Sponsor's Message

September 2017

There is no doubt; these are unsettling times. Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, floods- our world has gone through significant upheaval lately. But out of disruption, emerges the importance of response: how communities pull together and do what they can with what they have.

“One of the greatest challenges for UC, and for all higher education institutions, is striking an optimal balance of simultaneously reducing costs, increasing access, achieving higher levels of academic excellence, and investing in its large, diverse workforce.” This was part of President Janet Napolitano’s response to the 2016 UC State Audit. It highlights the challenges of how UC has had to look for creative opportunities to do more with less.

Her response emphasized how Procurement Services has transformed the way the University purchases goods and services to improve quality and service to all campuses and partners, remarking how the P200 Program has “proven to be a tremendous success.” In addition to leveraging purchasing power, she specified that all UC locations are collaborating to build an integrated, sustainable and systemwide procurement framework which will strengthen our ability to support our core missions. She also pointed out many positive actions Procurement Services has put in place. Among these mentioned were:

• Implementation of  Fair Wage/ Fair Work in 2015
• Strong Procurement policies and practices
• Procurement Policy and Legal Documents Team and its work on template updates and training programs
• UC Procurement’s ability to exceed expectations in maximizing benefits such as cash savings, streamlined processes, and enhanced efficiencies

While audits often cause anxiety and frustration (much like a natural disaster), there is also much we can learn and gain. The audit results have provided us with opportunities to:

• Strengthen employment displacement guidelines
• Continue with the implementation of our contract management system
• Clarify the university’s policy around obtaining services for the lowest cost while best value and providing vendors with fair access to contracting opportunities
• Improve our benefits capture and reporting process

Many of you have been called upon to assist with the recommendations of the audit and are working diligently to ensure that we meet UC’s goals of improvement, progress and success. Like in natural disasters, response matters. By pulling together and building better platforms, the UC Procurement team is helping to make a strong UC community.

Bill Cooper
Associate Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer