Payment Policies

Prompt Payment Policy

It is the City's policy to pay all invoices within 30 days.  If the City does not make payment within 45 days after receipt of properly completed supporting payment and other required contract documentation, the City shall pay simple interest beginning with the 31st calendar day at the rate of one percent per month (unless the amount due is subject to a good-faith dispute and, before the 45th day of receipt, notice of the dispute is sent to the contractor by first-class mail, personally delivered, or sent in accordance with the notice provisions in the contract).  If there are subcontractors, consistent with s.66.0135(3), Wis. Stats., the prime contractor must pay the subcontractors for satisfactory work within seven days of the contractor's receipt of payment from the City of Milwaukee, or seven days from receipt of a properly submitted and approved invoice from the subcontractor, whichever is later.  If the contractor fails to make timely payment to a subcontractor, the contractor shall pay interest at the rate of 12 percent per year, compounded monthly, beginning with the 8th calendar day. Reference Common Council File No. 101137 adopted January 2011.

Invoices

In order to assure timely payment, ALL invoices are to be mailed to the billing department identified on the purchase order or contract document.  The City will not be held responsible for late payment fees if invoices are not forwarded to the proper department.  The City strives to make timely payments on all invoices. 

Discounts

The City will determine the low bidder by taking into consideration cash discounts offered by the bidder ONLY if the payment discounts are 30 days or more. However, if the low bidder awarded a contract has quoted more favorable discounts for earlier payment and the City pays within that earlier timeframe, the bidder will be held to those quoted discounts.

Payment Monitoring Requirements

All Contractors awarded a contract valued at $25,000.00 or more are required to participate in training on the City of Milwaukee’s contract compliance software.  Contractors must complete the training no later than 30 days after the date of contract award.  Throughout the contract term, Contractors are required to regularly provide timely payment information in the City’s contract compliance software.

Dates and times of required training are available by logging into the Compliance Reporting System (CRS) at website https://milwaukee.diversitycompliance.com.  Instructions for accessing the CRS are listed below.

Accessing the Compliance Reporting System (CRS):

Existing Vendor

1. Visit the CRS Portal at https://milwaukee.diversitycompliance.com/.
2. Click on the “Account Lookup” link and conduct a search for your company’s information by business name, tax identification number, contact person, contact information or business address.
3. Once you have located your company’s account under Search Results, click on “Request Username and Password” and user account information will be emailed to the listed contact person.

New Vendor

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
2. If you are unable to locate your information via “Account Lookup”, please request a user account via the Office of Small Business Development at [email protected].  Once your account has been created, you will receive a system generated email containing user account information.

Accessing Training Opportunities:

Once you receive your user account information, simply visit the CRS Portal at  https://milwaukee.diversitycompliance.com/.

On the right hand side of the Home Screen, under “B2Gnow Training Opportunities”, click “RSVP Today” which will display a list of available webinar training opportunities. Available trainings include:

• Introduction to the System for Vendors
• Contract Compliance - Payment Reporting
• Prime Contractor Usage and Sub Contractor Usage

B2GNow also offers online videos as well as a user guide, which can be found under “Help & Support”, to assist with navigating through the system.

Questions regarding the training process should be directed to the Office of Small Business Development at [email protected].

User Accounts for CRS are available for new or existing vendors actively engaged in the contracting process with the City of Milwaukee and certified SBE firms. Non-vendors can utilize “Search for certified firms” to locate City of Milwaukee SBE firms at https://milwaukee.diversitycompliance.com/.