1. Urbana Purchasing Presentation BMG Meeting October 8, 2013
Where’s My Stuff
The Sequel
Humor is added for comic relief purposes only

2. With Special Guest Star

3. Tasks from May 2013 Focus group to discuss training needs
Develop specification writing training
Assign buyers to commodities and post to “Who to Ask” website
Identify opportunities for terms and conditions contracts (T&C) for hotels, repetitive services, rentals, etc.

4. Tasks from May 2013 - Status Focus group to discuss training needs
The scope of the training desired by the campus will require significant resources for development and implementation.
Funding and resources would need to be allocated from outside of Purchasing.
Three levels of classes
Beginning; Intermediate; Expert
Business Manager Certification

5. Tasks from May Status
Develop departmental specification writing
Multiple SPOs give us highly inconsistent requirements for specifications.
Even the primary SPO is inconsistent at times.
Our best advice is to contact Purchasing as soon as you are aware of the need for a solicitation and let the buyers help you.

6. Tasks from May 2013 - Status Commodity Code Assignments
The buyers were assigned commodities with each commodity having 1-3 primary buyers.
We are watching the workloads and will need to tweak the assignments to balance them.

7. Tasks from May 2013 - Status Efficiency Opportunities – T&C contracts
The buyers are creating a list of vendors and terms and conditions already negotiated.
This information is being compiled for review and targeted for completion of T&C contracts within the next 3 months.
The T&C contracts will be loaded to the new “Source” .

8. New Buyer Training - Status
Seven new buyers hired January 2013.
Learning curve is about two years.
Systems training and purchase order processing
Contract development and iCS
University Policies
State Procurement Code and Rules
SPO interpretations and review process
Solicitation training was expected to begin in May 2013, but due to demands on time, could not begin until September 2013
“How do you train to chaos?” Quote Courtesy of Jim Martinie

9. A look inside Production
*The number of non-catalog purchases that were processed through the Purchasing offices could not be determined.

10. A look inside Production Solicitations & Staffing
UIUC - FY12
UIC - FY12
Bids 97 45
RFPs 50 25 SS
195
116
Emergencies 16 9
Exemptions 17 1
TOTAL
375
196
UIUC - FY13
UIC - FY13
Bids* 70 42
RFPs* 20 35
139 86 8 14
Exemptions**
104 37
341
214
Staff UIUC/UIC
UIUC
UIC
Academic/Management 4 2
Buyers 8 18
Administrative Asst 1
Support Staff 5
Total Permanent Staff 25
*FY13 drop in RFP/Bids is the start of the backlog
**Mostly Professional Performances

11. A look inside Production Production Slowdowns
New Initiatives that were discontinued
Comptroller signature on PO Attachments
Collection of insurance certificates
Easy but time consuming processes:
Furniture approvals / confusion how to order / CMS certificate / F&S approvals / IPHEC
Insurance waiver requests / Charters and service contracts
Vendor terms and conditions as attachments
Becoming major processing issues as vendors change how they contract with the University
Requiring significantly more two party agreements.
Software is a booming business and software companies are becoming non-negotiable

12. A look inside Production Production Slowdowns
Each Buyer = 7.5 hrs = 450 minutes
Each PO = 30 minutes
Daily PO production = 15 / day maximum
Daily inbox = The buyer’s inbox contains per buyer on an average day
Take into account:
Rush Orders Phone Calls
State Disclosures Follow-up requests
T&C/Contract development Meetings/Training
Vacations/Sick Leave Solicitations

13. Solicitations Requisitions
There is a tug of war for resources
In May there were 90 solicitations being worked on and/or pending and today there are 68
Processing for solicitations improved temporarily when four SPO’s were assigned to UIUC.
now there is one primary and one part-time SPO for UIUC
The primary SPO is very legal based in his review
Solicitation processing should be manageable but has become a very resource consuming activity.
Bottleneck for solicitations will continue even with new staff.

14. Who gets to jump the line? Under what conditions?

15. Who gets to jump the line? Under what conditions?
Who Prioritizes?
Solicitations
Rush Order
Emergency
Quote Expiring
Grant Ends
Event Dates

16. We are all in this together! Something’s Gotta Give
Campus units are now included on s to the SPO, vendor or other interested parties to ensure transparency to provide a status.
How do we get Campus input into prioritizing transactions?
We know this feels like poor customer service.
Because ultimate authority rests with the State and because of budget constraints, we have limited ability to manage the workload and provide the service that the campus needs and expects.
What is the solution?
We want your suggestions
We need your input

17. Will this just lead to a Trilogy?
THE END
Or is it?
Will this just lead to a Trilogy?