Supplier Selection Guide

University financial "Policy #2306 - Contract Compliance" requires all faculty and staff to utilize University designated "preferred contract suppliers" for their product and service requirements. The Purchasing Contract Supplier list, indexed by commodity, is available to all faculty and staff.

Utilization of these suppliers enables the University and Purchasing Services to leverage its significant buying power and aggregated purchase volume to continually enhance existing contracts and award new contracts in emerging high volume commodities that will benefit the entire University. To streamline the requisition creation process, most of the contract suppliers have their product offering and Penn specific contract pricing available in the Penn Marketplace (see "Penn Marketplace Supplier List"). BEN Buys system users are able to access the online supplier catalogs in the marketplace via a link on the Requisition Homepage. In addition, the University's competitive bidding requirement is waived for all purchases, regardless of total cost, from Penn Marketplace enabled suppliers.

In the event that a required product or service requirement is not available from a contract or marketplace supplier, faculty and staff are to use the following supplier selection process to identify a qualified supplier.

Upon receipt of a new supplier request form, Purchasing Services will send a supplier questionnaire to the designated supplier representative within twenty-four (24) hours (usually the same business day). It is the responsibility of the prospective supplier to complete and return a fully executed supplier questionnaire to Purchasing Services in a timely manner.

Suppliers must provide all required information and agree do the University's Purchase Order Terms and Conditions prior to being added to the supplier database. Purchasing Services reserves the right to decline a request to add a new supplier, if the commodity is already available from a University preferred contract or Penn Marketplace participating supplier, or if use of the supplier is not in the best interest of the University.

Tips to Remember When Selecting a Supplier

Regardless of the method of purchasing, you should always consider the following when selecting a supplier to satisfy your product or service requirement.

1. Faculty and staff are required to use BEN Buys approved suppliers, in particular, preferred contract and Penn Marketplace suppliers, to ensure the University leverages its buying power and receives the "least total cost" when purchasing products or services from an external supplier.
2. If you can not locate a supplier in the supplier database, and would like to have a new supplier added to the database, complete and submit a a request to add a BEN Buys supplier to Purchasing Services.
3. Whenever Purchasing Services establishes contracts for commodities, the goal is to provide the best pricing and service overall for a specific group of products or services. The best price can not always be the lowest price for all products and services, and the buyer may be able to find a lower price for a specific item on any given day. Only buying those items from a University contract supplier that have the lowest prices and going outside the contract for other items is called "cherry-picking." Cherry picking undermines the strategic business relationship with our contract suppliers and leverage to negotiate a "least total cost" contract. This practice undercuts the overall agreement and the University will lose the overall benefits of the contract. When suppliers realize that University buyers are going outside the contract to purchase items, the suppliers are less likely to offer their best pricing and service levels the next time the contract goes out to bid.
4. University faculty and staff are obligated to abide by the Purchasing Code of Ethics and to protect University proprietary data. Contract supplier pricing information is University proprietary data. As such, it must be treated accordingly or its misuse can be considered improper handling of institutional data.
5. 5. It is imperative that all faculty and staff involved in the purchasing process avoid any and all conflicts of interest. Employees must disqualify themselves from participating in University buying decisions in which they have a personal financial interest. This includes purchasing from
   • Spouses/relatives/near-relatives
   • Companies for which the purchaser/decision-maker has stock ownership
   • Current or former Penn employees
6. Choose suppliers for the quality and prices of the products and services they provide. At no time is a faculty or staff member permitted to accept gifts or gratuities from suppliers. (See Ethics Guidelines)

Related Links

• University Supplier Category Terminology