All suppliers, independent contractors and payees must be approved and active in the Supplier Master prior to making a commitment to purchase or any purchase from them. Only suppliers that are paid with a UC Merced Procurement Card are exempt from this requirement. The supplier onboarding process ensures that tax requirements, debarred supplier lists and other relevant requirements are reviewed and managed appropriately, and that the University has accurate supplier information in order to conduct business with them.
Prior to requesting a new supplier setup, every effort should be made to use existing strategic agreements that the supplier has already been onboarded for, new suppliers should only be requested when the goods or services required cannot be obtained from an existing agreement.
When a new supplier, independent contractor or payee must be set up in the Supplier Master, a New Vendor Setup ticket should be submitted with the required information that will initiate the review and onboarding process. These tickets are normally reviewed within 1-3 business days of being received and a registration link is emailed to the prospective supplier/independent contractor/payee. The supplier must fill out the short, eight-question registration page and attach required tax documents in a timely manner in order for the registration process to be completed quickly.
Once the supplier completes the short, 15-minute registration process, the onboarding is normally completed within 1-2 business days and the individual who submitted the ServiceNow setup requests will receive an email update that the process is complete and the requisition > purchase order > invoice process can be initiated.
We strongly encourage departments, managers and principle investigators to identify the vendors they will need at the beginning of each fiscal year and submit a setup request as early as possibly, even up to 12 months in advance, to ensure their procurement can be completed quickly when needed. Suppliers sometimes require extra time to complete the registration process, particularly during their busy seasons, so completing this process as early as possible is essential.
Questions should be directed to suppliersupport@ucmerced.edu
