Freight Management Services for Inbound Freight using Vantage Point Logistics (VPL)

Inbound small package freight management services as an area where consolidated spend can afford savings opportunities. The freight management model by Vantage Point Logistics (VPL) will bill for freight separately at a much lower cost. VPL focuses primarily on freight cost reduction and custom invoicing for decentralized access points (AP) environments. Our current contract has more information or contact Procurement for further resources.

Purchase Orders

• Verbiage appears on our Purchase Orders instructing our suppliers to use our inbound freight FedEx or United Parcel Service (UPS) number for all shipments to the university.
• Suppliers should no longer apply their own shipping and handling to inbound shipments of purchased product to the university.
• If shipping/handling is included in turnkey price OR shipping/handling is free, suppliers will be instructed to disregard.
• Since Virginia Tech now has access to the VPL inbound freight program, estimated freight does not count towards the sole source requirement threshold of greater than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
• Non routine inbound freight:
  • VPL and Virginia Tech have agreed that when an inbound freight shipment is not of a routine delivery, would require additional oversight or special accommodations such as air ride equipped services, customs brokerage services, and/or special equipment to be arranged and ready for off load and/or installation or specialized freight services due to the warranty or fragility of the items, both parties will consider these shipments out of scope in regard to the VPL Inbound Freight Program.
  • In these situations, the university will either direct the supplier to not ship through the VPL program (thus instructing them to ignore the contact VPL verbiage on the purchase order) or if the supplier does contact VPL, then VPL will instruct the supplier to handle shipping arrangements directly.
  • Should there be any question regarding whether a shipment meets the definition of a white glove freight shipment, both parties agree that VPL will always defer to instructing the supplier to handle the shipment, thus, taking a very conservative approach in that decision making.
  • The procurement needs regarding importing, freight forwarding and customs brokerage are not in the scope of services that VPL can provide at this time.
  • A separate invoice referencing the original purchase order number is sent electronically to the university by VPL. The shipping charge is paid directly to VPL and the payment is shown as a separate line on budget reconciliation reports under the account code listed for the goods/services on the purchase order.

For more information, contact Procurement, 540-231-6221, or the HokieMart help desk. 

Last Updated 1.25.26