Receiving and Date Stamping Vendor Invoices

According to the TxDOT Purchase Order language, vendor invoices should be mailed or e-mailed to the Financial Management Division’s (FIN’s) Voucher Processing Section. If the vendor sends the invoice via e-mail, it is recommended that they “carbon copy” the TRF Purchasing Manager or the TRF-BTS Program Manager in the e-mail, to expedite the review process. The following will serve as the invoice’s “receipt date” and the beginning of the 30-day prompt payment deadline:
  • If the vendor mails a hard copy invoice to FIN, the first TxDOT date stamp on the hard copy invoice is the “receipt date.”
  • If the vendor submits the invoice electronically, preferably by sending an e-mail to FIN_INVOICES, but on rare occasions TRF may receive an e-mail directly from the vendor, the date on the e-mail is the “receipt date.”
If TxDOT fails to date stamp an invoice, FIN must use the vendor’s invoice date to calculate the 30-day payment due date. The invoice date is usually three to five days earlier than the actual receipt date, so this reduces the time TxDOT is entitled to review, approve, and make payment on an invoice.
If the vendor submits their invoice via e-mail to FIN_INVOICES, one of the following two steps will occur:
  1. If the TRF Purchasing Manager or TRF-BTS Program Manager is copied on the vendor e-mail to FIN_INVOICES, FIN personnel will not send a separate e-mail to TRF to start the invoice review process.
  2. If the TRF Purchasing Manager or TRF-BTS Program Manager is not copied on the e-mail to FIN_INVOICES, FIN will sort the invoices by services and commodities, and the invoices are assigned to certain individuals in FIN for tracking purposes. The responsible party in FIN will send an e-mail to TRF to include the vendor invoice plus all attachments.
This process, where FIN e-mails the invoice or date stamps and sends the hard copy invoice to TRF, should take no more than two working days.
FIN e-mails all vendor invoices to the TRF Purchasing Manager. The TRF Purchasing Manager date stamps and logs all services invoices into a tracking spreadsheet. Information entered into the spreadsheet includes vendor name, PO number, invoice number, dates of services rendered, invoice amount, date received by FIN, date received by TRF, and date sent to the TRF-BTS Program Manager.
The TRF Purchasing Manager will forward the originals to the appropriate TRF-BTS Program Manager for review and approval. The TRF Purchasing Manager will include a date that the TRF-BTS Program Manager should submit the approved invoices back to the TRF Purchasing Manager. The TRF Purchasing Manager’s process should take no longer than two working days.