Thompson Ahern International is the customs broker selected through the competitive bidding process led by the Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM). The University is pleased to take advantage of this collaborative contract in an effort to obtain better value for money in the area of customs brokerage and related services.

Purchasing Services has been working with Thompson Ahern International over the past several months on a plan to ensure we continue to provide effective customs clearance services to the community during the transition period and at the same time maintain the University’s compliance with various Canada customs legislation and regulatory requirements.

As part of the transition, Purchasing Services will be responsible for communicating this change to:

•  All couriers and freight companies used by the University community on a regular basis;
• All international suppliers who have outstanding HVPOs to be shipped to the University.

Meanwhile, we ask that department staff and community members communicate this change to the trading partners in your area that you will receive import shipments from. The trading partners should include:

• Suppliers of import Low Value Purchase Order
• Suppliers of import PCard orders
• Freight companies or carriers handling import shipments for your department;
• Any other business partners who will ship you goods or materials from outside of Canada regardless of the value of the shipment, including zero commercial valued samples, in- kind gifts or donations, temporary imported equipment for repairs, testing or research.

We have attached a University of Guelph Customs Broker Change Notice that you can send to the trading partners as you need.