Capital Projects

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Use the Capital Project/Purchase Authorization Form for all projects approved as part of the Capital Budget Pool and for all other projects/purchases that meet the capital items guidelines.

Capital items are purchases of equipment or facilities with a useful life of at least 3 years, or expenses that improve or extend the life of existing equipment or facilities, including: 

  • Expenditures for new construction (in excess of $100,000)
  • Building renovations and additions (in excess of $50,000)
  • Building components, major systems such as HVAC, plumbing or elevators (in excess of $50,000)
  • Equipment, furniture & technology items (In excess of $10,000 individually or $50,000 if purchased as a group)

Repairs and routine maintenance are not capital items (even if the repair may last longer than three years) and do not require a capital project form unless the repair or maintenance project was included as part of the approved capital budget, in which case the the Capital Project/Purchase Authorization form must still be completed.

If you have any questions about this form, contact our assistant controller at 704-894-2066.

Capital Project Funding

Capital projects can be funded through several sources, including: 

  • Capital Budget pool:  Requires formal approval from both the Capital Budget Working Group (CBWG) and the Board of Trustees
  • Donor Gifts
  • Restricted Funds, including Federal and non-federal grants
  • Departmental Operating Budgets

With the exception of projects funded by donor gifts and federal grants, projects must be funded in full prior to the start of the project.  Any unused funds will be returned to the original funding source upon completion.

Online Capital Project Authorization Form

Forms should be submitted for all capital projects/purchases, regardless of the funding source, including projects/purchases approved by the Trustees as part of the Capital Budget.

When you submit the Capital Project/Purchase Authorization Form, your department head will receive an email with a link to review the form. They should approve the form online and route the form to the next approver. For more detailed instructions, review the capital project and purchases policy. You can also review the status of your form at the List of Submitted Capital Projects or see the final approved form with the assigned Project # and Task # in Davidson Kuali Build, My Documents. 

Projects/purchases approved by the Trustees as a part of the fiscal year Capital Budget process will be assigned a "Capital Budget ID" that must be included on the form. 

A Capital Project/Purchase Authorization Form is required in addition to the Trustee approval to ensure that affected departments (Physical Plant, T&I, etc.) are aware of, and able to support the project, and that the Controller's Office is notified for cash management and financial statement purposes. 

Capital Budget ID numbers (e.g CP2701) can be found here: 

Once the capital project form has been fully approved, a Project Number and Task number will be established in Oracle and funding will be moved from the sources listed on the form to the new project. All activity related to the project must be charged to that Project/Task Number, not to the funding source. 

For expenses processed on Purchase Requisitions (supplier invoices): After the purchase requisition has been added to the shopping cart, click Review and scroll down to the Billing section.  Enter the Project #, Task #, Expenditure Type (i.e., equipment > $10,000, etc.) and Expenditure Organization (the department listed on the Capital Project Form).  Ignore the Charge Account; this will update when you click save.

For expenses processed via Expense Reports (p-card charges and employee reimbursements):  Select the Davidson Capital Project Expenses template and select the Type of expense.  Additional fields will appear under the Account string - Ignore the Account string (the project accounting will be applied once the expense report is transferred to payables); instead enter the Project Number and Task Number and complete the expense report as you normally would.  Note: the Account String will not update to the project accounting until the expense report is approved, audited and transferred to payables.