Another fiscal year is in the books for Strategic Procurement, and it is with immense pride and gratitude that I highlight the exceptional efforts and achievements of UCSF’s Strategic Procurement team. Our collective effort has demonstrated the power of teamwork, dedication, and excellence in delivering high-quality procurement services to UCSF.

Here’s a snapshot of our team’s performance over the last few fiscal year-ends:

Requisitions approved by Strategic Procurement, June 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025. Table shows processing time in 2025 was reduced from 5.7 days on average to 3.5 days on average.

Fiscal year-end is the “Super Bowl” of procurement—albeit without an engaging halftime show. During this period each year, the number of orders submitted to Procurement is generally 20 percent higher than average, which creates delays in the queue of orders waiting for processing. As each day passes, deadlines loom closer, and our team is tasked with finding win-win solutions under increasing pressure. The pressure builds and sometimes can overwhelm our team. This is undoubtedly the hardest time of year for Strategic Procurement.

This year, we observed a significant improvement in processing times for orders—driven in large part by the hard work of our team members over the last year. Of note, our efforts to improve queue management and escalation procedures helped our team solve protracted agreements faster and with less need for escalation. Additionally, our team’s hard work on gaining agreements for professional services orders and facility rental orders cut the processing time in half for those specific transaction types—which are typically the longest-duration transactions. Lastly, we saw more staff time in the queue than previous years, as fewer of our team members took June vacations than in previous years—a testament to our dedication to UCSF’s mission.

I am so very excited to see the hard work of our Strategic Procurement team and our partners on campus reflected in our metrics. Each day, I have the opportunity to see our people make the mission of UCSF become reality. Seeing our metrics improve is a testament to everyone involved in Procurement: from the shoppers, requesters, and approvers (and don't forget those ad-hoc approvers), to buyers, supervisors, managers, and our administrative departments who provide specialized guidance on UC (University of California) policy. It truly takes a team to execute procurement at UCSF, and I think we have an amazing one worth celebrating.