At UCSF, Strategic Sourcing continues to work toward building a more efficient, connected, and innovative sourcing framework to support the University’s diverse needs. Over the last six months, our team has been developing category strategies designed to streamline processes, optimize resources, reduce costs, and align procurement with UCSF’s overarching mission.

These strategies involve collaboration across the University of California (UC) system, to ensure UCSF’s operations are supported by the best possible solutions. Below, we highlight the exciting work underway in five key procurement categories. 

Research Tail Spend Strategy 

The Research category, which supports UCSF’s world-renowned research activities, involves a wide variety of unique suppliers. In fiscal year 2025 alone, UCSF engaged with over 1,400 suppliers. However, many of these suppliers are not covered by UC contracts, which can result in increased processing time and non-compliance with UC policy. By identifying, analyzing, and optimizing smaller, low-value purchases that are often overlooked, we can reduce costs and improve efficiencies in the procurement process.

Ngoc Ngo, Category Manager for Research, is leading efforts to expand purchasing options with contracted suppliers. This includes collaborating with existing distributors to broaden their selection of brands, establishing new contracts and catalogs, and leveraging resources from the UC Office of the President. By streamlining purchasing processes, this strategy aims to reduce administrative workloads for Strategic Procurement while ensuring efficient and compliant sourcing practices. 

Oxidized Gases Strategy 

UCSF’s current system for ordering oxidized gases is fragmented, with labs ordering through UCSF-Logistics’ storehouse or directly from multiple suppliers. This has led to challenges, such as higher retail pricing for labs, failed third-party deliveries due to access issues, and increased truck traffic on campus.

In response, Charles Sabia, Logistics Operations Manager, and Dean Shehu, Senior Research Category Manager, are collaborating to create a centralized pathway for ordering oxidized gases through the UCSF storehouse. This streamlined approach will deliver significant cost savings for research labs, improve delivery reliability, and reduce congestion and UCSF’s carbon footprint. UCSF-Logistics staff, with their badge access and familiarity with lab locations, will ensure timely and secure deliveries, safeguarding research operations and samples. 

Mobile Phone Strategy

UCSF’s Mobile Phones Strategic Sourcing Strategy is aimed at simplifying how employees obtain and manage mobile devices essential for their work. With over 9,000 mobile phone lines currently in use across UCSF, there is an opportunity to create a more efficient and consistent framework for managing mobile communications.

Jose Padilla and the IT team are drafting a business proposal to streamline the procurement and management of mobile phones. The goal is to reduce the administrative burden on departments while enhancing user experience. This strategy also explores opportunities to optimize service plans, improve visibility, and align resources where they are needed most—supporting UCSF’s commitment to innovation, collaboration, and operational excellence. 

Value Added Resellers (VAR) Strategy

With UCSF spending $100-200 million annually on IT software, hardware, and support services across more than 600 suppliers, IT procurement has become increasingly complex and time-consuming. To address this, Susan Riddle, Senior Category Manager, is leading the Value Added Reseller (VAR) strategy to simplify procurement processes and deliver greater value for UCSF.

This strategy focuses on consolidating tail spend, improving asset management and spend visibility, streamlining requisition processing, strengthening risk protections, and enhancing Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) with key partners. Susan’s initial efforts include conducting spend analysis, defining partner requirements, engaging contracted VARs to achieve strategic goals, and participating in a systemwide software reseller request for proposal (RFP) to secure future contracts. 

IT Hardware Strategy

To ensure UCSF is receiving the best possible pricing for IT hardware purchases, Joanne Petersen, Senior Category Manager, is actively investigating spend under contract and catalog agreements. By increasing spend in these categories, UCSF can better support its IT needs while reducing costs.

Joanne is applying the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) methodology to regularly review supplier pricing and compare Value Added Resellers (VARs) to ensure optimal product selection and pricing. This iterative process ensures that IT has access to the products they need, at the best prices, with consistent supplier collaboration and management. 

Looking Ahead

As these strategies develop, Strategic Sourcing remains committed to fostering collaboration across the entire Supply Chain Management team at UCSF to improve communication, drive efficiencies, and deliver impactful results.

These efforts reflect UCSF’s dedication to operational excellence and innovation, ensuring that resources are aligned to support the University’s mission of advancing health worldwide. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to refine and implement these strategies to better serve the UCSF community.