Checking Vendor Hold Status

If a vendor (including state employees and university students) has a delinquent debt with a state agency or university, the state agency or university must report it to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. The vendor is considered to be “on hold” with the state and state agencies and universities may not issues payments to the vendor until the hold is released.

The UHS Finance System receives a nightly feed from TINS (the Comptroller’s vendor database) that automatically updates the hold status of UHS vendors. If a UHS vendor is on hold with the state, The Open for Ordering box for that vendor will be unchecked. If a vendor is not on hold or changes from a hold to a non-hold status, the Open for ordering box will be checked. Comptroller’s Office policy in conjunction with state law requires state agencies and universities to verify a vendor’s hold status for local voucher payments over $500 and for local P-Card purchases over $500.00. In addition, we are required to verify a vendor’s status prior to signing a written contract that will be paid with local funds. Comptroller’s policy:

https://fmx.cpa.texas.gov/fm/pubs/purchase/restricted/index.php?section=indebted&page=persons_indebted

The policy does not require the verification for state voucher payments or prior to entering into contracts that will paid only with state funds since the Comptroller’s Office has a mechanism to hold a and apply state payments to the vendor’s liabilities. Also, this policy does not apply to emergency purchases.

The requirement for verifying vendor hold status on local voucher payments over $500 is handled by the UHS Finance System, which automatically verifies vendor hold status before issuing payments. The system will not issue a local fund payment to a vendor on hold. Likewise, USAS (the Uniform Statewide Accounting System) will not issue a state fund payment to a vendor on hold. When the hold is released, the local or state fund payment is issued automatically.

The UHS Finance System also does not allow UHS departments to create requisitions for vendors on hold. This is an additional control to prevent POs from being issued to vendors on hold. The following matrix shows when departments are required to verify vendor hold status: 

Purchase Method (Fund Type)	Vendor Hold Status Verification Requirement
Voucher (State and Local)	No Verification Require The vendor’s hold status is verified automatically before issuing a payment and will not issue payments to vendors on hold.
P-Card (Local)	Purchases over $500 Verification is Required Prior to Making Purchasing. Vendor hold search documentation is required for each transaction meeting this limit to be uploaded with the expense report in the finance system. Screenshot must include the date and time vendor hold search was conducted. For Searched in PS Finance, you must use the following: a PDF Dynamic Stamp with date and time include, or a Screenshot that includes the desktop date and time from your taskbar. Verification may occur no earlier than the seventh day before the transaction. Verification may not occur the date after the transaction is made. Multiple transactions for the same vendor which in total exceed $500 on the same day may be reviewed and questioned by state auditors. Per the State Comptroller’s guidelines, it is best practice to perform the vendor hold check if cardholders are processing such multiple transactions. E.g. if a cardholder processes conference registration payments for multiple employees in the department ($500 each), the cardholder would check the vendor hold status of the conference organization and upload the verification documents to the finance system. You may perform one vendor hold check and use that check for all of the transactions (provided it is within the required timeframe). For vendor hold checks completed via TINS through Vendor ID for companies not in UHS Finance System, you must include an e-mail chain with Vendor ID noting that there is no hold for the vendor Purchases of $500 or less No Verification Required
Contract (Local)	Verification is Required Prior to Signing the Contract Verification may occur no earlier than seven days before the contract is signed and no later than the date the contract is signed.
Contract (State)	No Verification Required The vendor’s hold status is verified automatically before issuing a payment and will not issue payments to vendors on hold.

 

To determine the vendor’s hold status, you can navigate to the Vendor Hold Tool from the main menu using the following path:

Main Menu → Custom Reports → AP → Vendor Hold

 

There are two search scenarios: 

1. Individual Vendors 
2. Business Vendor 

Part 1: Individual Vendor 

For individual Vendors, we search by Supplier Name (Wildcard) only, please follow the steps below: 
1) In the Supplier Name Field: Enter %Lee% (Use %Last Name% Format) 
2) Click “Search”

3) Returned Result: 
o The system will return a list of all vendors whose names contain “Lee”. You will see two tables in the 
results 

I. PeopleSoft Table

This table contains all vendors setup in PeopleSoft. 
     • If vendor has a hold, you will see “Yes” under the “Hold payment” Column; 
     • If Vendor does not have a hold, you will see “No 

II. State Table 

This table contains state hold data for vendor hold records, including vendors set up in PeopleSoft. 
     • If a vendor appears in the State Table, it means the vendor currently has a hold. 
4) Once you locate the vendor, you will also be able to see the timestamp at the top right near the search icon. 
Please save the result as a PDF and highlight the specific vendor you are looking for the vendor hold status for 
your supporting document.

 

 

Part 2. Business vendor 

There are two ways to search for business vendors. 

  A. Search by Supplier Name (Wildcard)  

Please follow the steps below: 
     • Supplier Name: Enter a partial legal business name: %Psophonia% 
     • Click “Search” 

• The system will return a list of all vendors whose names contain “Psophonia”. You will see two tables 
in the results: 

I.  PeopleSoft Table 

This table contains all vendors setup in PeopleSoft. 
     • If vendor has a hold, you will see “Yes” under the “Hold payment” Column; 
     • If Vendor does not have a hold, you will see “No.” 

II.  State Table 

This table contains state hold data for vendor hold records, including vendors set up in PeopleSoft. 
     • If a vendor appears in the State Table, it means the vendor currently has a hold. 
     • Once you locate the vendor, you will also be able to see the timestamp at the top right near the 
search icon. 

Please save the result as a PDF and highlight the specific vendor you are looking for the vendor hold 
status for your supporting document.

B. Search by TINS Vendor Number (Wildcard) 

 • TINs Vendor Number: Enter a partial TINS (Tax Identification Number) number: %60516652% 
 • Click “Search” 

     • The system will return a list of all vendors whose TINS contain “60516652”. You will 
see the two tables in the results 

 

I. PeopleSoft Table 

This table contains all vendors setup in PeopleSoft. 
• If vendor has a hold, you will see “Yes” under the “Hold payment” Column; 
• If Vendor does not have a hold, you will see “No.” 

II. State Table

This table contains state hold data for vendor hold records, including vendors set up in 
PeopleSoft. 
     • If a vendor appears in the State Table, it means the vendor currently has a hold. 
     • Once you locate the vendor, you will also be able to see the timestamp at the top right near the 
search icon. 
Please save the result as a PDF and highlight the specific vendor you are looking for the vendor hold 
status for your supporting document.

Note: If you are experiencing issues, please reach out to UHD Accounts Payable at accountspayable@uhd.edu