Memo from Susan Montes, Executive Director of Purchasing

Welcome! In this edition of the Purchasing Newsletter, you will find information about new tools and features, including the ability to search for minority suppliers online, which contributes to the University's and the President's initiatives for racial justice; learn about utilizing UMarketplace to purchase from Amazon Business, which accepts purchase orders instead of Purchasing Cards (PCards); and learn about required refresher training for Travel Card (TCard) cardholders, and where to find UM's tax exemption certificate.

We are very interested in hearing from you. If you have any questions, need assistance, or have a great idea, please contact us. Our goal is to provide exemplary customer service!

View the List of Current Diverse Suppliers by Commodity

Opening Doors to Minority-Owned Firms Seeking to Do Business with the University

You can now search online for African American, Hispanic American, and woman-owned suppliers by commodity. We invite you to visit the Supplier Diversity website to learn more.

Congratulations!

Compass Group Named One of America's Best Employers for Diversity in 2021

For the fourth year in a row, Forbes is recognizing Compass Group as one of America's Best Employers for Diversity. Compass Group is the parent company for Chartwells, the University's food service supplier for our students. They have been on this prestigious list for years, and they hit a milestone this year ranking 153 out of 500 companies, improving their ranking by 60 places from last year! This recognition comes on the heels of another accomplishment: being named one of the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune in 2021. Learn more.

Adding New Suppliers to Workday for Purchase Requisitions

How to Avoid Delays in the Onboarding Process

Before submitting a New Supplier Request Form, first contact the supplier to gather the email, phone, and name of the representative that will complete their onboarding registration. Using customer service information on the supplier's website delays the onboarding process, and most suppliers may not respond to the University's onboarding invitation without awareness of our intent to do business with them. Want to know what questions to ask the supplier before completing the New Supplier Request form? Learn more.

Major University Contracts

Before placing your next order, check out the University-wide agreements and major contracts, including IT-related suppliers:

• Bottled Water - Canteen
• Coffee - Canteen
• Desktop Computers, Laptop Computers, and Software - Dell
• Laboratory and Medical Gasses - Airgas
• Office Supplies - Staples
• Research and Laboratory Supplies - VWR
• Secure Document Destruction - Shred-it
• Secure Document Storage - Iron Mountain
• Water Coolers and Jugs - Blue Triton

Corporate Card Services Host Virtual Town Hall Meetings in Fall 2021

Information for University Purchasing Cardholders and Supervisors

Corporate Card Services is proud to announce the launch of its first series of virtual town hall meetings. The sessions will provide valuable information to both PCard and TCard holders. Registration will be required through ULearn. Stay tuned for future communication with dates and times. We look forward to seeing you!

Contract Reminders

Conga Contracts now replaces the Service Agreement Form. To avoid delays, please begin all purchasing contracts in Workday. If required, an email notification will be sent to the purchase requisition creator to complete a Conga Request Form.

• Attach documents such as the quote and statement of work.
• If the supplier requires the University to use their contract, attach the document in Microsoft Word format. 
• To avoid delays, complete the Conga Request Form with the supplier representative's name, contact, and email.
• Allow a minimum of 30 days to review and process.

Representatives are available to answer questions at academic.sourcing@miami.edu.

Corporate Card Reminders

As a reminder, Corporate Card Services has established blocked Merchant Codes (MCC) from use on the PCard and TCard related to transactions for purchases of computer hardware and software. Transactions will be blocked at the point-of-sale level. Now is a good time to review all software purchases currently set up for renewals using the PCard/TCard. Software or cloud hosting subscriptions that include PII, PHI, PCI, FERPA, or any other protected data owned by the University that is being shared or stored outside of UMIT/UHIT's supported systems could represent a risk to the University. Therefore, the route of creating a requisition/purchase order must be followed to ensure proper review and approval by Central offices. Corporate Card Services representatives are available to answer questions at pcard.ap@miami.edu and travelcard.ap@miami.edu.

Tax Exemption Reminders

The University of Miami is tax-exempt and many purchases made by departments can be done without having to pay sales tax. In addition to Florida, the University of Miami has obtained tax exemption status in CT, DC, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, PA, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, and WI. Instructions to obtain sales tax exemptions can be found on the Controller's Office website.