CNI Purchasing

General Purchasing Requirements

The CNI purchasing team can be reached at cnipurchasing@columbia.edu. Remember to email cnipurchasing@columbia.edu for all inquiries rather than emailing purchasing officers individually. This ensures timely coverage of requests.

Please remember that orders submitted in Ixion are not placed with the company the same day. For orders requiring a purchase order, the purchase order may be issued in 5-7 business days. However, it could take longer depending on the complexity of the order. UwPA and credit card orders are usually placed within 2 business days, but it may be longer.

Purchasing Platform - Ixion

All purchase requests after August 1, 2026 on CNI projects must be placed through Ixion. You can access the website by going to withixion.com and logging in with your user name and password.

If you do not have access to your lab in Ixion, please email cnipurchasing@columbia.edu to request access.

For information on how to make purchases in Ixion, you can access our training below or download a PDF here.

Creating a New CNI Labs Order

General Requirements for All Orders

  • The justification/business purpose for the item (see below for tips on writing good business purposes)

  • Item identification such as item catalog number, website link, price and/or uploaded quote

  • Account (also known as project or Grant ID)

  • If you have multiple items from the same vendor, please add them as one request in Ixion (do not put each item as a separate request) 

  • PI Approval - PIs may approve directly in Ixion or you may upload a PDF of their approval

University Wide Purchasing Agreements (UwPA) $1.00 - Unlimited

Columbia has University-Wide Purchasing Agreements (UwPAs) in place with a number of vendors. Please see Columbia’s Blue Pages for “UwPA” and other preferred suppliers. If an item is available from one of these, then it should be purchased from one of these suppliers.

In addition to UwPA suppliers, CNI frequently purchases from the following suppliers:

Vendor Selection - Small Purchases (under $2,500)

Purchases equal to or less than $2,500 from vendors that are not UwPA suppliers may be placed via credit card.

Vendors who do not accept payment by credit card must be registered with Columbia University’s Vendor Management system (PaymentWorks).  Please provide the name, email address and phone number of the contact person who can fill out the PaymentWorks request to get the company registered as a CU vendor. Note that requests over $2,500 may NOT be broken into several orders to avoid the $2,500 limit.

You can check if your vendor is setup with the university at the following link: https://paymentstatus.finance.columbia.edu/vendor-lookup

Note that purchases from vendors that are not registered with Vendor Management will require additional processing times.

Tip: Remember that price is not always the most important factor in choosing a supplier.

  • UwPA suppliers are preferred if the price is a little higher. In cases where UwPA suppliers are significantly more expensive, non-UwPA suppliers are fine to use.

    • Also note, for UwPA suppliers, the price you see on their website may not be the same as Columbia’s negotiated price. Columbia’s price is sometimes much lower!

  • Item quality and compatibility with existing lab equipment and supplies is an important factor

  • Currently, US-based suppliers are preferred even if the price is higher because of high and unpredictable tariff and shipping costs. US-based suppliers may also be required by your project.

Vendor Selection - Purchases over $2,500 from non-UwPA suppliers

All purchases over $2,500 Vendor require a Purchase Order (PO) and must have one or more quotes or proposals uploaded to Ixion. Please see the below table for the number of quotes that must be uploaded. Please note that these amounts recently changed.

If a Competitive Quote is not attainable, a Single Source JustificationForm, along with two Redacted Quotes or invoices, must be provided.

**Certain vendors who have a University Wide Purchase Agreement do not require a competitive bid

All quotes from vendors should have the following:

  • General Info: Vendor’s Name, Address, Phone Number, Email & at least 30 Day Validity 

  • Order Specific Info: Item Number, Item Description, Quantity, Price in USD

  • Dollar & Estimated Freight Charge (unless freight is free of charge) 

All vendors who require purchase orders must be registered with Columbia University’s Vendor Management system (PaymentWorks). In your Ixion request, Please provide the name, email address and phone number of the contact person who can fill out the PaymentWorks request to get the company registered as a CU vendor.

You can check if your vendor is setup with the university at the following link: https://paymentstatus.finance.columbia.edu/vendor-lookup

Note that purchases from vendors that are not registered with Vendor Management will require additional processing times.

Other important information:

  • All Design/Consulting/Editing Offsite Repair/Evaluation of Equipment, regardless of dollar amount requires a PO 

  • Onsite Warranty/Repair/Evaluation work of any value requires a PO & Certificate of Insurance 

  • Laser Equipment, regardless of order value, require a completed Laser Registration Form 

  • Any item $5,000+ is classified as Capital Assets and requires the building/room number where the item will reside. If known, please also supply the FAB number, asset tag, and custodian. The custodian must be a Columbia faculty member.

Tips for writing a business purpose

  • A business purpose should complete the sentence “this item is used to/for…”

    •  Good Examples:

      •  This camera will be used for frequency conversion and squeezing experiments for imaging chips.

      •  Electroporation cuvettes used to transform e. coli cells for gene editing/plasmid verification.

      • The chemical is to be used as a developer solution to develop e-beam patterned HSQ resist in the cleanroom for designs on silicon nitride and lithium niobate.

      •  The items are used to couple light into our comb chips.

    • Bad examples:

      • Items for lab use

      • Handheld Digital Microscope 

  • Feel free to provide more detail in the business purpose beyond one sentence, but it is not required.

  • Remember to provide a business purpose for all items when purchasing multiple items. You can provide a different business purpose for each item or one business purpose that applies to all.

Package Pickup

CNI package pickup hours are between 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM at 1001 CEPSR/Shapiro (10th floor). Please be sure to bring your own equipment for moving large or heavy packages.

Note that packages containing hazardous chemicals are sent directly to 200 Pupin.

Please contact us via email at cise@columbia.edu if you have any questions or concerns regarding package pickup.

Additional Forms

Common Issues

  • Email cnipurchasing@columbia.edu instead of your purchasing officer individually. You can address the email directly to the person you normally work with.  If you’re purchasing using a quote you received from the vendor, don’t forget to attach the quote to the Ixion order!

  • Include clear indication of the quantity you want (e.g., two 5ml containers, five boxes of 100)

  • If uploading an approval email from your PI, ensure that the body of the email describes what you are buying so the print out shows what the PI is approving. For example, you could write in the email “please approve this purchase of self-sealing stem bolts.”

  • If purchasing from Airgas, please include your lab’s account number and if any canisters need to be returned.