Doing Business with UMD

• Visit the contacts page and contact the Procurement Officer associated with the category of goods/services you offer
• Ask the Procurement Officer about key campus contacts who may be interested in the goods/services offered by your company

UMD is a large, complex organization with many people involved in the procurement process. The procurement environment at UMD is partially centralized; many purchases are completed directly by campus department personnel.

Procurements are handled differently depending on their value:

• Greater than $25,000 - handled by Procurement & Business Services
• Less than $25,000 - often handled by campus departments;
  • Between $5,000 and $25,000 - typically placed directly by campus departments; require a Purchase Order (PO)
  • Less than $5,000 - may be placed by purchasing card (Pcard) or PO

Regardless of the dollar amount, any order with an accompanying license agreement, contract, or other form of agreement requiring a signature must be routed to Procurement & Business Services for review, negotiation, and final signature of contractual documents.

• Suppliers are expected to provide complete quotations for goods and services, regardless of the dollar amount of the transaction. The minimum requirements are:
  • Clear identification of the goods/services being offered
  • Quantity, unit, unit pricing, extended pricing
  • Identification of shipping terms (FOB or INCO terms); the university’s preference is to receive all items FOB: Destination (UMD location). The university prefers not to take ownership of items while they are in transit, particularly when a supplier shipper is used. Identification of who pays shipping charges, if applicable. The university’s preference is for freight charges to be Prepaid, but if they are prepaid and added they must be included on a quotation. The university does not accept COD shipping payment terms.
  • Company name, address, website URL, key contact or sales person name and contact information
  • Expiration date of quotation
  • For all orders less than $25,000, acceptance of the University of Maryland standard Terms and Conditions.
  • If an order is Federally funded, additional terms and conditions may attach. The supplier will be notified on the face of the PO when the additional terms and conditions apply
  • POs and contracts will not be entered into based on estimated pricing (a firm quotation is required rather than an estimate)
    
     
• UMD has standard terms and conditions. Depending on the type of procurement additional terms and conditions may apply.
• When a UMD purchase is routed to Procurement, the Procurement Officer may require an updated quotation based upon the price point, product/services offered, or funding source. Depending upon the nature of the procurement and dollar value, UMD may require additional terms and conditions

• Campus departments may request quotations or proposals for items from multiple suppliers for orders that are less than $25,000 as a means to validate pricing is fair and reasonable.
• For purchases exceeding $25,000, quotations provided to campus departments are considered budgetary in nature. Procurement may determine that a competitive solicitation is required; if so, the solicitation will be conducted by a Procurement Officer.
• Competitive solicitations for anticipated contract values exceeding $200,000 will be publicly posted on the State of Maryland eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA)
• For competitive solicitations for goods/services exceeding $25,000, all communication during the solicitation is to be directed to the Procurement Officer of record as directed in the solicitation. Direct communication with the campus department or other individuals at UMD is nonauthoritative and has no bearing on the outcome of the solicitation.

Suppliers should act in accordance with Best Practices for Suppliers doing Business with UMD (See section below):

• How and when suppliers register with the University of Maryland 
  • Supplier registration occurs at the time of the first award, or issuance of the first purchase order
  • Suppliers must provide a W-9 or W-8 BEN-E 
• Procurement recommends all suppliers register with the State of Maryland eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA). By registering with eMMA, your company will have access to bids on publicly posted solicitations for all State Agencies, including those posted by UMD.

• PCard Program and restrictions
  • The program helps campus departments obtain low cost goods and services directly with minimal involvement of Procurement.
  • Orders are restricted to less than $5,000; you may not divide an order into multiple smaller dollar orders to meet this limit or split an order across multiple Pcards
  • Invoices or receipts are required for each transaction
  • Credits for returns or canceled orders must be applied to the credit card number they were charged to, and a credit document must be supplied to the card holder
  • Only accept orders from the individual whose name the credit card is in
  • Failure to observe the restrictions may result in a supplier being sanctioned or the university restricting Pcard use with that supplier
    
     
• Delegated Procurements and restrictions
  • UMD allows campus departments the ability to place orders directly up to $25,000
  • Suppliers are expected to provide written quotations in advance of orders being placed, including:
    • Supplier name and address,
    • Quantity and unit of measure
    • Description of the goods or services offered
    • Unit pricing, extended pricing and shipping terms, including any freight costs the university may be responsible for
  • Delegated orders that cannot be made via Pcard will be done by Purchase Order (PO)
  • Delegated POs are usually issued as an email attachment. We do not recommend that suppliers accept verbal POs. Acceptance of verbal POs may result in delays in payment.
  • Purchase orders issued by UMD have corresponding Terms and Conditions that the supplier is expected to accept.
  • Strategic Contracts and Shell Shop Catalog orders
  • UMD has a number of Strategic Contracts for goods and services that are routinely used across the institution. Strategic Contracts are administered by Procurement for use by the campus
  • Strategic Contracts in use by UMD may be competitively solicited directly by UMD, may be competitively solicited, consortia-based agreements, or State of Maryland agreements
  • Shell Shop is UMD’s catalog shopping portal designed to ease the placement of routine, small dollar procurements for goods, and is managed by Strategic Sourcing.
  • Determinations for catalog inclusion in Shell Shop are based on having a Strategic Contract in place, transaction volume, spend, use across a wide number of campus departments, and supplier technical capability
  • All Shell Shop orders are placed electronically
• Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Amendments, and Contracts
• PO numbers are required for all non-Pcard orders placed with suppliers
• PO Amendments (POA) are required for any material changes to a PO. These include but are not limited to changes to line item details, changes to pricing, supplier address changes, exercising options to extend a contract or change a time frame associated with a contract
• All POAs are processed by Procurement based upon requests from UMD campus departments
• POAs are typically provided to suppliers as an email attachment and include the changes made to the PO Prior to completing a POA, Procurement may request additional documentation from the supplier in support of the requested change
• UMD enters into contracts with suppliers through a variety of methods; these include participating in consortia-based agreements, making use of extensible agreements, competitively soliciting and awarding contracts and, at times, on a sole source basis
  
   
• Depending upon the type of contract entered into, UMD uses two methods for completing a contract:
  • Allowing the PO to constitute the contract, referencing the competitive solicitation or supplier proposal/quotation and any additional documentation as a basis for the contract
  • Use of a separate, signed contract document, and in some cases, assignment of a contract number, either of which are referenced on resulting POs
  • Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the contract documents, POs are required for payment of invoices against a contract
    
     

Ensuring timely payment when you’ve accepted a PO from a Campus Department or Procurement

• Confirm you have received a valid UMD PO number
  • Valid UMD POs are issued via email from a campus department or Procurement Officer, or electronically via Shell Shop (.cxml)
• How to submit an invoice
  • Submit invoices to APAdmin@umd.edu
• Invoicing Requirements
  • Supplier name and address on invoice must match name and address provided on the W-9 submitted at the time of registration
  • PO Number must be clearly stated
  • Line item detail must identify the goods and services delivered
  • Line item and extended pricing on the invoice must match the pricing on the PO received - any discrepancy in pricing will result in a delay in payment.
  • Invoices for goods must include quantity, unit of measure, product numbers, product description, ship date, unit price, and extended price (quantity and unit price must match or be less than what is stated on the PO received by the company)
  • Invoices for services must include a description of services rendered, period being billed for, identification of individual who rendered services, hourly rate, hours billed, deliverable(s) provided, and expenses being billed. The invoiced amount cannot exceed the line item amount on the PO for the services being billed.
  • Invoiced total, including multiple invoices, cannot exceed the PO total.
• Changes in Registration information
  • Contact Procurement in writing to change supplier name, address, TIN, minority or small business status, contact information, website URL, etc. .
  • To change supplier address information and remit to information, submit an updated W-9 and verification.
  • UMD reserves the right to verify changes to supplier records

• Do not accept a contract or agreement that has not been signed by Procurement. While there are a few exceptions, only agreements signed by an individual with authority to make commitments will be honored. UMD and the State of Maryland are under no obligation to honor agreements signed by individuals who are not authorized.
• Do not ship items to a university location without having received a UMD Purchase Order or Pcard number at the time the order is placed. The supplier is operating at their own risk if goods or services are delivered without a PO/ Pcard number.
• Do not accept orders for additional goods and services without receiving a POA or a new PO.
  • All POA actions are generated by Procurement Officers.
  • Additional approvals may be required for POA actions.
  • At the discretion of the Procurement Officer, a separate PO may be required based on the nature of additional goods and services being requested.
• Be aware of attempted fraudulent orders
  • If you are unsure about the legitimacy of a request for quotation or placement of an order and suspect it may be fraudulent, do not hesitate to contact a Procurement Officer to confirm the order.
  • Key indicators of a fraudulent order include; a request or order placed by an individual with an email address that does not end in @umd.edu; delivery to a state other than Maryland; items your company sells are not typically used in a university setting; you are asked to sell products that are outside of the normal products/services your company provides.

• Procurement strongly recommends that all suppliers to the university obtain a Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN) prior to registering with the State of Maryland or University of Maryland. Obtaining a TIN has a number of benefits:
  • A TIN protects personally identifiable information (PII) of the business owner - important for sole proprietors or business owners who may have been using a Social Security Number.
  • It demonstrates that the business has filed with the US Federal Government as a business entity, which provides a level of credibility to the business.
• If your company is a Small Business or Minority Owned Business (MBE) UMD recommends that your company obtains certification from the State of Maryland as a certified Small Business or certified Minority Owned Business. For more information visit the Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs. Benefits of obtaining certification include:
  • As part of certification, your company will be listed in a searchable database used by procurement professionals in State of Maryland agencies, including University of Maryland System institutions which often seek Small Business and MBEs to solicit bids for a variety of goods and services.
  • Registering with the State of Maryland will allow UMD and other State Agencies the ability to report awards and dollars spent with your company toward our goals. If your company is not State certified, or does not meet certification requirements, awards and dollars spent with your company cannot be reported.