically, the data I am requesting include (but are not limited to):
* all vendors, suppliers, individuals, and public-private partnerships
* all materials, goods, services, properties, commodities, equipment leases, property leases, and licenses
* all catalog orders, non-catalog orders, blanket orders, direct payments, bank card purchases, strategic sourcing, and competitive procurements
* all auxiliary services purchases (starts in 2022, may be from a different accounting system)
* all purchase orders, requisitions, and invoices
* all products, goods, services, contracts, and subcontracts
* all accounts, classes, commodities, and departments
* regardless of the funding source

I’m requesting the data in a single Excel spreadsheet file (.xlsx format) with at least the following columns:
* Amount
* Supplier/Vendor Name
* Account Description
* Commodity Description
* Fiscal Year
* Department/Origin Description

Please report every expense, even if one or more of the above fields is blank. Please also include negative expense amounts, which is rare but does occur.

In case it’s helpful, I've attached an image example of what I’m hoping to receive. The columns may be in any order, and the fiscal years may be on one sheet or different sheets. The columns can be sorted in any order, or unsorted if that’s easiest.

I’m anticipating that this request may be fulfilled by a simple financial report generation and export of the generated file, and therefore shouldn’t take much human time or incur any fees. Please let me know immediately if this isn’t the case, so I can modify my request as necessary to meet the PRL deadline of 10 business days.

Please email the Excel file by the deadline of Monday August 26th, 2024.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

AJ Vincelli
Graduate Student Union at UMass Dartmouth

From: Salem State University

Good Morning AJ,

Could you please clarify? Are you looking for donations or payment reports?

Thank you!

From: AJ Vincelli

Hello,

Thank you for asking. We're not looking for donations, we're just looking for vendor payments for things like goods and services. I assume this would be payment reports?

Thanks very much! We appreciate your help. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,

AJ Vincelli

From: Salem State University

Dear AJ,

Per the Massachusetts Public Records Law (G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07), records custodians may charge a reasonable fee to recover the costs of complying with a public records request. Therefore, the university is charging for records requests that require more than 4 hours of work to complete. Because of the work required to respond to your request, Salem State will be assessing a fee of approximately $100.00 for this data which represents 8 hours of work (minus 4 hours = 4 X $25/hour). However, note that this is an estimate; the actual cost could be more or less.

Please advise as to whether you wish to continue with your request. If so, please send a check payable to Salem State University in the amount of $100.00 to: ATTN: General Counsel’s Office, 352 Lafayette Street, Salem, MA 01970. Should the actual fee be less, you will be reimbursed for your overpayment. Work will not begin on this project until the fee is received.

You have the right to file an administrative appeal with the Supervisor of Public Records under 950 CMR 32.08(1) regarding this response.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

RITA P. COLUCCI, Esq.
GENERAL COUNSEL
Office 978.542.8600
Cell 978.578.1702
(she/her/hers)

SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970-5353
salemstate.edu