University of California Office of the President (UCOP) has established contracts with the following life science providers. Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT): IDT develops, manufactures, and markets nucleic acid products for the life sciences industry in the areas of academic and commercial research, agriculture, medical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical development. Contract Details. Pacific Biosciences: Specializes in long-read DNA sequencing technology. They sell instruments, consumables, and software for genetic analysis. Contract Details. Matheson Gases: To provide gases, accessories, service agreements, maintenance, software updates, installations, and services systemwide. Gases include but are not limited to laboratory, industrial, medical, and related accessories and services. Specifically, dewars, cylinder gases (including a rental model), bulk, liquid helium, liquid nitrogen, dry ice delivery, equipment hard goods, accessories, as well as maintenance of gases for UC-owned and supplier-owned equipment in compressed and cryogenic form. Contract Details. Gentinge: AB autoclaves and sterilizers: To provide equipment and maintenance services for Autoclaves/Sterilizers, washers and cage washers. Contract Details. Bioneer Inc: Bioneer is a provider of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics, PCR diagnostics as well as drug screening tools. Their core competencies reside in DNA/RNA oligonucleotide synthesis chemistry, process development and instrument technology. Contract Details. UC contracts simplify and speed approval for purchase requisitions over $10,000 which must be reviewed by SCM Procurement. Sourcing items from these suppliers, when possible, reduces the information required to create a purchase requisition as well as the subsequent review by Buyers to generate a purchase order. The listed suppliers have competitively bid systemwide agreements with the University of California; therefore, no additional justifications are needed when submitting your requisition. A complete list of UC Contracts are below. General Agreements Life Science
The University of California Office of the President (UCOP) recently increased the maximum lodging rate for business travel of less than 30 days within the continental United States (48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia) from $275 to $333 per night (not including taxes and mandatory hotel fees). This new rate is effective for travel that occurred on and after January 1, 2024, but only applies to expense reports that are created and submitted in MyExpense after April 19, 2024. UCOP has revised Business and Finance Bulletin G-28, Travel Regulations, to include this information. For more information on business travel, visit SCM’s Travel webpage. Review further details below:Issuance LetterBusiness and Finance Bulletin G-28
The Supply Chain Management (SCM) Response Team, in collaboration with SCM Financial Operations, will be running a series around the question, how do I submit invoices that cannot be submitted using Transcepta? Most invoices must be submitted through Transcepta. However, there are certain invoicing situations that go through a different submission process. For a preview of the upcoming series, review the complete list of Transcepta exclusions and watch the SCM Transcepta webinar.Need help now? Submit questions or comments using the feedback option on the UCSF SCM Internal Support form.
Last month’s Earth Month Lunch Flyover series was a success with 17 sessions from various travel suppliers and University of California (UC) partners with 814 participants from across the UC! Those who attended the Marriott session had the opportunity to present suggestions toward sustainability. We received the official certificate that 25 trees were planted by the Arbor Day Foundation on behalf of the UC. The UC Travel Office continues efforts to provide meaningful, travel-related guidance for UC travelers, including regular webinars that will begin May 15 where results from the annual travel survey (with year-over-year comparisons) will be shared. More sessions, including upcoming town hall opportunities, will be announced as they are confirmed. As the summer months get underway, navigating varying aspects of travel can be challenging and the following tips can help ease some of the frustrations: Plan and book ahead as much as possible: Airfare prices continue to increase, and availability of decently priced hotel rooms grows scarce. Travelers are at risk of being priced out of reasonable rates if they wait too long to confirm trips. Book the first flight of the day out to your destination: Delays compound throughout the day - if possible, book the nonstop flights (which potentially reduce CO2 emissions as well). Stick with the same airline all the way to your destination: Airlines can only commit to their own schedules; and, if one cancels, it is not the responsibility of the other to adjust your connecting flight. Carefully note airline schedule changes: Do not act on them immediately, unless your flight is within a couple of days of the change (our webinar recording found in the travel portal on schedule changes dives into why you should allow yourself time to research your options from full cancellations to destination changes to airline switches). Understand your rights and options in the event of major cancelations or excessive delays. We have also found that travelers who sign up for the miles and loyalty programs tend to have additional advantages. While UC’s contracts offer various benefits such as priority boarding, access to free preferred seats and potential for premium class upgrades at the airport (based on availability), loyalty programs could elevate some of these benefits even more and possibly provide free checked bags, all of which may present travelers a significant cost savings benefit. These loyalty programs could sometimes be the difference between members and regular travelers, especially with car rentals where drivers may be able to skip excessively long lines at the airport counter and directly drive off the lot. If you have higher status at a particular airline, you may be able to take advantage of UC specific status match programs with Alaska, Delta, and United. You can also link your personal United, Uber, Hertz, and Enterprise accounts to UC and gain significant benefits. All links can be found in the travel portal: United “Break for Business” gives up to 10% discount when booking directly at united.com. Hertz and Enterprise allow access to all UC contracted rates when reserving a vehicle on their websites. Uber Business provides Priority Pick-up where our travelers are prioritized over others, especially at peak/high demand times or areas (such as conventions or airports) Finally, we encourage you to explore the travel portal for other benefits such as weekend/holiday rates with CQ (Club Quarters) with deep discounts averaging 65% (and could go up to 150%). Our new Sustainability page is also a great resource to help you understand green travel and your global footprint.
Per the University of California (UC) G-28 policy, in limited circumstances and with the proper approvals, UCSF employees may be eligible for reimbursement of dependent travel expenses directly associated with official University business travel. Additional dependent care costs that exceed regular expenses incurred because the employee is traveling on official University business may also be reimbursed in limited circumstances. To assist with the requirements of the policy, a new guide has been published on the Supply Chain Management website. The guide also contains step-by-step instructions on submitting an expense report. Learn more on the Travel-Related Dependent Care page.
In last month’s newsletter, we announced the successful completion of several long-term facility rental agreements. This is an ongoing initiative by our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Strategic Procurement team to enhance UCSF’s event hosting capabilities and reduce friction within our procurement process. We currently have nine long-term agreements: Wedgewood Weddings at the PresidioThe Luma Hotel Rawlston White Retreat Stanford Court HotelOakland Museum of CaliforniaRuth Bancroft GardensThe ExploratoriumMission RockAtwater Tavern New!We hoped these agreements would save everyone involved in the procurement process some time. We’re happy to report that we, indeed, see a reduction in processing time when the campus uses pre-contracted venues. The table above presents data from the facility rental requisition process spanning February 1, 2024, to May 31, 2024. During this time, the campus initiated a total of 159 requisitions for facility rentals. Those requisitions processed through our agreement suppliers experienced a reduction in processing time by five days compared to those with non-agreement suppliers. The time saved in the process results from administrative efficiency and the pre-negotiated terms and conditions embedded in these agreements. We've streamlined the process by eliminating the need for lengthy negotiations over legal terms with each new requisition. This achievement was only possible with the dedicated efforts of our team of professional buyers. We encourage our campus community to continue utilizing these agreements for event needs. For information on how to book a facility for events or meetings, review Facility Rental Agreement. “We look forward to seeing the increased efficiency and predictability these agreements bring to our event-hosting capabilities.” – Andrew Clark, SCM Strategic Procurement Executive Director
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has been named a finalist for the Top 100 Supply Chain & Procurement Team Award. This recognition highlights the incredible impact and innovative contributions of our team.Voting runs until July 5. Cast your vote on this voting page to support UCSF and acknowledge our team's excellence in supply chain and procurement.
It was -80 degrees cool to be on hand at UCSF's 12th Annual Chancellor’s Sustainability Awards and hear Senior Vice Chancellor Erin S. Gore talk about a whole-campus effort to retire our least energy-efficient freezers in favor of Energy Star models. The ability to reliably and efficiently cold-store biospecimens is an essential part of research supply chain at UCSF. Thanks to Supply Chain Management (SCM) staff members Dean Shehu (co-lead of the program), Charles Sabia, Greg Phillips, and our warehouse staff, who are there to greet every new freezer at our loading dock and help it to its new home in San Francisco. Congratulations also to our campus collaborators like Trish Hackemack, Mary Anne Hallacy, Gail Lee, and others who make this initiative cooler than cold!Dean shared his gratitude: “We are grateful for the enormous institutional support we’ve received from our SCM colleagues, faculty, senior leadership, and $3 million in funding to replace 300 of the most inefficient ULT freezers. We are proud to be part of a project that will create a lasting improvement in UCSF’s carbon footprint and financial resiliency. Sustainable cold storage management provides an attractive return on investment while proactively protecting valuable research materials.”
We are pleased to highlight the success of the U.S. Bank Student Funding project, a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance payment processes and foster collaboration with our suppliers. The initiative involved hiring three student interns who made substantial contributions to our Payment Plus campaign from December 2023 to May 2024.The Payment Plus program has revolutionized our payment system, enabling the secure delivery of automated virtual Visa card payments to our suppliers. Our objectives with this program were to expedite supplier payments, improve process efficiency, enhance working capital management, mitigate fraud, and reduce transaction processing costs.During their internship, the student interns provided invaluable support to two Payment Plus campaigns. Their responsibilities included conducting extensive research on over 10,000 suppliers, utilizing platforms such as BearBuy, ImageNow, invoice copies, and Google to gather comprehensive vendor contact information. Additionally, they played a vital role in initiating campaign emails to more than 3,700 suppliers, forwarding all communication to U.S. Bank.The interns’ accomplishments were exceptional and contributed significantly to the project’s success. They worked closely with the Disbursement Team, facilitating knowledge exchange and training opportunities. Through their dedicated efforts, they acquired extensive knowledge of Accounts Payable and Payment Plus processes, providing valuable insights and feedback to improve the program and future internships.For a detailed summary of their internship experience, we encourage you to review this presentation, which comprehensively outlines their achievements and contributions.The U.S. Bank Student Funding project exemplifies our commitment to innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. We extend our sincere appreciation to the student interns for their exceptional dedication and commend their remarkable success in advancing our Payment Plus campaign.Please stay tuned for future updates on our ongoing initiatives and success stories.
On July 1, 2024, the UC Office of the President updated the system-wide purchasing Terms and Conditions. In conjunction with UC Business and Finance Bulletin BUS-43, UC Terms and Conditions must be used when buying goods and/or services. No changes, deletions, exceptions or additions may be made to these documents, outside of certain allowable exceptions dictated by UC Office of the President, without exceptional approval from the Chief Procurement Officer. If a supplier requests that their terms and conditions be used or requests changes to UC Terms and Conditions, tell the supplier that UC Terms and Conditions are mandated. If the supplier continues to push back, alert your Supply Chain Management (SCM) Department-Assigned Buyer.
