Procurement: Behind the Scenes of the October 6 Bicentennial Celebration

On October 6, 1817, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison attended the ceremonial placing of UVA’s first cornerstone. On October 6, 2017, a date chosen to commemorate the placing of the cornerstone, 20,000 students and alumni attended the launch celebration of UVA’s Bicentennial.

The crowd enjoyed performances by Leslie Odom Jr., Andra Day, and the Goo Goo Dolls, were wowed by a re-enactment of the Rotunda fire of 1895 (achieved via digital mapping technology) and listened to words from Katie Couric, Rita Dove, and Ralph Sampson. A partnership with University Arts, the event featured over 800 student and faculty performers. From start to finish, the kickoff celebration was packed with talent and amazing acts.

Don't worry, this time it's a virtual fire.

It was a monumental event celebrating an incredible 200-year history. What does it take to pull together a sweeping event like this, to bring in big-names and dazzling effects, to arrange for staging and sound and lighting and seating and all of the other myriad details?

First of all, says Jody Kielbasa, UVA’s Vice Provost for the Arts and “Producing Director” of the evening’s events, it takes a massive team pulling together: the Bicentennial Staff, Facilities, Safety & Emergency Preparedness, University Police, the Office of Special Events, just to name a few.

Also working behind the scenes to orchestrate a great event? Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services, namely in the form of the dedicated service of Kevin Crabtree, Senior Buyer.

“Kevin has countless hours invested in this event,” said Kielbasa.

“Many times, I’d call him on my way in to work, clarifying details, seeking his advice, adjusting plans. He was involved with the celebration every inch of the way.”

Crabtree’s responsibility was to negotiate and purchase everything from effects such as the Rotunda “fire” to video screens and staging, to the entire slate of over 800 performers (this includes managing all of their particular needs, including maintaining the correct temperature for the dancers to perform and handling all the rider requirements for the big-name talent).

The Martha Graham Dance Company was just one of the many
performances brought in for the kickoff event.

“Supporting the purchasing needs for this event for the past year has been one of the most challenging projects that I have been involved in,” said Crabtree.

“For the year leading up to the celebration, we were continually negotiating contracts and resolving contractual issues. There were so many moving parts and everything changed as we progressed. With every tweak we made, there was a waterfall effect,” he said.

An example of that waterfall effect is the addition of extra screens on stage. It seems simple, but that addition changed the allotted setup/breakdown time on the Lawn, and impacted the budgeted technician hours, the rehearsal time, and even meals to be provided to the technicians.

“It was a continual cascading of negotiations on every decision we modified,” said Crabtree.

And those modifications were frequent, said Kielbasa, due to the size and scope of the project.

“There were so many unknowns,” he said.

“A year out, we had to develop a budget and look down the road and try to anticipate all the challenges that might arise. We were working with two sound stages, hundreds and hundreds of performers, and two site locations, the Lawn and the John Paul Jones Arena as a rain site,” he added.

With all of the incredible complexity of the event, Kielbasa says Procurement’s help was invaluable.

“There is no way we could’ve done this without them. Their work was absolutely necessary. They helped us with challenging negotiations with our vendors and made sure we stayed reasonably in budget. They were with us the entire way.”

For Crabtree’s part, he was happy to be a part of the process, but also relieved that the initial event has come and gone with success. He offered this advice to anyone else on Grounds planning purchases:

“Get Procurement involved early in the process. We can provide easier paths to solutions that we might not have if we’re pulled in later in the process.”


See photos of the Bicentennial Launch Celebration

Read more about the Bicentennial Launch Celebration

UVA’s Bicentennial Website

UVA's Bicentennial Story Page

Cleanup of old, inactive Purchase Orders in the Integrated System to begin week of November 6

Open POs with no activity in three+ years will be finally closed

Beginning the week of November 6, Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services will begin finally closing open, inactive purchase orders lingering in the Integrated System. The POs set to be finally closed are those that have had no invoicing activity in three or more years. Most of these POs have remained open because they have not been fully invoiced against, usually due to a discount being extended or a change in quantity of goods received.

This is simply an “FYI” – there is nothing you need to do at this time. Finally closing these POs should not have a negative impact on schools and units. Any money remaining on POs that are finally closed will be returned to the PTAO.

The POs are being finally closed due to PSDS’ transition to Total Supplier Management (TSM), a new solution for managing supplier registration and payment. TSM is a tool provided by Jaggaer (formerly SciQuest), the vendor who supports our UVA Marketplace, and will streamline and automate vendor registration and payment processes.

Finally closing the inactive POs will allow us to deactivate vendors no longer used by UVA. This will ensure that the vendor file will be current and accurate when we go live with TSM.

In the unlikely event that you are contacted for payment by a vendor on one of the finally closed POs, contact a buyer within PSDS for assistance.

Questions? Concerns? Let us know; we’re happy to help! 434-924-4212

PSDS co-hosts another great SWaMfest

SWaMfest a demonstration of UVA's commitment to small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses

Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services SWaM representatives were proud to help host the 13th annual SWaMfest, the Commonwealth’s premier event for networking, education, and professional development for small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses. 

The event is hosted yearly by the Virginia Association of State College & University Purchasing Professionals (VASCUPP), of which UVA is a member institution, with the goal of helping attendees navigate the process of doing business with Virginia and its state colleges and universities.

This year’s event was attended by more than 450 business people, who were able to connect not only with other small businesses but also with university and government personnel who can offer guidance on how to best market their goods and services to Virginia’s colleges and Universities.

In addition to a vendor fair, attendees were treated to breakout sessions on leadership and professional development, along with practical sessions on working with Virginia entities. 

SWaMfest attendees enjoy a breakout session 

Les Haughton, Director of Supplier Diversity at UVA, had the pleasure of welcoming the group on the second full day of the event.

“SWaMfest reflects our commitment to maximizing the participation of small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses through the development of mutually beneficial business relationships,” he said.

“We believe this program has the potential to create better partners, stronger customers, and economic growth for our vendors, our schools and departments, and our community.”

Another way PSDS seeks to interact with SWaM vendors is through their free bi-monthly vendor trainings. These trainings give both current and potential vendors a better understanding of buying and paying at UVA.

The next training will be held Wednesday, November 8 (register here). For more information about UVA’s SWaM efforts, click here.

TravelUVA login page changes

Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) has changed the look of the TravelUVA “AirPortal” login screen as of Monday, October 2, 2017.  Although the page looks different, the changes in functionality are minimal.  

Basically, you will now click on the left side of the page instead of the right. Below are instructions to find your way around the new page.

Log in to TravelUVA from http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pageTravelandExpense - (no changes here)

To Book a Trip Online click on the Suitcase Icon.

Then click Book/Manage Online Trips

This will take you to the main page of TravelUVA/ Concur where you can begin booking travel as usual.

Please contact the Travel and Expense Services Team with any questions - Travel@virginia.edu or 434-924-4212 ext. 2.

Travel & Expense Wins a "Chromie"

The Travel & Expense Chromie up close

Chrome River, the company who provides the software platform for ExpenseUVA, recently awarded Dolores Hildebrand of the Travel & Expense Team in PSDS with a “Chromie Award.”  

Hildebrand was chosen to receive the Chromie because, out of all of Chrome River’s 600+ customers, UVA submitted the most system modification requests.  When presenting the award, Chrome River said that UVA’s system modification requests helped improve the system and enhanced the experience for all their customers.

In the past 12 months alone, during ExpenseUVA development, testing, deployment and continued use, 158 requests for change based on user feedback have been submitted and completed by Chrome River. 

Hildebrand said, “The Travel and Expense Team, our ITS partners, and all the ExpenseUVA Ambassadors have worked hard to gather input from expense owners, fiscal contacts, and administrators.  We hope the outreach we have done to find out what users need have provided our customers with a system that meets their needs.”

Reducing redundant purchases, reusing unused supplies, and cutting out unnecessary expenses

ASG Team centralizes office supply purchasing in UVAFinance

Let’s say you’re in charge of making your department’s office supply order (a process you aren’t very familiar with, because you don’t do it often), and you accidentally order a case of file folders instead of one box, and you forget entirely to order the highlighters your colleagues requested. It’s not the worst thing that could happen. Some people will be inconvenienced, and you’ll have to find a place to store the extra boxes of folders until they can be worked through, but it’s not the end of the world, right?

Of course not. But what you didn’t know is that last month, your counterpart in the suite next door ordered seven boxes of highlighters that are gathering dust, and the supplier they use is sold out of the very kind of file folder you have stacks of.

Mariah Kier, Deputy Mayor of Carruthers and ASG
Team Member, with some office supplies ready to
be delivered their new homes.

This summer, the Administrative Services Group within UVAFinance set out to make the procurement of office supplies a smarter, easier, more collaborative process. Their aim was not only reduce waste in supply ordering, but also to provide better, more efficient, and more personal service to all departments within the unit.

They started with a thorough audit of all area supplies: ASG team member Mariah Kier inventoried the storage cabinets and supply closets of all UVAFinance departments and built a database of exactly what was located where.

From there, ASG team member Connie Alexander, with expertise gained from years of work in Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services, took over as the point person for UVAFinance purchasing.

Once per month, she gathers up supply requests from each UVAFinance area. All the orders are sourced through a contract vendor (Supply Room), which results in better pricing for all units. Alexander navigates the purchasing process with ease, making recommendations, answering questions, and generally ensuring that each department gets what it needs at the best price.

Supply delivery is also centralized: the goods Alexander orders come to Kier’s front desk in Carruthers, and are then delivered or picked up without anything being misdirected or misplaced.

Another upside to the new process is that it allows UVAFinance to “shop their stash:” orders are only placed for items that aren’t already a part of the inventory in the central supply database.

Piles of over-ordered supplies have dwindled considerably since the implementation of the new process, and several supply needs have been fulfilled without even having to place an order, which, in some emergency cases, has been one of the biggest benefits.

“I was in a pinch and needed a certain size battery the other day,” said Stacey Rittenhouse, ASG team member.

“Connie was able to look in the database and find some for me right away. Normally I would’ve had to go begging from department to department,” she laughed.

After a small period of adjustment, the ASG team found that the new, streamlined process has been very well received.

“Everyone still gets what they need,” Rittenhouse remarked.

“The difference is that now, it’s easier for everyone within the departments to order, and we also save money. And it’s so much easier to analyze our spending when it’s just one amount for supplies per month,” she said.

______________________

Questions?  Contact Connie Alexander

Before you order promotional products. . .

Think about keeping it on Grounds: make your purchases through the UVA Bookstore to save time and money.

Here are the benefits of utilizing this strategic contract with the UVA Bookstore:

• The UVA Bookstore quotes every order for you – no more contacting multiple vendors and dealing with quotes. On average, this saves departments 19% per order! 
• Look out for new features coming to the Bookstore’s promotional products website (http://www.uvapromos.com), including a list of top-purchased items, a “quick ship” easy order list, and online apparel design.
• Procurement & Supplier Diversity collaborates with the UVA Bookstore to review contract performance and ensure cost savings. You can view the Bookstore’s contract information and vendor scorecard at http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pagecontracts&cssid2=645. 

The bookstore will also hold the first annual Keep it On Grounds expo on September 12 from 10 am – 2 pm at the Newcomb Hall Ballroom. The expo is open to all faculty and staff and will showcase the products and services offered for University departments from internal service providers.

Mark your calendar and come check out the on-Grounds offerings!

"Keep It On Grounds" Expo: Save the Date!

Mark your calendars!

On September 12th from 10am-2:00pm the on-grounds internal service providers such as the UVA Bookstore, which holds the University’s strategic contract for Promotional Products, Cavalier Computers, and more, will be hosting an event showcasing their offerings to faculty and staff.

More information coming soon!

Strategic Sourcing = Serious Savings

In the fall of 2014, Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services, in partnership with Organizational Excellence, began a Strategic Sourcing initiative. The aim of the initiative was to deliver increased savings and better service to those who buy at UVA.

Nearly three years in, the results have been impressive: $2.8 million in contract savings in FY ’17 alone (including office supplies, inbound freight, catering, promotional products and Virginia Higher Education Procurement Collaborative savings such as Grainger, Enterprise and Fisher).

An additional $2.5 million has been saved in FY ’17 on department specific contracts, bringing the grand total to $5.3 million in FY ‘17. That’s no small change!

It’s the everyday support of those who buy at the University that makes these contracts work. Thank you for making the choice to buy on contract!

Travel & Expense Tip

Never miss a Travel & Expense Tip:  Subscribe to the Travel & Expense Newsletter!

Traveling to work, staying to play: work life balance through “Bleisure Travel”

The rise of technology has made it easy for professionals to take their work with them. We answer emails in the evenings, we log in on the weekends, we’re committed to productivity to the point of becoming workaholics. Risking burnout and enduring rising stress levels, we stockpile vacation days without ever using the bulk of them.

A growing trend in business travel may go a long way toward alleviating this tension between career and personal life. This type of travel is called “bleisure” (a portmanteau blending “business” and “leisure”), and Travel and Expense Administrator Raegan Harouff of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services is seeing an increasing amount of it.

Harouff, who worked as a travel agent for 17 years before joining UVA in PSDS’ Travel and Expense Team, says the name “bleisure” may be silly, but the concept is valuable.

A few snapshots from Harouff's travels to Gambia, Thailand, and Cambodia.

“It may be hard for people to work a full week or more of vacation into their schedules, while it’s much easier to tack on a few days at the end of a trip to a conference,” she said.

“Especially when people are traveling abroad, with the commitment of time and money involved in that kind of travel, it makes sense to make the most of the experience while you’re there – to get out and actually experience the city and the culture you’re working in,” she said.

An Expedia Media Solutions study found that 43% of all business trips are extended to include some kind of leisure activity. According to a recent Forbes magazine poll, 78% of employees interviewed said that by adding a few personal days to a business trip, the professional assignment became more rewarding.

Harouff’s familiarity with the ins and outs of corporate travel, gained during her years as a travel agent, have given her an insight that is helpful for UVA’s travelers. She knows the ins and outs of handling arrangements for busy travelers with complex agendas.

An avid traveler herself, she has lent both her corporate and personal travel experience to UVA travelers who want to make some time for fun on their business trips. She says what usually happens is that, once they return, travelers have questions about how to expense their trip, separating the business from the personal.

For all UVA bleisure travelers, Harouff recommends making the required cost comparison between the business/personal itinerary and what the cost would have been for a business-only itinerary at the time of purchase. Doing the comparison at the same time of purchase instead of waiting until later (or even, upon return) means travelers won’t be shortchanging themselves on reimbursement or requesting more reimbursement than actually necessary.

Bleisure travel is a good option for those dealing with tightly scheduled work and personal time. And, as Harouff points out, it’s a great use of time and money.

“Even heading out to a conference a day early – sometimes flights are cheaper that way, too --- can be a great stress reliever. It doesn’t always have to be something big. Even if you’re just heading out a day early to check out the beach or the local food scene, some me time can do a lot to make you feel more relaxed and productive,” she said.

Stay Up to Date with Travel & Expense

Check out the monthly Travel and Expense newsletter!

Did you know that the Travel and Expense teams put out a monthly e-newsletter full of tips and tricks on how to use the TravelUVA and ExpenseUVA systems, savings opportunities, events, and more?

SWaM Business Enterprise Day showcases 24 firms

Visitors and exhibitors mingling during
SWaM Business Enterprise Day

Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services invited over 20 well-established, multi-million dollar firms to their annual Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned (SWaM) Business Enterprise Day on June 6.

This year’s event featured firms specializing in security, cyber security, batteries and bulbs, promotional items, consulting (management, IT, environmental), storage and material handling, IT peripherals, design and graphics, relocation services/household movers, engineering, workforce and technical educational solutions, measurement and weighing, and supplies (lab, industrial, electronics).

Several hundred visitors from across Grounds took the opportunity to meet with representatives from these businesses, learning more about the goods and services they offer.

In addition to the afternoon showcase in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom, exhibiting SWaM vendors were also treated to an intensive networking event that morning.

Jenn Daughtry, President of Greener Concepts, an outdoor furniture provider, said the opportunity to connect with other vendors was much appreciated.

“The setup of this event has been great,” she said, adding, “We’ve really enjoyed the one on one interaction.”

Supplier Diversity Champion and event coordinator Jack King said “This annual event was created to provide an intimate business atmosphere where UVA schools and departments could draw on a diverse community of well-established, multi-million dollar small businesses – the innovators and doers who power the economic engine across the Commonwealth and beyond – to learn more about the goods and services they offer — goods and services our schools and departments need. This event is just one of many ways UVA’s team of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services professionals, is committed to helping our Virginia business community — the backbone of our economic landscape and the cornerstone of our communities — grow and nurture their businesses while remaining strong, vibrant, and successful.”

Car Service now available in TravelUVA

Click image for larger view

Need a ride to the airport, hotel, or meeting site? Car service is now available to book via TravelUVA’s online booking tool.

TravelUVA makes booking car service quick and painless, as the system reads any existing travel plans and suggests car service when you add ground transportation to your itinerary. You can also book car service independently, or for guests. Just click on the car service icon in TravelUVA!

Questions? Need help? Call 924-4212 and select option 2 or email travel@virginia.edu

Procurement supports UVA's research mission

Reducing administrative burden for UVA researchers is a priority for Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS). The PSDS team has established hundreds of new contracts with research and development companies to better meet the needs for specialized goods, services, and equipment, with a continued commitment to good, old-fashioned customer service and going the extra mile.

The UVA Center for Advanced Biomanufacturing needed a rheometer to pursue their work in bioengineering. If you’re wondering what a rheometer is, you’re probably not alone – suffice it to say, it’s a highly specialized piece of equipment available from very few sources.

Not long ago, a purchase like this would require sole source justification, a tedious process. However, thanks to PSDS’ innovative new Research and Development RFP process, Anton Paar, the supplier of the rheometer needed for this work, was set up as a contract vendor. This made the buying process much easier for the researchers and entitled them to the advantages and protections that come with working with a vendor under contract.

If the story ended there, it would be a success, but there’s more: PSDS was also able to help the researchers navigate another complex process.

With a contract relationship established, it made sense for other researchers to know more about the types of specialized equipment the company offered. Dr. Steven Caliari, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Center

Anton Paar's mobile lab during its recent visit to UVA.

for Advance Biomanufacturing steering committee member, talked to Anton Paar about bringing their mobile lab to UVA. The company was happy to bring their show on the road, but even as a contract vendor, bringing a mobile laboratory and all its contents to Grounds is not a simple task.

Once again, PSDS stepped in, this time acting as a liaison for UVA researchers and the contracted company. They worked with UVA departments such as facilities, environmental health and safety, and others to secure the necessary permissions for the lab to come on site.

Once the dots were connected, the lab arrived on a sunny day in April.  Chemistry researchers were able to take a quick jaunt to a parking lot nearby and learn more about products that could help with their research (and since Anton Paar is a contract vendor, anyone who visited the lab could potentially purchase from them).

Dr. Caliari saw the benefits of the contract relationship in this situation, commenting, “It’s great to have that comfort level with vendors, because we know that if there’s an issue, if students need to be trained, or if there are questions about a new technique, we have had face time with Anton Paar and we know they will be happy to help.”

He also appreciated the way PSDS jumped in to make the mobile lab visit a reality for busy researchers.

“Everyone who needed to get looped in got looped in and it came together really nicely,” he said.

ExpenseUVA by the Numbers

It's been a month since the launch of ExpenseUVA.  See the graphic below for a snapshot of how things are going so far!

Click the image to view larger

Go to http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pageTravelandExpense for more information about ExpenseUVA.

Sponsored Programs and Procurement: Moving research forward from behind the scenes

As described in a recent UVAToday piece, George Christ, a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery at UVA, is leading the way for UVA to participate in a consortium of other industry, government, academic and non-profit entities whose goal it is to find common denominators in the cell and tissue engineering process in order to develop improved and more consistent manufacturing processes. Christ is also at the helm of two multi-institutional efforts to develop other tissue-engineering/biomaterials platforms to support pilot clinical trials funded by the Department of Defense.

Dr. Christ says Sponsored Programs and Procurement
play a key role in moving research forward at UVA.

For Christ, who also leads UVA’s Laboratory of Regenerative Therapeutics, the long-term goal is repairing combat injuries of US soldiers. Bioprinting provides another important platform for developing regenerative approaches to muscle tissue repair.

There was only one company that could provide the technology that delivered the level of expertise and resources required for the precise cell placement and connectivity required for muscle tissue replacement in the presence of minimal bio ink:  a west-coast based company called Organovo.

As Christ explained, “they have developed an instrument and approach that is unlike any other; they have nearly 10 years of know-how, but they’re not experts in muscle like we are.  And if a company has 10 years of expertise, I don’t want to spend 10 years catching up to them; I want to collaborate on things that are of mutual interest.”

 “What we do is outside their bandwidth, but we’re really good at it, and vice-versa, so there was a natural synergy,” said Christ.

Christ proposed to Organovo that they lease their bioprinter to UVA and agree to share protected know-how with each other.

Although Organovo was very interested in Christ’s proposal, they wanted a thorough understanding of timeline, outcomes, and other parameters.  What was needed was a carefully-arranged agreement detailing what both sides of this partnership could expect in terms of intellectual property, timelines, milestones and more, details that Christ recognized as obviously important, but not something he wanted to have to figure out himself.

Christ reached out to Kristy Hall, Director of Contracts in the Office of Sponsored Programs, and Hall took the challenge of mapping out the internal and external partnerships that were needed to effect an agreement between Organovo and UVA. 

Close coordination between several people and departments would be required for the agreement to take shape in the time frame that Christ and his team required.

“This is a ‘non-funded’ agreement in the Sponsored Programs sense,” said Hall; “and things aren’t straightforward because the contract falls into that space between Procurement and Sponsored Programs.”

Because of that intersection, Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services and the Office of Sponsored Programs would need to coordinate on which area was responsible for what pieces of the contract and work out what risks might affect either group.

Hall conferred with John McHugh, Assistant Director of Procurement Services, and together they hashed out the concerns that would need to be addressed from each of their perspectives – things like indemnification, governing law, risk management, intellectual property and data security concerns. 

It made sense that Sponsored Programs would handle the agreement, while Procurement would help them navigate the University’s requirements for competition.

“Clearly, it wasn’t possible for any other company to compete with Organovo in this instance,” said McHugh. 

“Because we do a lot of work with research and development, though, we have guidelines in place that exempt research purchases, in some cases, from the sole source process and reduce the paperwork involved.”

Bill Shoelwer of Sponsored Programs

With that solid footing, Hall was then able to turn the negotiation of the contracts over to Bill Schoelwer in Sponsored Programs, who began crafting a custom-built agreement with lots of complicated factors in play.

Schoelwer realized right away that the stakes were high with this project.  On day two of Schoelwer’s negotiations with Organovo, the article describing George Christ and Shayn Pierce-Cottler’s research appeared in UVAToday.

“The work they’re doing is so important,” said Schoelwer.

 “I felt extra motivated based on the important outcomes at stake to make sure I did my part well.  We’re expecting there to be important developments coming out of this project, and we want to account for that in the agreement and make sure all parties’ interests are accommodated.”

According to Christ, Sponsored Programs “helped keep the pendulum in the middle” in terms of making sure both UVA and Organovo felt comfortable with the terms of the collaboration, its goals, and what happened with the resulting and potentially groundbreaking developments.

The agreement was soon completed to all parties’ satisfaction and the deal was closed within the required timeframe, and as a result, Christ and his lab are set up with the right machinery to support their minds and goals.

“There were so many collaborators who worked on this,” Christ said, adding “there’s a whole ecosystem in place that helps move these key advancements forward.”

For those collaborators in PSDS and Sponsored Programs, they’re just happy the work they do helps support UVA’s research mission. 

“These are the types of things that keep me excited about what we do every day,” said Hall. 

Schoelwer said he can’t wait to see what happens with the project.  “I’ll be checking the newspapers to see what happens,” he said. 

“I’m glad I got to be behind the scenes, enabling researchers to do what they’re best at.”

Innovative Research & Development RFP Process Presented at Regional Conference

At this year’s National Association of Educational Procurement’s Annual Meeting, conference attendees were treated to a breakout session given by Kristin Floyd, Senior Buyer in Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS). 

Kristin Floyd, Senior Buyer, PSDS

Floyd’s session, “Research RFP: Procurement Collaborates with the Research Community,” detailed the unconventional Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by UVA to research and development (R&D) vendors in April 2016.

Floyd shared with a packed room how, a year ago, she solicited responses from R&D vendors in various categories of goods and services, and, rather than awarding a contract to a single vendor, UVA sought to award contract vendor status to as many vendors as possible.

The aim of the innovative approach was to reduce the administrative burden on departments, to eliminate single-source documentation, all while satisfying competitive requirements and automate vendor setup in the e-commerce Marketplace.

During her presentation, Floyd shared the reasoning behind the novel approach.

“We realized we were receiving so many sole source justifications for research because the items researchers need are so specialized, often custom made. There just weren’t enough existing contracts to satisfy researchers’ needs,” she said.

And, since the sole-source justification process is rather convoluted, especially from a principal investigator’s perspective, PSDS decided to be flexible, accommodate the needs of researchers, and add value to purchasing services. They streamlined both the documentation and award process and required vendors to provide a high level of customer service, a warranty/guarantee on goods and services, and meet discount guidelines.

Results of the new approach have been excellent, as PSDS has seen a steady increase in the percentage of spend with R&D contract vendors, corresponding with a steady reduction in cost per transaction with those vendors.

As a part of her session, Floyd found herself giving an impromptu lesson on Lean concepts, as she shared with the audience how she used some of the skills she learned in her UVAFinance Lean classes to work on this project.

Many of the audience members shared with Floyd that they considered doing the same thing, but that they hadn’t figured out how to execute the process, and how to collaborate with peers, as UVA had with the Virginia Higher Education Procurement Cooperative, to allow for enhanced negotiations and cooperative access to contracts.

Conference promotional materials touted the session as an opportunity for listeners to “learn from someone who dared to reimagine their procurement process.”

As for Floyd, she says she’s glad the message resonated with the audience.

“Doing business with all vendors is a different mindset than we’ve historically had, but it’s worth thinking about how we can do things differently to serve our stakeholders better,” she said.

For more information on PSDS’ R&D Program, contact Kristin Floyd.

ExpenseUVA: As Go-Live Approaches, Ambassadors are Paving the Way

ExpenseUVA, the online expense management system, is set to go live April 17.  The rollout of this system will affect everyone who gets reimbursed for expenses incurred in the course of doing University business, as well as everyone who makes University-related purchases with a Travel & Expense Card. 

As you might imagine, that’s a lot of people. 

How do you roll out a new program to nearly 4,000 users? 

The Travel & Expense Team in UVAFinance, along with its partners in ITS, will tell you that it takes a lot of work and a lot of support and collaboration from partners in schools and business units.  

For several months, a group of over 60 representatives from each area called Ambassadors have been trained in the system, have participated in testing of the system, and have been working within their area to help tailor a rollout plan that fits that school or unit’s specific needs. 

Using the Ambassador model means each school/unit has its own plan that makes sense for its particular needs. 

SOM ExpenseUVA Ambassadors Unique Braxton and Ben Baer
answer questions at one of their many training sessions.

“We have been working to prepare the Ambassadors and provide them with resources so they can provide the best level of support to meet the needs of their areas,” said Dolores Hildebrand, Assistant Director of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services and ExpenseUVA project lead.

“We’re so impressed by the way our Ambassadors and partners in the schools and units have taken ExpenseUVA and run with it,” she adds.

“We definitely couldn’t do it without them.”

Here are just a few stories of how a disparate group of schools and business units have handled the uniquely-structured rollout of ExpenseUVA.

School of Medicine: Training the trainers (and training, and training, and training)

With over 40 departments and faculty and staff based everywhere from McKim Hall to the Ray C. Hunt building and many points in between, ExpenseUVA Ambassadors Ben Baer and Unique Braxton of the School of Medicine (SOM) had their work cut out for them from the beginning.  

Read More

Advancement: Providing refreshers after go-live

Westley du Pont is one of the first to admit that if she doesn’t have the opportunity to practice a new skill she’s been taught, she’ll forget it pretty quickly.   Because she knows most people are in the same boat as she is, du Pont, Administrative Staff Assistant in University Advancement and ExpenseUVA Ambassador, decided early on that she wanted to pay special attention to the part of the rollout that came after go-live. 

Read More

Darden: Many travelers, lots of questions

There’s a significant amount of travel occurring amongst the faculty and staff of Darden Business School. Between the admissions and career development group and the faculty, who are involved with global student programs and research conferences, travel expenses are a significant portion of the expenses processed by Beth Van Hook’s office.

Read More

Thank you to all of the ExpenseUVA Ambassadors, subject matter experts, and fiscal whizzes out there who have partnered with the Travel & Expense Team to make this rollout as pain-free as possible.  Your efforts will make all the difference, and you are much appreciated!

For more information on ExpenseUVA, an Ambassador Database, access to training, and much more visit Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services’ Travel and Expense site.