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Supply Chain Management (SCM) provides essential payment services to the UCSF community—sometimes within an hour. On Friday, April 24, Justin Sullivan, Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) Chief Procurement Officer, received an order at 3:20 p.m. from Facilities to procure blue exterior lighting for the Parnassus Heights and Mission Bay campuses. The goal was to set up a tribute honoring late Michael Tilson Thomas, former San Francisco Symphony music director and music director laureate. SCM Strategic Procurement was tasked with completing the urgent order. “Time was of the essence to ensure the kind gesture was relevant and meaningful,” said Andrew Clark, Strategic Procurement Executive Director. Strategic Procurement Supervisor Rosemarie Hughes and Senior Buyer Yvette Shaw worked to complete the transaction within 10 minutes of receiving the order. The prompt, critical endeavor worked with Justin and Cesar Sanchez, AVC Facilities Services, providing final approval at 3:51 p.m. Ending with Yvette confirming payment by 4:15 p.m. Chancellor Sam Hawgood noted his gratitude in the collaborative effort to honor the late music director. “It was truly impressive to see how everyone came together so seamlessly to bring this tribute to life. The innovative ideas and collaborative spirit that shaped the final product reflect the best of what our UCSF community stands for.As part of a city-wide recognition of a leader whose impact helped shape San Francisco’s cultural life, this tribute highlighted the creativity and community that continue to define our shared values. Together, you demonstrated once again how the UCSF community rises to the occasion to make extraordinary things happen.” – Sam Hawgood, Chancellor, University of California San Francisco
When news broke that the Strait of Hormuz closed amid escalating conflict between the US and Iran, most headlines focused on oil. But for research institutions like UCSF, helium quickly became top of mind. Liquefied helium is essential to modern medicine and science as a coolant for MRI systems and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments. Without it, key diagnostic and research capabilities would be significantly constrained.Why the Strait of Hormuz MattersDean Shehu, Senior Category Manager for UCSF Supply Chain Management’s (SCM) Strategic Procurement, noted that one third of the world’s helium comes from Qatar. With the Strait closed, a major global supply route is effectively disrupted. If the closure persists for months, the effects are expected to ripple across industries, including healthcare and research.UCSF’s Supply PositionUCSF enters this situation significantly better prepared than in past helium supply disruptions. A key reason is the institution’s investment in sustainability and efficiency, particularly helium recycling systems. These systems have dramatically reduced consumption. UCSF now uses approximately 1,372 liters of liquid helium per year, down from more than 18,000 liters annually. This reduction not only supports financial and environmental sustainability goals but also provides strong resilience during supply disruptions. Early Coordination and Scenario PlanningWithin minutes of the Strait of Hormuz closure becoming public, internal coordination was already underway between Dean and NMR Core Director, Professor Mark Kelly, via email , emphasizing the importance of helium supply at UCSF. Since then, SCM has taken several coordinated steps, including reaching out to suppliers to assess exposure to helium from Qatar, communicating updates across all UCSF NMR system stakeholders, and gathering data from labs on annual helium consumption and upcoming fill schedules. Professor Kelly has stocked excess gaseous helium, which can be converted to liquid if needed, providing three months of supply. UCSF’s precautions bode well for proactively addressing supply vulnerabilities. Dean mentioned that he would become involved in daily coordination with suppliers to secure more helium.Waiting on Global Events to UnfoldThe closure of the Strait of Hormuz highlights how global events affect specialized areas of healthcare and research. If helium supply remains constrained, UCSF is prepared to actively manage resources. Dean explained, “If the closure continues for months, I’ll need to coordinate incoming supplies among the labs.”
Mobile phones are a routine part of work across UCSF, but how they are managed can have a significant impact on cost, efficiency, and visibility at scale.Through a data-driven spend analysis conducted as part of SCM’s Strategic Sourcing Portfolio Reviews, the IT Category Management Team identified mobile services as a key category with significant opportunity for improvement. In response, IT Category Manager Jose Padilla conducted a comprehensive review of UCSF’s wireless environment and partnered with Associate CIO Susan Tincher and cross-functional Campus and Health stakeholders to take targeted action. These efforts reduced costs by over $1.4 million annually and improved visibility into mobile phone usage across UCSF, generating meaningful savings over time while enhancing transparency.Historically, mobile services at UCSF have been managed in a decentralized way, with purchasing, billing, and account management spread across departments. This approach has limited visibility into total spend, usage, and pricing consistency across both Campus and Health operations. One of the first steps of the review involved analyzing usage data across accounts, which revealed approximately 1,400 unused phone lines. These lines were subsequently disconnected, eliminating unnecessary recurring costs and improving overall efficiency.In parallel, Sourcing and IT engaged with wireless carriers to strengthen UCSF’s pricing position and improve rate competitiveness. The existing agreement with AT&T has been optimized, capturing a 20 percent discount over previous rates, and recent discussions with Verizon have shown promising progress toward more competitive rate structures.Strategic Sourcing’s work in this category highlights the value of combining data-driven insights with cross-campus collaboration to deliver measurable results and underscores a broader opportunity for work to centralize procurement and account management, streamline processes and local policy, and improve governance to better support Campus and Health.
MyMarketplace will serve as a single-entry point for all catalog and contracted purchases, simplifying how campus users shop.
How to review and approve invoices in Oracle Cloud as a Cost Center Owner for UCSF Health.
The UCSF Anchor Institution Mission (AIM) and University of California (UC) Systemwide Procurement teams attended the third annual San Francisco International Airport Resource Fair as exhibitors on March 24 at the Oakland Convention Center. The resource fair, geared towards attendees looking for workforce opportunities, was hosted by the San Francisco International Airport in partnership with the City of Oakland and the Business Outreach Committee—a consortium of public agencies across the Bay Area. AIM and UC Systemwide Procurement represented the strategic small business partners for local procurement outreach, and UCSF Real Estate held a session on conducting business with their department. The certified business exhibitors included professional services consultants and representatives from IT services, business lending partners, and design service firms. If you are looking to explore new locally based businesses for your procurement needs, please see the Local Business Outreach List to find out what businesses are attending our outreach events. If you would like to work with new suppliers, please onboard them accordingly with Graphite Connect.
Graphite Connect is now live as UCSF’s online supplier registration platform, supporting the onboarding of new PO-based suppliers and streamlining supplier data collection and validation. What This Means for You All new suppliers who provide goods and/or services to UCSF must be invited to complete registration in Graphite Connect. Once invited, new PO-based suppliers securely submit required onboarding information—including tax information, banking details and supporting documentation for ACH or wire payment methods—and a general liability Certificate of Insurance. Action Needed After you submit a supplier request in Graphite, it is reviewed and approved by Supplier Registration, and an invitation is sent to the supplier. Please remind your supplier to promptly accept and complete their Graphite invitation. Unopened invitations and incomplete registrations are the most common causes of onboarding delays. Timely completion helps keep onboarding on track. Helpful Resources Graphite Connect launch announcement and overviewInternal guidance and process details: Department Guide pageSupplier Guide (to share with suppliers)Supplier instructions for Graphite: Accepting an invitation from your customerTo submit a Graphite Support request: email [email protected] Registration Questions: Submit a ServiceNow ticket
Vouchers can now be automatically approved once they are matched—even if they are already assigned to an approver.
UCSF’s new supplier onboarding platform, Graphite Connect, launched on February 26 and is now the required process for registering all new suppliers who provide goods and/or services (PO-based). This system replaces the prior forms and email-based workflow, providing a more secure and streamlined experience.Effective March 6, 2026, old forms for requesting new PO-based suppliers are no longer accepted. All new PO-based suppliers must register through Graphite Connect.Process Guidance New PO-based suppliers → Must register in Graphite ConnectLegacy supplier updates and new payment-only (non-PO) suppliers → Continue to use Supplier Forms To support this transition, updated versions (v26.1) of the following forms are now available and should be used immediately:ACH Enrollment FormUCSF Substitute W9 & Supplier Information FormResourcesCampus departments: Visit Graphite Connect for Departments to learn how to invite a new supplier.Suppliers: Visit Graphite Connect for Suppliers for registration guidance.Supplier Forms: Visit the Supplier Forms page for access to the current versions and guidance on when to use them.Supplier letter: Share the Mandatory Use of Graphite Connect for New Suppliers letter with suppliers who have questions about the requirement. Questions? Contact the SCM Response Team.
