Procurement Services
UC Recognized Internationally for Collaborative Procurement
In a recent report published through Cardiff University in the UK, the University of California was featured for its collaboration and cost savings methodology. Of particular note was the way all ten campuses and the Office of the President in Oakland work together to leverage over $8 billion in annual spend.
Every two years, the International Research Study on Public Procurement (IRSPP) holds a symposium that examines global best practices in procurement. This event is co-sponsored by the Institute of Public Procurement (USA) and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (UK). IRSPP 7 was held in Milan, Italy in 2017 at Politecnico di Milano and included participants from 27 countries. The USA was represented by Dr. Cliff McCue, Florida Atlantic University, and Darin Matthews, UC Santa Cruz.
The workshop theme was Collaborative Public Procurement and participants listened with keen interest about the UC’s use of Benefit Bank. Since all 11 locations use the same methodology (cost reduction, cost avoidance, incentive, and revenue) in a common system, the benefit results were viewed as highly credible. The fact that UC exceeded the goals for P200 one year early, and have already embarked on the ambitious Supply Chain 500 initiative, many participants wanted to hear more about the success of UC Procurement. Both the German and Dutch governments are looking closely at our benefit methodology and are considering its adoption.
If you are interested in a digital copy of the report, please contact Darin Matthews at darin@ucsc.edu.
By Darin Matthews, Director of Procurement & Supply Chain, UC Santa Cruz