Procurement Services Announcements
February 2014
1. Today’s vendor guest will be MSC along with HUB Partner Native Nations
2. Reminder effective January 1, 2014 we awarded a new contract to OccMed for drug testing services.
Concentra’s purchase orders will need to be closed after all outstanding invoices are paid. A new How to
Guide has been posted on our website. Please email Techbuy Support if you have any questions.
3. The State Comptroller’s Office is in the process of converting Texas Identification Numbers (TINS) for any
vendor/employee using a SSN to a secure ID number. TTU will process the conversion for our systems
starting on February 27th. We will be unable to issue vendor and/or employee travel/reimbursement checks
from February 27th through March 3rd. All the process to produce a check will be taken down the night of the
26th so we will not have the capabilities to produce a check or ACH payment from February 27th through
March 3rd. Any travel advances needed should be turned in no later than February 25th. Invoices must be
submitted to Payment Services by February 21st to insure we have time to process them by February 26th.
February 26th will be the last day we will schedule a payment to produce a check or ACH payment. After
the 26th we will start scheduling payments for March 3rd ;checks and ACH payments will be produced on
March 4th.
4. We have a new SHI Government Solutions representative. His name is Dave Raggazzo, you can contact him
via email: Dave_Ragazzo@shi.com or call 1-800-870-6079 x 8686230.
5. Please make sure to send your PO close requests to TechBuy Support: techbuy.purchasing@ttu.edu. When
requesting closes, please review for open line items that may be on back-order, unpaid or cancelled. Please let
us know the status of these line items when requesting the close, so we can expedite your close request.
6. Please just send your comments in Techbuy to Payment Services and not directly to the payer. We just had
a staff change and the letters that payers were paying have changed. Also, this will help when a payer is out
sick or on vacation.
7. Surplus Property. Please remember to use the on-line system to move tagged items to surplus. Instructions
are at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/fst/inventory/ on the right hand side under surplus property or email
property.surplus@ttu.edu for the instructions.
8. Alcohol tax – some vendors are trying to charge us for this tax. Per Texas Tex Code:
TTU qualifies for an exemption as a state government agency under Tax Code Section 151.309—just as any state agency is exempt from all state sales and use taxes. We claim an exemption as a state agency. 9. Fed Ex- You may be aware that FedEx announced an average 3.9% rate increase for Express Shipping Services and 4.9% for Ground Shipping Services on January 6, 2014. This increase went into effect for all customers, with the exception of E&I members using the E&I FedEx contract. FedEx agreed to delay implementation of the rate increase for E&I members until June 30, 2014.
10. The next Procure to Pay Class will be held March 28th Doak Training Room 156 from 2:45 to 5:00.
11. The Overton Hotel has emailed their new PO policy:
All Purchase orders must be received prior arrival to receive the $85 rate. Any POs received after the guest
has checked in will only go into effect for the remaining nights of the reservation, and the nights that were
already processed at a different rate will stay as they are. At that point we will also need an updated
purchase order that shows the rate difference. A purchase order received after checkout will not be valid for
the reservation. If a purchase order states that a guest is staying for 1 night, only 1 night will be charged and
billed to TTU and the extra night will post at the standard rate and will bill to the guest’s credit card.
To ensure that your PO is processed prior to check in, please make sure your requisition is submitted to
Procurement Services by noon on the day of check in. If your guest is checking in on the weekend, please
make sure the requisition is submitted by 2 pm on Friday. You should also email TechBuy Support to
request expedited processing.
12. The next Procurement Services Forum is scheduled for March 26th at 3:30 in the Lubbock Room at the
Student Union Building. Guidelines for Guest Travel Travel expenses for participants and guests of TTU are handled on TechBuy requisitions in the following way: Airfare: The preferred method is to book through a TTU travel agency such as Bell Travel (796‐2355) or National Travel Systems (1‐800‐542‐0452). Use a non‐catalog form, account code 7B7005, and list the purpose of the guest’s travel. Be sure to attach the itinerary as an External Attachment. Note, the requisition needs to be processed within 24 hours of the date of the travel agency’s quote because the cost of the airfares go up quickly, so have your department approve the requisition quickly and send an email to techbuy.purchasing@ttu.edu asking for the airfare to be processed right away. Hotel Stays in Lubbock: Please refer to the How To Guide for Guest Lodging at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/procurement/purchasing/howToGuides/index.asp on hotel stays. Rental Car: If you want to rent a car for your guest and have the car direct billed to your department, at the present time the only option is Enterprise Rent‐a‐Car. Please refer to the How To Guide for Renting Vehicles from Enterprise at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/procurement/purchasing/howToGuides/index.asp This will take you step‐by‐step through reserving a car on the Enterprise website and then preparing a TechBuy requisition to have this direct billed. If your guest prefers to use another car rental company, this expense can be reimbursed to the guest as described below. Reimbursement for Other Expenses: We can reimburse the participant/guest for expenses, but the traveler must be set up in Banner. Have them complete the New Vendor Registration Form that can be downloaded at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/procurement/purchasing/purchasingForms/index.asp When submitting the expenses, use a non‐catalog form and be sure to list the purpose of the travel. Scan and attach a copy of the receipts. Please note, if the primary purpose of the travel benefits TTU, the traveler will have to submit original receipts, per IRS accountable plan rules (very similar to those used for employee travel vouchers). An Excel Guest Travel Expense Worksheet (to assist with organizing and coding guest’s expenses) can be downloaded on Forms tab at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/procurement/purchasing/purchasingForms/index.asp