Do I Need an Illinois Tech Purchase Order (PO) Number Before Starting Work?
In most cases, Illinois Tech department and end users should be going through the Buy It requisitioning process to obtain a Purchase Order (PO/PE) before officially engaging the vendor to provide any products and services.
A PO will reference the University’s terms and conditions, payment term, invoicing instructions, etc. and is emailed to the vendor for fulfillment. Vendors MUST reference the Illinois Tech PO number (starting with P or PE) on the invoice. Illinois Tech is not obligated to pay any invoice that does not reference a legitimate Illinois Tech PO number indicating that it is an official University purchase.
How Do I Ensure Timely Payment From Illinois Tech?
Vendors MUST reference the Illinois Tech PO number (starting with P or PE) on the invoice. Illinois Tech is not obligated to pay any invoice that does not reference a legitimate Illinois Tech PO number indicating that it is an official University purchase.
Vendor invoices MUST be emailed to Accounts Payable for payment processing at invoicing@iit.edu. Please note that invoices sent directly to the departmental requisitioner may experience a delay in processing and payment.
What is Buy it eProcurement?
Illinois Institute of Technology has implemented an eProcurement solution (Unimarket) to streamline and standardize the procure-to-pay processes on campus. We have branded our eProcurement marketplace Buy It eMarketplace.
eProcurement is the streamlined management of the overall procure-to-pay process, including the user-friendly business-to-business purchase and sale of supplies and services through the Internet. The new system will handle our spend management, including creating and approving requisitions and purchase orders, receiving goods and services, and processing invoices -- all electronically. By moving to a “paperless” environment, we will not only save on costs, but also obtain a higher level of transparency, more easily monitor compliance, and achieve more efficiency, for the University and for the suppliers that we work with.
Some of the goals of the eProcurement initiative are to:
- Eliminate manual paper processes
- Expedite the purchasing process through the use of supplier catalogs
- Establish a campus-wide contract repository
- Implement an electronic invoicing platform
- Increase data collection and reporting ability
- Utilize campus-wide reporting to negotiate better prices
How Do I Register To Become a Buy It Vendor?
As of February 26, 2019, we have officially started our supplier outreach and registration process for our new Buy It Unimarket eProcurement system. Current active vendors of Illinois Tech will first receive an email notification regarding the eProcurement supplier registration process, which will be followed by another, separate email in the following days/weeks containing information on how to register and the registration link.
In order to continue to participate with Illinois Tech, the vendor simply need to register in the Buy It system.
Registration is free and will provide you with the ability to:
- Receive orders from your customers electronically by email
- Create invoices electronically and view the status of all invoices
- Manage and share your company details electronically
- View and respond to Electronic Bid Requests
We look forward to continuing our business relationships with our vendor community in the new and exciting Buy It eMarketplace!
If you did not receive an email invitation and wish to register to be considered a potential vendor for Illinois Tech, please send your request to purchasing@iit.edu and we will send you a registration invitation link.