Payments for Goods & Services

Payments for goods and services are payments to any supplier that is not a GW employee.  Payments in this category include any payment made to an external party not considered an Honorarium, Award or Stipend, such as:

• Payments to an individual, partnerships, or corporations
• Payments related to Purchase Orders
• Payments may be related to a multitude of activities such as:
  • Supplies and equipment (i.e., lab supplies, office supplies, cleaning supplies)
  • Contracted services (i.e., consultants, temporary services, contractors)
  • Lease payments
  • Others

Payment Requirements

These transactions have varying payment requirements based on the type of entity being paid and whether a Purchase Order is required. Listed below are the general requirements for all payments:

1. The Supplier (Payee) must be registered and active in the Supplier Maintenance database, maintained through the Supplier Registration Process.
2. If applicable, a Purchase Order must have been created and identified as being associated with the requested payment. Procure-to-Pay maintains all Purchase Orders with suppliers who are doing business with GW. Certain types of transactions are exempt from requiring Purchase Orders.
3. All commercial supplier invoices and internally created invoices such as awards, honorariums, and prizes must be submitted through GW iBuy+ Invoice. iBuy+ Invoice allows our users to route invoices for approval via ‘workflow lite’ as required by each school/division/department's internal authorization policies.

EXCEPTION:  Use the online Remedy submission process to submit DCFs (grant related only), endowment payment requests, and GWorld refund requests.  Attach only one DCF to a single form.

4. University Payables will return an invoice submitted without supporting documentation. The submitter or approver will be informed of the return and given instructions on how to resolve the issue(s) via the ‘Comments’ box in iBuy+ Invoice.

Acceptable supporting documentation:

• Original invoices
• Fully executed contracts
• Letter agreements
• Other viable documents that shows an obligation due a vendor/supplier

Documentation not accepted as viable evidence of an outstanding obligation that will not be used to disburse payment:

• Proforma invoices
• Written estimates
• Written quotes
• Packing slips, email, statement, or similar documents

5. A valid invoice should be requested from all suppliers and must include the following:

• Invoice number
• Invoice date
• Company name, address, and contact information including a phone number and email address
• Payment remittance address, if different from above
• Amount due

In certain instances, however, a supplier may submit an invoice without an invoice number. In those instances, the department should utilize the invoice number protocol when submitting the invoice to University Payables. 

Payment Terms

The university’s standard payment terms are NET 30 (30 days from invoice date), however other terms may be negotiated by Procurement. 

Payment Methods

University Payables uses several payment methods to remit payment to the university's suppliers. Payments are issued on Monday.