Vendor Contracts

If the goods or services are not available through Purchasing, the Office of Information Technology, or Research Administration, then SMU requires a contract with a vendor. Frequently, vendors present contracts to departments and ask their departmental contact to sign. The word “contract” does not necessarily appear in the title of a document that binds SMU. The following words may appear in the title of documents that are contracts:

  • Memorandum of Understanding
  • Agreement
  • Letter Agreement
  • Terms and Conditions

The following documents are also examples of contracts:

  • A letter from a vendor that requires signature by SMU
  • Terms and conditions attached to or on the back of a purchase order
  • Online click-through end user license agreements (i.e., a website or a computerdisk that requires that you click “I accept” in order to proceed.)

If a vendor or other contracting party presents a non-SMU contract form for your use, first check and see if a SMU standard contract form is available and request a substitution of the SMU form with the vendor.