Supply Chain Management (SCM) has reduced the frequency of issuing check payments two times a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Other electronic forms of payment such as ACH, Payment Plus, EFT and wire, will not be impacted and will continue with normal payment schedules. Check printing requires in-office staffing. This change was made in response to University COVID-19 guidelines to enable staff to telecommute and for their well-being and the community.
BearBuy production downtime will take place between Friday, March 17, at 6 p.m. through Sunday, March 19, at 9 a.m. to upgrade from release version 22.3 to 23.1. To avoid delays, please complete all BearBuy requests prior to the system maintenance. BearBuy will be available on Monday, March 20.
The ODP Business Solutions and the Genesee Scientific punchout catalogs are now separately available in BearBuy. The new punchouts have replaced the ODP Business Solutions Supplies and Genesee Scientific hosted catalogs, respectively. The new punchouts offer the University’s contracted discounts.
On March 6, UC Office of the President (UCOP) rescinded previously issued interim guidelines advising that remote workers may be eligible to be reimbursed for travel to their university location when University business requires their presence onsite. Per the previous guidance, UCSF allowed reimbursement of these business travel expenses for remote workers. However, following UCOP's rescission, travel expenses between the remote worker’s residence and headquarters will be considered commuting expenses and will not be reimbursed for travel occurring on or after March 6. Read the Updated Interim Travel Reimbursement Guidance.With this change, UC will return to the existing interpretation of the G-28 Travel Regulations policy, which states “expenses for travel between the traveler's residence and headquarters (commuting expense) shall not be allowed.” UCOP determined additional evaluation is necessary as the nature of UC’s workforce is evolving because of the COVID-19 pandemic.UCOP will have a workgroup to assess the definitions and practices related to workplace modality and how this may interact and impact current policies and procedures. The workgroup will provide recommendations to UC President Drake on any proposed future revisions to current policies and processes.
Subcontract invoices should be pre-approved before they are submitted to Supply Chain Management for processing. This helps accelerate subcontract invoice processing times.The brief process includes: Subcontractors send invoices directly to campus departmentsCampus departments obtain invoice approval in DocuSignCampus departments email approved invoices to SCM for processing and paymentFor full details and step-by-step instructions on this process, review a recorded webinar and the subcontract invoice approval page. Please carefully follow all the steps in the instructions so we can efficiently process subcontract invoices.
When the University of California systemwide academic strike hit on November 14, 2022, Supply Chain Management’s (SCM) Logistics team stepped up to fill the void when UPS halted service to UCSF campus and medical centers, successfully delivering more than 7,100 packages.UPS notified SCM on November 18 that it was suspending deliveries and that meant Logistics would need a plan to ensure that the UCSF community received their packages without interruption. The first hurdle was sorting and delivering five truckloads of packages from the backlog when deliveries were canceled. That meant some Logistics staff worked extra hours and weekends to prioritize, sort and deliver packages.Speaking about the first days of the strike, Senior Mail Processor Israel Alvarado (pictured to the left) said, "It was a big, scary moment. We didn't know how we were going to tackle it, but we have a good team here. We worked together and just did it."As the strike progressed, Logistics staff made daily pickups from two UPS locations and offloaded them at the warehouse in Oyster Point. The team then processed all of the packages along with their normal volume from everyday suppliers."Logistics was overwhelmed with the additional packages and supplies of the gases to our medical and industrial customers and we knew we needed additional resources, but the great team we have here was up for the challenge," said Warehouse Supervisor Veimau Lakalaka. "I’m thankful to the diligent staff for providing excellent service to our UCSF community."Logistics staff was honored for their outstanding work, diligence and dedication on February 15 with a special lunch.
Occasionally, University employees seek funding to support professional development activities. University leaders are expected to exhibit good stewardship of University funds. To help support managers in exercising good judgment regarding approvals, please review the new guide on UCSF Professional Development Support.
The Central Travel Office would like to remind our travelers that you do have rights when it comes to accepting or rejecting changes to already booked tickets. Booking agencies will inform travelers of their options in the notification emails and we encourage you to carefully review these before making any decisions. If the proposed schedule change from the airline is of two or more hours, you may be eligible for a full refund which you can use to find a cheaper or more convenient flight. To learn more, read the recent email sent by UC Travel.
As a public entity, our UCSF procurement processes are subject to federal and state laws, along with University of California (UC) systemwide policies. These laws and policies ensure that procurement activities are conducted fairly, transparently and in the best interest of the public. While these requirements are important, they also mean that our procurement contracting process takes longer than it would in a private organization.Before you get started on a contract, you should know that, in most cases, UCSF does not need a dual-signed contract from your suppliers. We are permitted to do business using our purchase order (PO), which is a contract that binds UCSF to pay the supplier for goods and services. (Note: if you are buying services, you will want to include a statement of work (SOW), but in most situations no additional contracts or legal language is required.) When your supplier does require a contract from UCSF, please allow at least 30 days for the negotiation of that contract. During contract negotiation, our team of professional buyers work with the supplier to craft a custom agreement starting with UC’s standard contract template (as is required by policy).The supplier then has an opportunity to redline that document and return it back to UCSF. These changes must be reviewed, and many changes are required to be escalated to different UC departments including IT Security, Human Resources, Risk Management, Privacy, and others on campus to make sure your department does not violate UC policy or state and federal laws. We understand that this extended timeline can be frustrating, especially when you need a product or service quickly. If you find yourself in this situation, here are three tips to getting your procurement issued quickly and with full compliance:Use a supplier who already has agreed to UC’s terms and conditions and does not require additional contracting. UC has more than 400 agreements covering lab supplies, professional services, facilities, travel, and a wide variety of other goods and services. Your department buyer can help you find a contracted supplier. Note, many of these suppliers also have been competitively bid, which simplifies justifications (e.g. Sole Source Justifications) at the time of ordering. Let your supplier know that you have tight deadlines and cannot afford a lengthy negotiation process and would prefer that they accept our PO, which legally binds UCSF to pay them.If they push back on using a PO, let them know that they will need to work quickly with Supply Chain Management (SCM) Procurement or you may not be able to use their services.Submit your request as early as possible, giving Procurement time to review the contract and work with the supplier is your best bet for completing your transaction. For example, fiscal year 2024 is coming up and we would be happy to help you work on your FY24 renewals and procurements right now.If you have questions or concerns about UCSF’s Procurement contracts process, please submit a ticket to the SCM Response Team. We are here to help and are committed to meeting your needs while also ensuring that we follow University regulations.
University of California (UC) Strategic Sourcing is warning the UC community that telecommunication services provider T-Mobile is unable to meet its minimum cybersecurity requirements. These deficiencies became clear when UC issued a systemwide request for pricing (RFP) for telecommunication services, including cellular services.In the last few years T-Mobile has suffered numerous high-profile breaches that have resulted in the exposure of sensitive data of over 100 million customers, with the most recent breach reported on January 19, 2023.It also has come to Strategic Sourcing’s attention that T-Mobile representatives have continued to try to sell their services directly to UC locations. Based on the findings of the RFP, and continuing reports of breach activity involving sensitive customer data, please exercise extreme caution if your location has been solicited by T-Mobile or is considering purchasing services from them.T-Mobile's primary competitors, AT&T and Verizon Wireless did meet UC’s security requirements and have been awarded systemwide agreements as a result of the telecommunications RFP.
