Happy New Year!
As we all settle back into the routine of new normal via home offices and Zoom, Procurement would like to provide some updates, reminders, and helpful tips.
UCSB's PACES (Program for the Assessment and Certification for the Environment and Sustainability) has created a Home Office Program, with a Sustainable Purchasing module! Please take a few minutes to access these surveys to learn about Sustainable Purchasing and Green Washing. Click here for a summary of the module.
AmericanCargo provided UC with an updated Incoterms Chart for 2020. Please use this moving forward for all international shipping terms in place of the 2010 version, and email ACS with any international shipping questions: uc@acssan.com
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Separation of Duties
UCSB Procurement Services recently reviewed Gateway requisitions to verify that Department Security Administrators and Department Purchasing Administrators are observing separation of duty principles when assigning roles to individuals. The review revealed that both “approver” and “reviewer” permissions are routinely assigned to individuals, in violation of UC policy.
Please join us on Thursday January 28th at 1PM to learn about changes being made to the GMC to clean up and restrict assignment of these duties in the future:
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Signing Vendor Documents & Click Agreements
If we thought we were 100% online before, COVID stay-at-home orders have proven us wrong. Everything and everyone is online now! Documents that suppliers give you in Docusign, or in your email with a section to sign at the bottom do not always require a signature. Please do not sign anything from a supplier, including proposals, invoices, quotes, or scopes of work that include expenditure. Signing creates a contract!
In most cases, suppliers will accept a purchase order - try that first. If the supplier pushes back, please inform them their document will most likely need to be edited, and terms added to comply with UC policy. Such turnaround averages 2-6 weeks depending on negotiation. After hearing those facts, most suppliers will accept a purchase order.
How about click agreements? These are typically online services (like event registration, licenses, e-mail services, and software) that we would Click in order to "Agree" or sign up for the service. Clicking creates a contract...and unfortunately if you click without the UC having a master contract, you are entering into that contract personally. Even if the service is free; clicking creates a contract and the terms could present problems. Click here for more on this topic, or email us!
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Gateway, FM, or DCS?
Procurement (Gateway) can only process maintenance work, which is defined as the ongoing upkeep (i.e. routine/recurring) of our infrastructure required to keep the UC in a condition adequate to support our functions. It consists of the preservation, but not the improvement of buildings and grounds. FM employees should be used as a first position. In some circumstances, FM may need to contract out with a vendor, but in ALL CASES, an FM Work Order must be placed. Maintenance work such as custodial services, landscaping/grounds, trash/recycle hauling, window cleaning, power washing, and pool maintenance must be submitted as a Work Order.
Construction work that must go through DCS consists of demolishing, upgrading, design, renovating, deferred maintenance, repair, and capital improvement projects. Such work INCLUDES, but is not limited to window blinds/shades, permanent fencing/repair, conduit/cabling, camera installation, flooring/grounds installation, and even some lab equipment. These services may be flagged in Gateway and your department asked to go through Design & Construction Services. Question about whether or not something should go to DCS?
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New UC Contracts
Several new UC system wide agreements are available to UCSB! Please contact us with specific questions about pricing, product, or services. More good news: all new system wide agreement suppliers are required to go through the EcoVadis corporate social responsibility assessment. To request access to UC supplier sustainability scorecards through the EcoVadis platform, click here.
For a list of campus reps and contact information for the below vendors, click here. |
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How to Expedite Service in Procurement
1. You will achieve the fastest response time using the help-desk for questions about requisitions, bids, invoices, contracts and general procurement questions. Instead of emailing an individual, please use gatewayhelp@bfs.ucsb.edu
2. Use the Comment tab on a Gateway requisition to get in touch with your assigned
Buyer or Contract Analyst to ensure status visibility, and document decisions.
in Gateway already. Some suppliers take longer than others to respond, or don't respond
at all. We may need your help urging the vendor to respond to our request.
4. When looking for the status of a requisition, pull up the requisition number in
Gateway. Click on the "PR Approvals" tab, and look to see who has the order by
locating the "Active" step. Then you can send that person a comment in Gateway.
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Theft Sensitive Items
Keeping track of theft sensitive items, whether located on campus or in our home offices, continues to be an important responsibility of department administrators. Non-inventorial items such as laptops, cell phones, cameras, tools, cash, gift cards, event tickets, and stamps can be an easy targeted by bad actors in our workspace and easily overlooked when not tracked and periodically inspected for losses.
If any UCSB assets cannot be accounted for immediately contact your Business Officer, UCSB Police, and Risk Management to report the loss.
Each department should:
- Identify theft-sensitive non-inventorial items to track
- Establish internal controls and procedures
- Conduct an inventory of theft-sensitive items annually
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Data Security + Contracts
The UC implemented a new contractual requirement in 2020 for suppliers having access to "Institutional Information". This type of information is defined very broadly, and includes any data the UC expects our supplier to protect. If your transaction includes anything related to software, website services, hosting, licenses, and/or transmitting student or UC data, we will likely need to enter into a formal contract, regardless of the dollar value.
The campus Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) department has teamed up with Procurement to review these transactions, and determine if a contract is needed. Your department will be asked to fill out the UCSB IT Data Worksheet - but please be proactive and include a completed form with your requisition! Email us with any questions. |
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Procurement Training
These courses address procurement and contract law, what the difference is between a purchase order and contract, how to look for inventorial assets, how to make small changes to purchase sustainably, and tips on restricted commodities. Some are even recorded and available online for viewing!
- Equipment Management
- Gateway Invoicing
- Purchasing Basics & the Public Contract Code
- Sustainable Procurement
- Federal Purchasing
- Restricted & International Purchasing
- Business Contracts
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