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The purpose of these Procedures is to:
All terms used as definitions in these Procedures shall have the same meaning given to them in the Policy.
The Board Chair has the authority to approve of hiring and to sign an offer letter for the President and Chief Executive Officer of RRC Polytech and to sign the associated Employment Agreement.
The Board shall approve of major expenditures as set out at section 4.3 of the Policy prior to any Signing Officer affixing their signature to an Agreement.
Subject to section 3.1, the President and Vice-President Finance and Administration have the authority to Sign all Agreements, including Standard or Non-Standard Agreements.
All additional Signing Officers have the Financial Approval and Signing Authority as set out in Section 4 of these Procedures for their Portfolio. If the authority to sign any particular Agreement in question is not within a given Portfolio, it may be Signed by the President or Vice-President, Finance and Administration.
In addition, the following positions are designated as Signing Officers for the stated purposes only:
Individuals with Financial Approval Authority for a Portfolio or a portion of a Portfolio, such as a given Budget Centre, Project, Division, Department or Program, are considered Signing Officers and may approve financial commitments and sign contracts, including non-monetary contracts, for their Portfolio or portion of a Portfolio up to the financial authority limits defined by position as follows, subject always to obtaining Board Approvals and other Approvals where required under the Policy and this Procedure:
Level | Position | Financial Approval Authority Limit |
---|---|---|
1 | President, VP Finance and Administration | Unlimited (all agreements) |
2 | VP Academic VP Indigenous Strategy, Research and Business Dev Chief Human Resource Officer ED Advancement | Unlimited (within portfolio) |
3 | Executive Directors, Chief Information Officer, Comptroller | $200,000 |
4 | Deans, Directors, and General Counsel | $100,000 |
5 | Associate Deans (or equivalent) | $75,000 |
6 | Chairs, Managers, Program Officers | $25,000 |
7 | Other Financial Approvers (as approved by VP Finance and Administration) | up to $10,000 |
Values are listed on a per-Agreement basis, not an annual or other basis. Signing Officers shall not enter into multiple Agreements for the purpose of avoiding this restriction.
Where an Agreement relates to multiple units, the Signing Officer must have authority over all the units impacted. For example, an Agreement impacting multiple units should be signed by the applicable Department Director rather than a Manager. The exception to this general rule is when the agreement covering multiple units is a Standard Work Integrated Learning Agreement referred to in paragraph 7.1, in which case, the Agreement may be signed by any Chair with authority over a program whose students are participating in the work integrated learning.
Where the value of an Agreement cannot be determined, the Signing Officer shall revert to the President or the Vice-President, Finance and Administration, or any other Executive with authority over the Portfolio as per section 3.0.
Each Signing Officer shall act in good faith and in the best interests of RRC Polytech and shall not approve a Financial Commitment or Sign any Agreement whereby in doing so that Signing Officer is placed in a conflict of interest or would give the appearance of being so.
One-over-one approval is a control operation that is required in order to provide assurance that the expenditure is appropriate and is required for Institutional operations whereby the person to whom a Signing Officer reports must approve and sign for items where there would otherwise be a conflict including without limitation:
All Agreements entered into by RRC Polytech must be in writing and shall be signed by a single authorized Signing Officer. Agreements do not need a second signature in order to be duly authorized by RRC Polytech.
Signing Officers are authorized to sign Agreements and to bind RRC Polytech to the terms thereof based upon the dollar amounts (in Canadian funds, inclusive of taxes) as set in Section 4.0 of these Procedures.
Where an Agreement is an amendment, extension or renewal of a previously executed Agreement, it should still be processed in the same manner as the original Agreement and in accordance with the Signing Policy and these Procedures using the total value of the Agreement. For example, in a situation where an amendment is valued at $55,000, if the amendment increases total value of the Agreement from $95,000 to $150,000.00, the designated Signing Officer will be the Position designated to sign a contract valued at $150,000, i.e. the total contract value.
Unless otherwise specified, signing authority is granted to a position as opposed to a specific individual.
All Agreements must be entered into in the correct legal name of RRC Polytech, which is “Red River College Polytechnic”. The Board of Governors (The Board), schools, departments, units, and individual employees should not be named directly as a party to the Agreement.
Before Signing an Agreement, the Signing Officer must be satisfied as to the following matters:
The President and any Executive of RRC Polytech has the power to restrict, in writing, the signing authority of any Signing Officer within their reporting unit(s), at any time and without cause.
The following types of Agreements are considered Standard Agreements and may be signed by the appropriate Signing Officer, as identified in Section 4 above, without further legal review so long as they are completed in accordance with any instructions provided by the Legal and Compliance department and require no changes to the approved standard RRC Polytech template terms and they comply with any other applicable RRC Polytech Policies, Procedures, or Policy Class Approvals;
The following types of Agreements, although Non-Standard, are considered low risk and may be signed without review by the Legal and Compliance Department as long as they comply with any other applicable RRC Polytech Policies, Procedures, or Policy Class Approvals:
All other Agreements must be reviewed by the Legal and Compliance department prior to Signing and may be submitted to the Legal and Compliance Department through established legal intake processes.
Notwithstanding anything else in these Procedures, where a Signing Officer, acting reasonably, determines that any Agreement meets one or more of the following criteria, it must be reviewed by the Legal and Compliance Department, and the General Counsel may refer the Agreement to the President or appropriate Executive, for Signing:
A Signing Officer may refer an Agreement to the Legal and Compliance Department for review to obtain advice and guidance at any time including where the Agreement does not require legal review. Such a review request should be initiated through established intake processes.
If the Legal and Compliance Department does not endorse an Agreement it has reviewed, the Agreement may only be Signed with the consent of the President or appropriate Executive with decision-making authority over a Portfolio.
The review done by the Legal and Compliance Department is from a legal perspective only and does not include an assessment of the business case underlying the Agreement. The Signing Officer is responsible for ensuring that the Agreement fits within the business and operational requirements and that it complies with any other applicable RRC Polytech Policies, Procedures, or Policy Class Approvals.
Legal and Compliance will maintain a record of all contracts entered into by RRC Polytech (other than those as set out below) in the Contract Log.
Signing Officers must provide any Agreement signed in ink to the Legal and Compliance Department where it will be placed in the Contract Log. Agreements that are signed using RRC Polytech’s approved digital technology, currently DocuSign, will be added to the Contract Log by Legal and Compliance.
If an Agreement is signed through “clickwrap” or “click to accept” the Signing Officer must notify Legal and Compliance when terms are accepted, provide a copy of all terms and conditions, and a written acknowledgment by the Signing Officer that the Signing Officer has accepted or authorized the Agreement.
Certain types of executed Agreements do not need to be provided to the Legal and Compliance Department for placement in the Contract Log, but must be maintained locally, in accordance with the applicable records authority schedule, or forwarded to another central office. These agreements include:
Signing Officers must ensure that the following Policy Class Approvals have been obtained prior to Signing an Agreement that include the following:
Request Type | Policy Class Approver |
---|---|
Radioactive and Hazardous Materials | Manager, Environmental Health and Safety |
Renovations and Facility Leases | Director, Facility Management |
Advertising | Director, Marketing and Web Presence |
Computer, Information Technology and Software | Director, Information Technology Services |
Audio Visual Equipment | CLPE Designee – Supervisor, Audio Visual Services |
Community Sponsorship | Manager, Corporate Events and Operations – Public Relations and Community |
Capital Expenditures | Director, Procurement and Logistics |
The Legal and Compliance Department is responsible for advising the Vice-President, Finance and Administration that a formal review of this Procedure is required in accordance with the schedule set out in the Policy.
RRC Polytech’s Comptroller and General Counsel are jointly responsible for the implementation, administration and review of this Procedure.
All RRC Polytech employees are responsible for complying with this Procedure.
RRC Polytech campuses are located on the lands of Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, Anishininew, Dakota, and Dené, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.
We recognize and honour Treaty 3 Territory Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, the source of Winnipeg’s clean drinking water. In addition, we acknowledge Treaty Territories which provide us with access to electricity we use in both our personal and professional lives.