Our purchase order is a contract with a vendor to deliver specified equipment. Once that has occurred, the vendor has fulfilled their part of the contract. Since most of our computer suppliers are mail order companies, holding a receiving report pending installation is inappropriate. Departments may also assume that the vendor will install the equipment. Remember, when an order for a computer is placed, it is for the equipment only.
Installation is an added cost.
It is the ordering department's responsibility to make arrangements for installation either through the Computer Center , through a vendor, or self-install, unless it was part of the purchase order. It is in your best interest to install and debug any equipment within a reasonable amount of time - normally 30 days. Holding up payment without vendor agreement can impinge on the warranties offered, compromise the purchasers right to seek reparation, and could create credit problems. However, in recent years significant progress has been made toward reversing both that perception and the practice. Today it is true that price is often a primary consideration for determining the successful bidder for some commodities, but price alone should not and is not the only factor.