Quick Tips for Suppliers
Buy-to-Pay Is a Great Resource for Suppliers
Buy-to-Pay (or B2P) is MIT’s branded use of the Coupa Supplier Portal and a quick and easy way to receive orders, submit invoices, and track payment status.
Only Send Invoices Once
Each invoice should be sent only once, using only one method. Learn more about invoicing.
MIT Has Sales Tax Exemptions in Many States
Sales tax exemption forms can be provided by request by emailing b2p@mit.edu.
Net 30 Payment Terms
MIT’s standard payment terms are net 30, but you can choose to offer a discount for accelerated payment of an invoice.
The Onboarding Process
New suppliers to MIT are invited to join the Coupa Supplier Portal called Buy-to-Pay after a member of the MIT community requests that they become a supplier.
If your company has been added to the supplier list, you will receive an email from do_not_reply@supplier.coupahost.com with the subject line MIT Buy-to-Pay Profile Information Request – Action Required. Select Join and Respond.
If the email was routed to the wrong contact, you can forward the invitation to the correct contact within your company.
Be sure your company accepts emails from the following IP address ranges to ensure you receive the email:
- 199.255.192.0/22
- 199.127.232.0/22
- 54.240.0.0/18
Once you are logged in, you can complete MIT's information request by navigating to your notifications dropdown menu and selecting Update your profile for MIT Buy-to-Pay (B2P).
You will be asked to provide information about your business, including contact information, your Tax Identification Number (EIN or SSN), a W-9 form, and if your business qualifies as a small or diverse business.
When finished, click Save and Continue.
While you are completing the information request for MIT Buy-to-Pay (B2P), you can also add Remit-to information to set up how you will be paid. Fill out the bank account section to have your payments directly deposited in your account.
Set your online and email notifications by clicking Notifications at the top right, then clicking Notification Preferences. You can receive notifications when:
- A customer adds a comment on one of your orders
- A customer adds a comment on one of your invoices
- An invoice is approved
- An invoice is paid
Under the Admin tab, you can:
- Add users to your company profile
How to Fulfill an Order
MIT sends purchase orders (PO) to suppliers via the Coupa Supplier Portal (known at MIT as Buy-to-Pay, or B2P).
Wait to receive an official MIT PO through B2P before shipping goods or delivering services. An official MIT PO for goods will include shipping and billing instructions. You must obtain written permission from the Procurement Operations team if you wish to make any substitutions for items specified in the PO.
Once you have received a purchase order, you can electronically acknowledge the order directly from the PO to let your customers know you are working on it.
Unless otherwise stated in your proposal documents, your deliveries must be Free on Board (FOB) destination at your expense. You may include this expense as a part of the product cost or as a separate line item.
Make your deliveries to the MIT location listed on your PO.
Use the MIT campus map to help locate delivery locations, and make sure you comply with MIT’s policies on campus access for visitors.
After an MIT order has been fulfilled, submit your invoice.
In the Orders tab, you can view, search, and filter MIT B2P purchase orders.
Under the View dropdown menu, select Create View to design and save a custom set of filters.
Invoices
To ensure payment is delivered promptly, MIT offers three ways to submit an invoice. Your invoice may be rejected if the following information is not included:
- an MIT PO number
- a unique invoice number
- the date goods were delivered or services were rendered
- remit-to address
Note that invoices should be sent only once, using only one of the following three methods.
MIT suppliers have free access to the Buy-to-Pay Supplier Portal (Coupa), a self-service central online portal for receiving orders, submitting invoices, and tracking payment status.
If you have already joined Buy-to-Pay (also known as B2P around campus), you can easily submit your invoice through the portal. This is the preferred method to submit invoices.
You can directly invoice MIT by locating the PO in the portal and clicking the Create Invoice icon under Actions to pull up an invoice template based on the details of the order.
MIT’s standard payment terms are net 30, but you can choose to offer a discount for accelerated payment of an invoice:
- Net 30 (default)
- Net 15, 1% discount
- Net 10, 2% discount
- In the PO email you received from do-not-reply@mit.coupahost.com, click on the Create Invoice button (located at the top and the bottom of the email).
- The first time you create an invoice you will need to create a mailing address for payments (please note this is required even if your payment is being sent electronically and not by check). Click on Create New Remit-To.
- Enter the remit-to address (you do not need to complete any other section) and click on Create and Use.
- The invoice screen will be displayed for you to complete.
- Enter an Invoice #.
- Invoice Date defaults to today; change to the date goods or services were provided.
- Use the Supplier Note field to provide any additional information.
- The details of the PO are displayed in the Lines section of the invoice.
- If the invoice is only for part of the order, please change quantity (for goods) or amount (for services) to indicate the current amount due.
- Add any additional charges to the Shipping, Handling, and Misc. boxes.
- MIT is exempt from sales tax in many states. If your business is located in one of those states, do not add an amount in the tax field. Sales tax exemption forms can be provided by request by emailing b2p@mit.edu.
- Once the invoice is completed, click on Submit.
- You will then see a confirmation window. Click on Send Invoice.
- You will receive a confirmation email that the invoice was received successfully.
You may submit an electronic version of your own invoice to invoices@mit.coupahost.com, making sure to follow these submission guidelines:
1. Ensure the B2P PO number is written prominently on the invoice.
2. Attach the invoice(s) to each email. (Each invoice must be a separate attachment; PDF is the preferred format.)
3. Leave the body of the email completely blank.
4. Email to invoices@mit.coupahost.com
In the Invoices tab in the Coupa Supplier Portal, you can view, search, and filter MIT invoices.
The Status field gives you the real-time status of each invoice (e.g., Pending Approval, Approved).
Under the Views dropdown menu, select Create View to design and save a custom set of filters.
