The Department of Procurement and Strategic Sourcing is pleased to announce that the University has established a contract for industrial supplies with McMaster-Carr and for maintenance/renovation supplies with Lowe’s Pro.  Since this fall, the Procurement Department has been working with both of these firms to customize their programs to allow for consistent product selection and online ordering through Paw.  Orders with these suppliers to be delivered to campus may now be placed using Paw instead of the pcard.  

McMaster-Carr’s punch-out is located within the Laboratory/Scientific category area.

Lowe’s Pro punch-out is located within the Maintenance, Repair and Operations category area.

Additional information regarding delivery options for Lowe’s Pro is attached to this message.  Procurement strongly recommends the review of the delivery options prior to the placement of any Lowe’s orders, as the selected option may result in unanticipated delivery charges. 

We are excited to enable both of these providers for the campus.  If you have any additional questions regarding these suppliers or the process to place orders, please reach out to Rafael Espinoza: espinoza@umbc.edu

The Department of Procurement & Strategic Sourcing is pleased to announce that the University has established a contract for office supplies with RGH Enterprises, Inc.  RGH is a minority-owned HUBZone small business enterprise headquartered in Baltimore City and has been in business for 28 years.  Almost 20 years ago, RGH partnered with Staples through an Advantage Diversity Alliance to provide their customers with a full range of office supplies products and reliable delivery.  Since January, the Procurement Department has been working with RGH to customize their program to allow for consistent product selection, online ordering through Paw, and fast and free delivery. 

Starting on Monday, July 20^th, RGH’s punchout will be located within the general category area as shown below:

We are excited to enable RGH as an additional office supplies provider for the campus.  For any additional questions related to RGH, please contact Donna Von Paris: dvonparis@umbc.edu

As most of you are aware, all University invoices are paid by the General Accounting Division (GAD) for the State of Maryland after the UMBC Accounts Payable Department reviews and processes invoices.  The Accounts Payable Departments in GAD and UMBC are both operating with a skeleton staff, which impacts the volume of invoices that can be processed each day. 

Given the decrease in staff physically in the office who are able to issue checks, GAD is only processing payments that are mission critical or essential for research.

The University has not been provided with clear guidelines as to the determination of a mission critical payment.  Leases, utilities, network expenses, library serials, and construction payments are clear examples of mission critical payments, as well as any research payments due to COVID-19 related projects. 

Invoices that are not mission critical will be paid when GAD resumes normal operations or when the University receives guidance from GAD to process these invoices.  The processing of employee reimbursements will also be delayed due to the decreased staffing. 

In the meantime, recurring monthly pcard payments should continue to be made.  Procurement and Accounts Payable is also working to move invoices to be paid using a pcard whenever possible.

We recognize that many invoices do not fit within one of the above categories.  Each invoice is being reviewed on a case by case basis to determine the criticality of payment during this unique moment of limited staff resources.  If you believe that an invoice is critical, please forward the request to Covid19purchases@umbc.edu. Please provide all details regarding the criticality of the request to allow processing of these essential payments to move forward as efficiently as possible.

Thank you for all of your patience and understanding during this difficult time.