Ensuring Timely Payment for Providing Services

Information Required on Invoices

Your invoice must indicate the following information. Failure to include this data will result in the return of your invoice.

Invoices should be clearly marked "invoice," and not with any other description such as "statement," "bill," "billing statement," "request for payment," "estimate," etc. This is intended to prevent your invoice from being mistaken for something other than the formal request for payment it represents. All invoices should be white in color and 8-1/2" x 11" in size.

Each invoice must include the following:
 

  • Your company name
  • Your address
  • A remittance address (if different from above)
  • Your phone number during regular business hours
  • The date that the invoice was prepared and mailed
  • An invoice number
  • The contract audit number (CA No.) assigned to your agreement
    (A contract audit number is a six-digit number assigned to a fully executed agreement.)
  • All appropriate service item numbers
    (Note: service item numbers are seven (7) digits and act as reference numbers within the company's computer system. These service item numbers can be found within your contract as part of the schedule of billable items. In many respects, the service item numbers can be thought of as "part numbers" to help both you and the company quickly reference specific services from among the many which the company manages at any given time.)
  • Any applicable unit rates and prices
  • Any applicable units of measure
  • The quantity of work or services performed
  • A description of the work or service performed
  • The amount due
  • Name of the person requesting the work
  • Your fax number

Submission of Invoices

Many of the company's contract documents specify where your invoice is to be mailed.

Your invoice must be sent to the attention of the company's representative, including their name, title, department and room number, for proper internal routing. Thousands of pieces of mail are delivered to the company every business day, and without the proper address, your invoices could be, and very likely will be, misdirected. Obviously, this results in a delay of your payment and increased costs for both you and the company in dealing with duplicate invoices.

You should also realize that the company's Contract Services Department is not the same as its Accounts Payable Department. An invoice sent directly to Accounts Payable will not have the necessary information required for them to process it, and as a result, a copy of your invoice will be returned to you with a message indicating that a "P.O. No. does not exist."