The Office of the State Comptroller is upgrading its Statewide Financial System (SFS) software from Friday, Mar. 20, 2015 to Thursday, Apr. 16, 2015 (“blackout” period). The system upgrade will impact the University’s fiscal year-end processing deadlines. The College’s purchase requisition deadline will be earlier than in previous fiscal years. The last day to enter FY 2015 purchase requisitions into CUNYfirst is Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. At this time, please review your budget and identify any needs that you anticipate having for the remainder of the fiscal year, and submit requisitions to Purchasing immediately so they can begin processing your requests.

All purchase requisitions must be approved and budget checked in CUNYfirst. Also, please ensure that your purchase requisitions include all the necessary supporting documentation for processing. Purchase requisitions will be processed in Budget Approved Date order. Purchase requisitions submitted after the cutoff date are subject to rejection and may not be processed.

During the State’s system conversion, transactions such as issuing purchase orders and processing payments will not be performed in CUNYfirst. Therefore, it is essential that we pay as many invoices as possible prior to the blackout period in the event that there are delays. To accomplish this, all receipts for goods and services must be placed in the system as soon as the item is received and no later than Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2015. Please begin entering your receipts immediately, since we are anticipating a large volume of invoices during the final weeks of March as we work to pay as much as possible before the system closes.

A recap of the dates is as follows:

-Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 –  Last day to enter FY 2015 purchase requisitions

-Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2015 – Last day to enter receipts

-Friday, Mar. 20 – Thursday, Apr. 16, 2015 – State’s “blackout” period, no purchase order or payment processing with the State

– Tuesday, June 30, 2015 – Fiscal year end. All goods and services must be received to be a FY2015 expense.

Every effort will be made accommodate department requests. The Purchasing Office’s ability to do so is subject to mandated procurement procedures, workload, and processing situations. Cut-off dates help to ensure adequate lead time for delivery of all goods and services that must be received by the end of the fiscal year.

Should you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Purchasing at 718.982.2450, Accounts Payable at 718.982.2483, or myself at 718.982.2460.

Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation.