State of Alabama Accounting and Resource System (STAARS)

The State of Alabama is currently in the process of upgrading its financial and procurement system to a new system, STAARS. This system will improve the way Alabama performs all financial and accounting processes, including budgeting, procurement, personnel, and payroll. STAARS will introduce new features for interacting with vendors and improved methods for storing vendor information.

Vendor Self Service (VSS) - a Valuable Module in the STAARS Procurement Suite

STAARS includes applications specifically designed to handle procurement tasks. Vendor Self Service (VSS) provides you, our valued State of Alabama vendors, with a central location to learn about business opportunities, register an account, maintain account information, and perform other functions. You can also use VSS to register and maintain your account information.

VSS makes it easier for you to view solicitations, responses, awards, and related information. You are notified of opportunities via email, a great improvement over the current system of mailing paper notifications.

When VSS went live in summer 2015, vendor accounts that were converted during the STAARS implementation were made available for activation. You will activate your account by verifying your Taxpayer ID Number (TIN) and creating a VSS login ID.

VSS Benefits

In summary, VSS makes it easy for you to perform the following tasks:

• Create and maintain account information
• Search and track business opportunities
• View commodity purchase history
• View financial transaction history
• Create online invoices
• Sign-up for EFT payments

Vendor Self Service link, click here!

How to Use VSS

For more information about how to set up a VSS account and use VSS, click How to Use VSS at the top of the VSS home page.

Update Contact Information to Receive Orders by Email Jan 30, 2017  -  STAARS generates a PDF copy of each newly-approved Purchase Order (PO) and Delivery Order (DO) every night. STAARS then emails the PO or DO to the Contact Email Address on the order wherever possible. POs or DOs without an email address are printed and mailed out via USPS by State Purchasing, along with a pink slip indicating that the vendor should add an email address to each of their ordering addresses in Vendor Self-Service (VSS). See the article for instructions on updating your vendor contact information.

New Security Procedures for Vendor Self Service (VSS) Mar 1, 2016  -  The State of Alabama has implemented new security requirements for STAARS Vendor Self Service (VSS) vendor accounts. These requirements apply to all vendors, whether they are registering for a new account, activating a new account, or updating information on an existing account. See the article for more details.