Universities, research institutes and commercial laboratories generally cannot buy on a card at checkout. They buy on a purchase order, against an invoice, with documentation attached. This route exists for that.

What the route covers

• Purchase order ordering — an order placed against your institution PO reference rather than card payment at checkout.
• Quotations — a written quotation for a basket of materials, which most procurement systems require before a PO can be raised.
• Lot continuity — where a study needs multiple units of the same material from a single lot, that has to be reserved at the point of order rather than discovered later.
• Documentation with the order — the certificate for each lot supplied, issued with the consignment.

What to include in an enquiry

Institution and department, a delivery address, the materials and quantities as catalogued, your PO reference if one has been raised, and whether lot continuity is required across the order.

Research-use boundary

Materials are supplied for laboratory research only. The boundary applies identically to institutional orders and individual ones, and is not varied by order size or by the status of the purchasing organisation.