INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR Campus and Long Beach State Foundation (LBXMP, LBX49)

Certain services performed on campus must be completed by a CSULB department or division.  Some services may be performed by external companies or individuals.  External companies or individuals may be hired when the service is specialized or technical, requiring knowledge, experience, or abilities not required of existing employees.

Payment for services is based upon completion of specific work rather than time worked.

The requesting department must complete CSUBuy’s Independent Contractor Request Form in CSUBuy for all hires. 

Yes – A requisition is required for all independent contractor service hires.

If a requisition is required, the minimum time for generating a dispatched Purchase Order:

A minimum of 10 working days after the requisition arrives in the Procurement Review workflow step in CSUBuy.

Campus and Long Beach State Foundations thresholds

  • All Goods and Services purchases between $100,000 - $250,000 require a minimum of 3 competitive quotes. If obtaining quotes from a small business or disabled veteran businesses, then only 2 quotes are required from the same classification (for example, 2 small business quotes).
  • Anything under $100,000 is at the discretion of the Procurement Department as to whether additional quotes are required.
  • Purchases over $250,000 require a Request For Proposal (RFP). If obtaining quotes from small business or disabled veteran businesses, then only 2 quotes are required from the same classification (for example, 2 small business quotes).
  • Foundation “G” (Grants) Funds - All Goods and Services purchases between $10,000 - $99,999 require at least 2 informal quotes. Anything between $100,000 - $250,000 require 3 informal quotes. Purchases over $250,000 require a Request For Proposal (RFP).

All Independent Contractor hires:

Departments must complete CSUBuy’s Independent Contractor Request Form for all Independent Contractor hires.  Once the Independent Contractor requisition is approved by HR in the CSUBuy requisition workflow, the requisition will move to the Procurement Review workflow step.
Some individual hires may require a background check if the service involves minors, involves financial services, or involves some access to CSULB’s sensitive data.

By accepting a contract with the CSU, Contractors must certify they are neither nor its principals or its subcontractors are presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible or voluntarily excluded from participation in transactions by any federal department or agency (2 Code Federal Regulations[CFR] 180.220, in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget guidelines at 2 CFR 180 that implement Executive Orders 12549 (3 CFR Part 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 CFR Part 1989 Comp., p. 235).

For contracts using both, CSU and federally awarded funds, a debarment check must be completed prior to issuing any procurement contracts of goods or services that are $25,000.00 or greater.

  1. Permitted Payment Options: Based on category guidelines
    1. PO – Allowed
    2. PCard – Not Allowed
    3. One Card – Not Allowed
    4. Direct Pay – Not Allowed
    5. Employee Reimbursement – Not Allowed
  2. Documents required for this type of payment:
    1. Supplier Invoice submitted in CSUBuy or by emailing Accounts Payable.
    2. Delegated approval (DOA) included on the submitted requisition.
  3. Electronic approval of the invoice will be collected through the CSUBuy voucher approval workflow.
  4. All Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments or checks will be issued by the Accounts Payable department.

Tax Issues:

All contractor engaged must be legally allowed to perform work within the United States.  If the individual or entity is a non-resident alien, or if the department is unsure of the residency status, departments must contact the Controller’s Office Tax Specialist (AP-Tax@csulb.edu) PRIOR to retaining the individual. The Tax Specialist MUST verify residency status and/or Visa status prior to a department making a commitment to retain the independent contractor. Failure to do so may result in the university being unable to legally procure services and pay the independent contractor.

Suppliers that are not California residents who receive California-source income may be subject to tax withholding.  Contact the Controller’s Office Tax Specialist (ap-tax@csulb.edu) for more information before proceeding with any engagements.

Common GL Account(s) to Use
660835 – Lectures & Performances

613800 – Consulting Contract Services 

Refer to your Division/College/Department for additional policies and procedures.