SECTION 4:  VENDOR REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

4.0 VENDOR REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS AND PROGRAM SCOPE:

This section will address the requirements established for vendors who wish to do business with the State of West Virginia and the scope of the vendor registration program administered by the West Virginia Purchasing Division.  

West Virginia Code §5A-3-12 requires vendors to be fully registered to do business with state agencies, by providing the disclosure of information and payment of a $125 annual fee.

The state’s vendor file is found on the VCUST table in the wvOASIS enterprise resource planning system. The Purchasing Division encourages all stakeholders to utilize the vendor/customer records designated as the “headquarters” account in the case of multiple VCUST records for the same vendor/customer.

4.1 Requirements: Vendors doing business with the State of West Virginia must be registered through the Vendor Self-Service portal of the state’s wvOASIS enterprise resource planning system. The Vendor Self-Service portal may be accessed at wvOASIS.gov. Vendor may also register by completing a Vendor Registration and Disclosure Statement and Small, Women-, and Minority-owned Business Certification Application (WV-1 or WV-1A) and submitting to the Purchasing Division, in accordance with West Virginia Code §5A-3-12. These forms may be downloaded from the Purchasing Division’s website at www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/vrc/pforms.htm.

The West Virginia Code of State Rules, CSR148, states that, all vendors must register with the Purchasing Division prior to being awarded a contract, except that the following categories of vendors are exempt from this registration requirement. 

(1)Purchasing card vendors providing travel related services are not required to register with the Purchasing Division.

(2) Purchasing card vendors receiving an aggregate total yearly payment less than $25,000.00 from a spending unit are not required to register with the Purchasing Division.

(3) Any company or corporation, or subsidiary of the company or corporation, listed on any nationally recognized stock exchange is not required to register with the Purchasing Division.

It is the agency’s responsibility to make sure vendors are properly registered in wvOASIS.   

To avoid multiple records for a particular vendor, agency procurement officers should ensure that vendors are not already registered with the Purchasing Division. Agency personnel not having access to the wvOASIS vendor file should contact their agency procurement officer for vendor registration verification. The agency’s designated procurement officer is the appropriate contact person within your agency who is best equipped to provide guidance and answers regarding the program and its requirements. The Purchasing Division intranet site also has a dedicated section for vendor registration for state agency purchasers, which is located at http://intranet.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/VendorReg.html.

4.1.1 Vendors Providing Competitive Commodities and Services: Vendors are encouraged to register through the Vendor Self-Service portal through the wvOASIS system. A vendor may choose to submit a paper form in lieu of registration through wvOASIS.  The Vendor Registration and Disclosure Statement and Small, Women-, and Minority-owned Business Certification (WV-1) form should be completed by vendors that receive purchase orders or contracts for competitive commodities or services exceeding an aggregate amount of $2,500. A payment of the $125 annual fee is required. If the vendor elects to complete the WV-1 form rather than to electronically register, the vendor’s check and the WV-1 form are to be mailed directly to the Purchasing Division. The vendor is able to view the West Virginia Purchasing Bulletin in the Vendor Self-Service portal, which contains upcoming bid opportunities and downloadable bid documents.

If the agency procurement officer receives the WV-1 form (without payment) and chooses to input the information directly into wvOASIS in a VCC document, the account should be placed on “Prevent New Orders” hold and the Registration Date fields should be left blank under the “Disbursement Options” tab.  The WV-1 should then be forwarded to the Purchasing Division.

4.1.2 Vendors Exempt from Annual Fee on Transactional Basis: There are cases when a vendor may be providing commodities and services that are exempted on a transactional basis from paying the $125 fee. Because Vendor Registration procedures are applied to an individual transaction, not a particular vendor, the Purchasing Division must evaluate whether the $125 annual fee is required for that particular transaction based on state law, rule and procedures.

In wvOASIS, the VNREGEX screen contains a list of each department’s available fee-exemption codes. The proper vendor fee-exemption code for the specific agency transaction, if applicable, is entered on the award document to a vendor that is on “Prevent New Orders” hold. Agency designated procurement officers should be consulted when questions arise. The option for the agency to appropriately use a fee-exemption code for a particular transaction is not an exemption from the Disclosure of Information requirement of the vendor registration process.

It is the agency’s responsibility to use the appropriate exemption code for each applicable transaction. Documentation should be maintained in the agency file and only used for specific situations defined by that particular exemption.

4.2 Vendor Fee:  According to the West Virginia Code of State Rules, CSR148, all vendors shall pay to the Purchasing Division, an annual registration fee of $125 prior to being awarded a contract, except that the following categories of vendors are exempt from this requirement.

(1) Purchasing card vendors providing travel related services are not required to pay the registration fee.

(2) Purchasing card vendors receiving an aggregate total yearly payment less than $25,000.00 from a spending unit are not required to pay the registration fee.

(3) Vendors receiving orders for goods or services of $2,500 or less, regardless of payment method, are not required to pay the registration fee.

(4) Vendors providing a good or service under a sole source solicitation are not required to pay the registration fee. The fee is considered waived by the Director for all sole source providers.

(5) Any vendor can be exempted from paying the registration fee if the Director determines that waiving the registration fee would be in the best interest of the State of West Virginia.  The Director has determined that waiving the registration fee in the following two instances is in the best interest of the State.

Government Entities-Registration: All state agencies, cities, counties, municipalities and political subdivisions doing business with the state must register using their TIN. Only applicable information needs to be provided. No fee is required.

Vendors Offering Commodities and Services Under Section 9 -   Vendor registration fee is waived and, therefore, not required for a vendor providing commodities or services specified under Section 9 of the Purchasing Division Procedures Handbook.  Be reminded that a vendor may provide commodities or services on a transactional basis under Section 9 and not be required to pay the fee; however, should the same vendor be used for other competitive procurement methods, the registration fee would be required of that vendor.

Companies, corporations or persons having multiple outlets for their commodities or services and are all operating under the same TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) must pay one $125 annual fee.

4.3 Vendor Hold: Vendors not exempt from paying the $125 annual fee will be placed on "Prevent New Order" status until payment of the fee is received.

In order for agencies to know which vendors are eligible to receive purchase orders, the “Prevent New Orders” feature of wvOASIS is used. Vendors with "Prevent New Orders" status cannot receive purchase orders through wvOASIS. However, if the statewide aggregate spend for this vendor is under $2,500, and the transaction does not cause spend to this vendor to surpass that threshold, a transactional exemption code for the agency from the VNREGEX table in wvOASIS can be utilized for processing the award document. Statewide spend to a vendor can be researched through the VISTA system. Use of any transactional exemption code from VNREGEX is tracked and recorded for use by the Purchasing Division Inspection Unit.

Agencies wishing to purchase competitive items from vendors with the "Prevent New Orders" status set "For All Departments" should inform such vendors that the vendor registration fee is required. Helpful information is available on the Purchasing Division website for payment and registration procedures.

Vendors will be removed from "Prevent New Orders" status when upon review and confirmation the vendor has paid the fee and has provided the required disclosure of information. These actions must be submitted to and approved by the Purchasing Division. The "Prevent New Orders" hold will not be removed for vendors exempt from paying the fee if the vendor's aggregate payment amount remains under $2,500 for the current fiscal year. A transactional exemption code must be used in the wvOASIS award document.

4.4 Small, Women-, and Minority-owned Business Certification: As required by West Virginia Code §5A-3-59, the West Virginia Purchasing Division incorporated the Small, Women-, and Minority-Owned Businesses (SWAM) Certification Application as part of the Vendor Registration & Disclosure Statement.  As a result, vendors may apply to become SWAM-certified if they fall within the business categories defining a small, women-, and minority-owned business. Vendors are encouraged to add this information through Vendor Self-Service in the “Business Type” portion of their wvOASIS vendor/customer account.

State agencies may view an updated list of approved SWAM vendors at the Purchasing Division’s website at http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/VendorReg.html.  Agencies are encouraged to first review this information in VCUST under the “Business Type” tab in the Document Navigator of the vendor/customer account in wvOASIS.

West Virginia Code of State Rules §148-2-1 et seq. requires vendors to re-certify every two years in order to continue compliance. The recognized designations for SWAM include:

4.4.1. Minority-owned Business, which means a business that is at least fifty-one percent owned by one or more minority individuals or in the case of a corporation, partnership, or limited liability company or other entity, at least fifty-one percent of the equity ownership interest in the corporation, partnership, or limited liability company or other entity is owned by one or more minority individuals and both the management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more minority individuals.

A “minority individual” means an individual who is a citizen of the United States or a noncitizen who is in full compliance with United States immigration law and who satisfies one or more of the following definitions:

African American means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Africa and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.

Asian American means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent or the Pacific Islands, including, but not limited to, Japan, China, Vietnam, Samoa, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, Northern Mariana, the Philippines, a U.S. territory of the Pacific, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.

Hispanic American means a person having origins in any of the Spanish-speaking peoples of Mexico, South or Central America, or the Caribbean Islands or other Spanish or Portuguese cultures and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.

Native American means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part or who is recognized by a tribal organization.

4.4.2. Small Business means a business, independently owned or operated by one or more persons who are citizens of the United States or non-citizens who are in full compliance with United States immigration law, which, together with affiliates, has two hundred fifty or fewer employees, or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years.

4.4.3. Women-owned Business means a business concern that is at least fifty-one percent owned by one or more women who are citizens of the United States or non-citizens who are in full compliance with United States immigration law, or in the case of a corporation, partnership or limited liability company or other entity, at least fifty-one percent of the equity ownership interest is owned by one or more women who are citizens of the United States or noncitizens who are in full compliance with United States immigration law, and both the management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more women who are citizens of the United States or non-citizens who are in full compliance with United States immigration law.

Frequently-asked questions about the SWAM Certification Program may be found at:

http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/VendorRegFAQ.html#SWAM_faq

As an agency requirement of the SWAM procurement certification, West Virginia Code §5A-3-59 (b) requires state agencies to submit annual progress reports on small, women- and minority-owned business procurements to the Purchasing Division of the Department of Administration.

A report is available in wvOASIS Business Intelligence to assist agency purchasers in meeting this requirement. The Report ID is WV-FIN-PROC-039. This report will satisfy the requirements by the Purchasing Division; however, the agency procurement officer must date and sign to certify on the cover page that the report is complete and accurate prior to submitting to the Purchasing Division. Should the agency have no purchases with any SWAM vendors for that fiscal year, the cover page needs to be signed, dated and submitted noting that no purchases were made during that fiscal year with SWAM vendors.

Please note that all purchasing transactions processed under agency delegated authority or through the Purchasing Division on your agency’s behalf must be reported. This report is due at the end of each fiscal year.

Purchasing Card transactions with SWAM vendors are not captured using the WV-FIN-PROC-039 report; therefore, the Purchasing Division created a SWAM Reporting Tool, which is available on the Purchasing Division’s intranet under Processes and Procedures. This intranet page may be accessible at the following link:

http://intranet.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/procedures.html

At the end of each fiscal year, this Excel spreadsheet must be completed noting all contracts or purchase orders issued to SWAM vendors. The information to be noted includes the fiscal year, vendor name, wvOASIS number, contract/purchase order number, description, total amount, and date of award.  This report may be submitted electronically to the Purchasing Division through the purchasing.division@wv.gov e-mail account.

Should an agency purchaser receive any questions relating to the vendor registration procedures or the SWAM certification, the vendor should be directed to the Purchasing Division’s Vendor Registration webpage which focuses on these programs. This webpage may be accessed directly at:

http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/VendorReg.html

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