Any order that requires pre-payment over $5,000 must be approved by the IHL Commissioner. Acquisitions sends the invoice and a justification paragraph to Procurement, that is forwarded to the Commissioner. Responses can take two-three weeks.
Pre-payment requests under $5,000 must be approved by UM Procurement. Responses can take two-three days.
Examples of items that are considered pre-payment: deposits with vendors (i.e. Gobi and Kanopy), pro forma invoices for firm orders, multi-year licenses for streaming videos
Updated March 2020
Procurement credit card is used to pay all invoices under $5,000 for vendors that do not attach a service charge for using a credit card. Procurement rules require that the payment be made on the same day an item is shipped, or after an item has been received. Exceptions are made for subscriptions, but Procurement prefers that we pay for subscriptions as close to the start date as possible.
Vendors paid by credit card must be able to supply a receipt upon receiving payment, preferably by email, and show that an item has been shipped.
Vendors that cannot be paid by a credit card will need to complete a W-9 before payment can be submitted.
The University is tax exempt, and any invoice that includes tax must be corrected before it is sent for payment. Acquisitions tells vendors about this policy, but sometimes vendors still attach tax.
Any license or agreement that the University signs must include the UM Mandatory Addendum.
The Continuing Resources department used to work with every vendor to make multiple changes to every license, to meet the requirements of the Addendum. Now we must ask each vendor to review and sign the Addendum before we will sign the agreement. This process can take several weeks.
If the total value of a contract is over $2 million, it must be approved by the IHL Board at a regular meeting. Before the agreement can be put on the docket, it must be completely negotiated and amended to meet state standards. The Library works closely with Procurement, the Office of Contracts Management, and the vendor to get the agreements ready for approval. Items for any docket need to be ready two months before the meeting where it will be considered, i.e. by the end of April for the June meeting.
Updated June 2024
