PED Talks April 2020

Lydia Dexter Author

04/17/2020 Added

37 Plays

Description

This session covers Procurement Services' resources during COVID-19.

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[00:00:01.510]Alright it's 9.30, so we'll go ahead
[00:00:03.497]and get started.
[00:00:06.000]Kind of first off, my name is Emily Beatty, I'm the Project
[00:00:08.890]Coordinator over in the procurement department.
[00:00:11.740]I just wanna thank everyone for joining us today.
[00:00:14.690]Sure there's lots of questions on what's currently
[00:00:17.010]going on in this very weird, weird time.
[00:00:21.240]We're all coming from you from our comfort of our own homes.
[00:00:24.400]Some of us in Nebraska, I personally am in North Dakota.
[00:00:28.910]And surprisingly I'm not having
[00:00:30.700]to deal with any snow right now.
[00:00:34.820]But from our team today,
[00:00:37.050]we're just gonna be giving updates on different areas,
[00:00:40.490]for where we may be having some people
[00:00:42.150]having a lot of questions currently.
[00:00:45.410]And joining me today we'll be Maggie Witt our Director,
[00:00:48.070]Sara Luther our Assistant Director, Julie Snyder,
[00:00:50.990]who is our Contracts manager, we have Mary Mitiler,
[00:00:53.760]who is our Manager of the Procurement Systems.
[00:00:56.410]Scott Stremick our Senior IT Sourcing Specialist,
[00:00:59.450]Sydney Zach who is our Scientific Sourcing Specialist
[00:01:03.170]and then we have Teresa Fleming who is one of our
[00:01:05.360]Sourcing Specialist in regards
[00:01:07.560]to Professional Services and Agriculture.
[00:01:14.620]The following is our agenda that we're gonna be talking
[00:01:16.540]about today, we're gonna go over our operations
[00:01:19.330]and how we are currently moving on forward
[00:01:21.590]with that, current purchasing order processing,
[00:01:25.290]on how packages and deliveries are continuing
[00:01:27.890]and also our new alternative delivery locations.
[00:01:32.420]We will be getting updates from some of our commodities
[00:01:36.190]and then we'll be going through an update for contracts
[00:01:39.130]and kind of also an update for our suppliers.
[00:01:43.040]We will be taking questions at the end,
[00:01:45.050]if you do have any questions as we're going through,
[00:01:47.100]if you just send them in the chat
[00:01:48.760]and we'll be making sure to go over those,
[00:01:51.760]as we get towards the end.
[00:01:55.640]But next up then I'm gonna go ahead and send it over
[00:01:58.160]to Sara and she'll go ahead and get started.
[00:02:02.010]Thanks Emily, hi everybody, I am glad that everybody
[00:02:05.220]was able to join us today.
[00:02:07.320]The biggest thing that we want to make sure and reiterate
[00:02:10.250]for everybody is that we are open for business.
[00:02:12.860]It's business as usual for the procurement staff.
[00:02:16.380]We're all able to work remotely right now,
[00:02:20.100]we have a lot of systems that are available online
[00:02:24.380]and so we're gonna cover a lot of those today,
[00:02:27.230]but we are here for any and all questions
[00:02:29.630]that you guys have, moving forward after
[00:02:32.250]we're done with this call today so please make sure
[00:02:35.210]and then reach out to somebody within our staff.
[00:02:39.430]We have also created a special page within the procurement
[00:02:46.900]website that specifically talks to COVID things
[00:02:49.910]that are going on right now.
[00:02:51.642]We will discuss a couple of those today but moving forward,
[00:02:55.530]this is definitely gonna be a best resource for you guys,
[00:02:58.030]we're gonna make sure that we are updating that on a weekly
[00:03:00.620]basis, 'cause things are definitely very fluid right now
[00:03:03.930]and are constantly changing.
[00:03:05.830]So definitely check back and we'll show you where those are.
[00:03:10.310]All of our staff is available,
[00:03:12.620]via phone all of our phones
[00:03:14.610]are our office numbers, they are all forwarded to our
[00:03:18.400]cell phone, so please just call our phone number
[00:03:21.630]that's listed on the website or contact information
[00:03:24.890]and that will get you directly to the person
[00:03:28.020]that you're trying to get ahold of.
[00:03:29.920]Additionally we are checking email.
[00:03:32.460]And more recently we moved over to Microsoft Teams,
[00:03:36.770]something that we've been using internally within our staff.
[00:03:39.580]We're holding a lot of calls on there.
[00:03:42.410]So you guys can if you have access to Microsoft Teams,
[00:03:45.330]you can look us up, send us a chat, send us a call
[00:03:49.680]and we're available to help you that way as well.
[00:03:53.170]And I also wanted to review some of our online resources.
[00:03:57.300]Emily, do you want to click on that real quick?
[00:04:01.380]Thank you.
[00:04:08.144]So you'll notice at the very top of the page,
[00:04:10.530]it has that COVID-19 procurement update
[00:04:13.420]and it has the Learn More button.
[00:04:15.600]That's where all of our updates will be coming,
[00:04:18.690]at least on a weekly basis
[00:04:19.960]there's a lot of information on there.
[00:04:22.250]We're gonna cover the majority of it today.
[00:04:25.030]But again it's a resource moving forward.
[00:04:27.996]If you're wanting to find out something COVID related,
[00:04:31.780]you can definitely go to there
[00:04:33.280]and see the most up to date information.
[00:04:36.440]I also wanted to point out a couple of forms
[00:04:38.480]that we have available online.
[00:04:41.060]If you go to the Policies and Forms under the forms area.
[00:04:47.000]The form that is probably the most used in this area would
[00:04:51.250]be that Non-Competitive Purchase form, formerly known
[00:04:55.220]as a "Sole Source", so you can access this form online.
[00:04:59.740]It has has been updated so if you for some reason have
[00:05:02.550]an old copy saved on your computer, or in the common drives,
[00:05:07.310]I suggest always just coming out to this page
[00:05:10.230]to get that form and what's nice is you don't have to access
[00:05:14.200]the VPN to get to this form, it's here for you at all times.
[00:05:20.810]The next area would be under Policies.
[00:05:25.130]And we do have some additional forms that are on here
[00:05:26.920]to pick them as you're scrolling down.
[00:05:29.530]The next thing is under policies.
[00:05:32.340]There is a link to the Signature Authority document.
[00:05:38.500]This is something, we've covered in past PED Talks.
[00:05:41.640]And it was recently updated based on Board of Regents
[00:05:45.040]changes, so again just wanna remind you guys
[00:05:47.930]that this is available online
[00:05:50.030]and it's that authority to purchase documents.
[00:05:55.850]Thank you, so correct that's summary and then there are,
[00:06:00.290]there's a document that outlines the Signature Authority
[00:06:05.080]across all campuses, as well and who has the authority.
[00:06:10.136]The next item would be our Commodity Listing.
[00:06:13.310]So if you go to the very top of our page under menu,
[00:06:17.710]for Faculty and Staff, there's a lot of resources in here.
[00:06:20.470]So we have our commodities and Prime Supplier listing.
[00:06:25.450]This is a great resource to find out who within our staff
[00:06:30.270]you need to reach out and contact if should you have any
[00:06:33.940]questions about these different commodities.
[00:06:36.710]It also lists some of our suppliers that are available,
[00:06:40.370]and if we have contracted suppliers.
[00:06:42.560]So we're gonna talk about it a little bit later but if you
[00:06:45.830]were to need to contact one of the suppliers that you have
[00:06:49.966]a pending order with, you can find that contact information
[00:06:54.270]here as well, so I urge you to come out
[00:06:57.430]and use this information.
[00:07:00.180]Also on our main menu,
[00:07:04.958]you can access,
[00:07:06.910]let's see it's go to Faculty Staff again,
[00:07:09.850]Certificates Of Insurance.
[00:07:12.560]I know that's something, there's still possibility
[00:07:15.440]there's people could be on campus we have our
[00:07:17.750]Certificate Of Insurance lookup.
[00:07:20.490]So if you wanna know whether or not somebody
[00:07:22.845]has a Certificate Of Insurance on file with the university,
[00:07:25.130]you can still access this.
[00:07:26.880]It's all available on our website.
[00:07:29.400]We type in the suppliers name
[00:07:30.820]and that information will come up.
[00:07:34.420]Additionally up at the top bar, we've got
[00:07:40.741]the Nebraska Contract System, if you are needing to enter
[00:07:45.383]a contract that did not route through,
[00:07:49.610]our did not meet the requirements to route
[00:07:50.590]through our Contracts Team,
[00:07:54.400]but you need to upload it to the state you can still access
[00:07:57.320]that through our web site so you don't have to be on campus
[00:08:02.040]to do that, so you can log in, you can also sign up
[00:08:06.820]as a new user we are still processing those.
[00:08:10.080]So that information is there.
[00:08:12.210]And then lastly under support, we have our team directory.
[00:08:16.470]So if you need to contact somebody,
[00:08:19.700]this is another way to find that out.
[00:08:21.410]It lists all of our staff
[00:08:23.220]and has some of our areas of expertise.
[00:08:26.050]And so this is another way to find out,
[00:08:31.860]who you could potentially contact with in our staff as well.
[00:08:38.570]So just a reminder of all the different resources
[00:08:40.650]we have on our website.
[00:08:44.611]Emily do you wanna go back to, perfect.
[00:08:48.820]So now I'm gonna turn it over to Maggie.
[00:08:57.960]Had to go off mute there, thanks a lot Sara.
[00:09:00.110]Nice overview Sara of the website.
[00:09:02.691]I also just want to give a shout out to Emily
[00:09:05.390]and one of her students, Lydia Dexter on our team,
[00:09:09.070]who worked very diligently with Sara on keeping
[00:09:11.600]that updated so we always appreciate your feedback
[00:09:15.210]and any comments that you have regarding the website
[00:09:18.530]as well because it's a way for us to maintain visibility
[00:09:22.190]to policies, guidelines, forms and those types of things
[00:09:26.290]that we have received a lot of feedback from all of you,
[00:09:30.620]our stakeholders out on the campuses and in the extension
[00:09:33.780]offices across the state you know, on making things easy
[00:09:38.570]to get through easy to find so nice overview Sara,
[00:09:41.580]I really appreciate that.
[00:09:44.230]No good procurement presentation would be worthwhile
[00:09:47.960]without mentioning Board Policy.
[00:09:50.810]So here we go, because we are open for business
[00:09:55.384]and everyone knows that we're all living through
[00:09:57.810]some pretty unusual times right now.
[00:10:00.810]Definitely respect that you're all doing the best
[00:10:04.310]you can to keep things together.
[00:10:06.770]We wanna make sure that you understand how to access
[00:10:10.160]our resources and also just a reminder
[00:10:12.760]about emergency purchasing.
[00:10:15.540]This means, a true emergency mean it is necessary
[00:10:20.020]and this is per Board Policy.
[00:10:21.990]I didn't write the whole paragraph here
[00:10:23.910]'cause it's not the most exciting read but it is policy,
[00:10:28.610]in order to avoid the loss of life, health, safety,
[00:10:32.850]or property or the conservation of public resources
[00:10:36.160]is at risk.
[00:10:37.390]And the way you manage that situation I recommend highly,
[00:10:43.780]is just reach out to the appropriate procurement buyer,
[00:10:46.990]you know that manages that category.
[00:10:49.290]A reminder to if you or if you have a buyer that you work
[00:10:53.290]with regularly, just reach out to them if you're not sure
[00:10:55.830]where to start, particularly if it is an emergency,
[00:10:59.295]we just wanna guide you through the process to make sure
[00:11:02.950]that you can accommodate it and document it accordingly.
[00:11:06.970]And there are several purchases you know,
[00:11:09.600]that can be handled within your, by using your P-card
[00:11:13.520]and following your standard guidelines there.
[00:11:16.099]But if it is over the quote and bid requirements
[00:11:19.710]for the university as they're pointed out,
[00:11:23.120]that information is current on our website,
[00:11:26.390]non-competitive purchase justification will be needed
[00:11:29.910]to be completed.
[00:11:31.350]Obviously in that case the rationale would be an emergency.
[00:11:35.140]And then there's also options that our buyers can assist you
[00:11:38.920]with to leverage cooperative or consortia agreements.
[00:11:43.070]So you know those are always really good options
[00:11:45.330]and maybe you're not aware of what those options are
[00:11:47.890]and we wanna help you through that.
[00:11:49.890]Rather than have you feel like, you're just out there
[00:11:53.330]by yourself, you know 'cause we're in this together right?
[00:11:56.980]So we're just a phone call or an email away,
[00:12:00.200]or even if you reach us via Microsoft Teams,
[00:12:02.750]I know our team will get back with you.
[00:12:05.520]Just to give you a couple of examples of what we consider
[00:12:08.450]an emergency, not just quoting policy, but I think one
[00:12:12.470]that came up we talked about earlier was for instance,
[00:12:15.560]a barn catches on fire and there's no longer shelter
[00:12:20.182]for the livestock that's needed.
[00:12:22.150]Or you need to get barricade the place to ensure
[00:12:25.640]like fencing came down.
[00:12:27.580]As a result of you know, emergencies can happen outside
[00:12:30.300]of this pandemic as well and we respect that.
[00:12:33.250]One that just happened recently that was the result of
[00:12:36.260]the pandemic was a need for urgent cleaning,
[00:12:41.200]believe it or not, our rooms in the campus housing
[00:12:44.160]facilities on City Campus, because as many of you
[00:12:47.900]probably heard we are housing some first responders
[00:12:51.179]and still have students, I think most a handful on campus,
[00:12:55.760]but they cleaned out some of our facilities,
[00:12:58.940]so that we can house first responders, we had to do some
[00:13:01.470]emergency cleaning, accordingly and that involved.
[00:13:05.310]It was a perfect four-step process or three-step.
[00:13:08.827]The stakeholder actually, our facility operations contacted
[00:13:12.480]Dustin Kotik, who's responsible
[00:13:14.620]works with campus housing and facility.
[00:13:17.010]Dustin help them document it.
[00:13:18.800]We executed a contract with our Contract Team assistant
[00:13:23.910]and managed that within a few hours of receiving
[00:13:26.281]the request if I'm not mistaken.
[00:13:29.500]And Julie or Dustin if you're on correct me if I misstated
[00:13:33.275]anything, but we're here to help you
[00:13:36.010]and I promise we'll do the very best
[00:13:38.400]we can to get you through that emergency situation.
[00:13:42.770]Thank you, I am not looking at my paper copy because
[00:13:47.380]I don't have it handy, so if you wanna move to the next
[00:13:51.000]slide that's fine, great.
[00:13:55.610]I Think Mary was gonna take this,
[00:13:57.130]or who was gonna take this part?
[00:14:03.600]That's for me--
[00:14:06.220]Thank you, Mary.
[00:14:07.290]Yeah sure, so this is just a reminder that the best way
[00:14:11.120]to get ahold of us is our shared email accounts
[00:14:14.810]and that is because multiple people are monitoring those,
[00:14:18.859]not hourly, not daily, but all the time, eight to five
[00:14:24.190]or even lot later and that is really the best way
[00:14:27.340]to get ahold of us.
[00:14:28.810]You'll get a hold of many people at one time if you choose
[00:14:31.750]the right one, so for eSHOP questions,
[00:14:34.460]you're gonna use the eSHOP email address
[00:14:39.130]and in when you're submitting
[00:14:40.690]contracts questions and I think Julie is gonna talk
[00:14:42.777]a little bit about that later, of course send them
[00:14:45.490]to the Procurement Contracts.
[00:14:47.720]Technology, software questions you will be using
[00:14:50.720]the IT procurement.
[00:14:52.370]And any other miscellaneous questions,
[00:14:54.657]you'll go to the unlprocurement@unl.edu.
[00:15:00.600]Sara gave you our, directory tour
[00:15:03.730]so our team directory along with the commodities
[00:15:06.717]that are covered or their area of expertise,
[00:15:10.370]can be found in the team directory.
[00:15:12.090]So just as a reminder if you're not sure who to call.
[00:15:14.990]We also have a call locator on our ACD line
[00:15:19.640]that allows you to dial by name and prioritize.
[00:15:25.085]Commodity listings depending upon what you're purchasing
[00:15:28.120]that is a commodity and typically there is somebody
[00:15:31.170]that is an expert with those suppliers that can handle
[00:15:35.700]those commodities and that again is listed
[00:15:37.780]on our procurement website.
[00:15:44.200]So our eSHOP safety and functional, functioning just fine
[00:15:48.500]remotely, all of the purchase orders that you could create
[00:15:51.850]should be created in a normal way.
[00:15:53.720]eSHOP does not require you to be, logged into the VPN,
[00:16:00.270]but you do need to be logged into Firefly of course
[00:16:03.830]which is SSO accessible.
[00:16:07.000]For SAP in order to open the GUI, you do need to be logged
[00:16:09.790]in to the VPN.
[00:16:12.410]So there's that,
[00:16:14.930]if any of you have a temporary VPN
[00:16:19.120]tile that they've created in Firefly, I have used it several
[00:16:23.480]times it works very well.
[00:16:26.200]And little note about our temporarily allowed items.
[00:16:30.410]Normally, personally used items are not allowed for us
[00:16:34.390]at the university, but temporarily the hand sanitizer,
[00:16:37.900]face masks, sanitizing wipes and things like
[00:16:41.080]that are also considered, allowable during this time
[00:16:44.720]for people who are still on campus.
[00:16:46.852]These are not for personal use items of course in your home
[00:16:50.460]but for people who are still on campus or when you
[00:16:53.430]and if you return to campus.
[00:16:54.983]You can purchase those for your offices.
[00:17:07.260]Let's see, who--
[00:17:08.670]talking to me, Emily.
[00:17:13.750]Yep that's you Mary.
[00:17:15.450]Okay so facilities has created a centralized receiving
[00:17:21.497]place that is collecting all the packages
[00:17:24.217]that were on existing purchase orders or purchase orders
[00:17:28.239]that have been placed since then.
[00:17:30.410]It's not necessary to edit your shipping addresses
[00:17:33.100]on purchase orders or in eSHOP when you place them
[00:17:36.510]because they're all gonna go get diverted
[00:17:39.550]to this centralized receiving anyway.
[00:17:42.690]But it is helpful if you put a phone number
[00:17:45.310]and name on the attention line at the top of the address,
[00:17:50.210]that is gonna end up on the address label in case
[00:17:52.980]they do need to call you.
[00:17:55.270]That's kind of the only place that's gonna
[00:17:56.960]end up in the address label.
[00:17:59.140]They can always ask to look up the purchase order
[00:18:01.240]to get your contact information
[00:18:02.750]but that's going to lead them
[00:18:03.800]to their work contact information.
[00:18:04.901]So if you have something that is gonna be perishable,
[00:18:07.910]or is in a hot item that you need, is emergency or something
[00:18:11.930]like that not in relationship to the emergencies
[00:18:14.152]that Maggie was just talking about.
[00:18:16.730]By putting your phone number on that attention line
[00:18:19.250]will help somebody in that facilities receiving area
[00:18:22.200]contact you directly.
[00:18:24.670]So if you do have some open orders in eSHOP store,
[00:18:29.500]you might wanna start reviewing those a little bit
[00:18:31.850]and see if they need to be held at their supplier
[00:18:35.730]or if they can be temporarily canceled and reordered.
[00:18:40.090]Or if they need to be watched over,
[00:18:43.130]once they get to facilities you might just
[00:18:45.290]get in contact with facilities.
[00:18:47.530]You can always locate the supplier information
[00:18:50.330]through the order by clicking on the supplier,
[00:18:52.570]or the suppliers name and more information
[00:18:54.540]and they will always have even on the front page
[00:18:56.510]of your order where the summary section is, there'll be
[00:18:59.240]the supplier contact there that you can call them
[00:19:01.735]and contact about existing orders.
[00:19:05.380]I think we have talked about it on another call.
[00:19:10.520]But if you have some non-essential but recurring deliveries
[00:19:14.353]that are going to be, attempted to be delivered while
[00:19:19.880]they're all out, obviously the campus is closed,
[00:19:22.290]so those deliveries can't happen.
[00:19:24.560]Please contact your suppliers to suspend or postpone them,
[00:19:28.110]so that we don't get any kind of charges,
[00:19:31.360]related to not being able to deliver.
[00:19:33.430]I'm sure that given the circumstances,
[00:19:35.720]we would be able to work with our suppliers
[00:19:37.630]but if you have anything like that, just go ahead
[00:19:40.690]and call them and get that suspended, until further notice.
[00:19:50.720]Thanks Mary, I appreciate it.
[00:19:53.720]So I would like to continue a little bit on the topic
[00:19:56.490]of Central receiving and deliveries
[00:19:58.970]and alternate delivery locations.
[00:20:01.900]This has been probably the top questions that we,
[00:20:06.060]one of the top questions we've been receiving.
[00:20:08.660]And let's keep in mind that these are indeed some very
[00:20:12.280]unusual times I think we're all operating within
[00:20:15.130]and the procurement department has been working
[00:20:17.520]very closely with our key card chain,
[00:20:19.910]as well as the central receiving group to make sure
[00:20:23.840]that things are moving well, I did want to let everybody
[00:20:29.120]know in continuation of the previous slide too,
[00:20:31.940]I just spoke this Tuesday and Wednesday
[00:20:34.160]with our central receiving team.
[00:20:36.150]Both Tim Klein and Jim Jackson, they assured me that they
[00:20:39.750]are still open for business and they are receiving packages
[00:20:44.525]and deliveries and they are managing the receivable,
[00:20:50.470]particularly paying attention to time sensitive deliveries,
[00:20:53.830]perishable items and things like that trying to make sure
[00:20:56.310]they can identify who they belong to and notifying those
[00:21:00.300]people accordingly, have deliveries received.
[00:21:03.530]Additionally they said, yes they are campus operation
[00:21:08.020]and to arrange for pickup, what they are doing is only
[00:21:10.720]verifying them your ID.
[00:21:13.110]They're not asking people to say
[00:21:14.353]that they're essential personnel, however that's really,
[00:21:17.628]that's really kind of a self monitoring thing,
[00:21:18.461]because they highly recommend that, if you did have
[00:21:23.403]something arrived or it's coming there that you coordinate
[00:21:27.320]with your department's essential personnel,
[00:21:30.680]particularly if that item needs to be taken
[00:21:33.090]to a campus location,
[00:21:34.940]or alternatively if you need storage or temporary holding,
[00:21:39.510]of that delivery, they will also
[00:21:41.840]and can also assist you to that.
[00:21:45.070]I don't think they're trying to, we understand the policy
[00:21:48.480]is only essential personnel and I know that just
[00:21:52.160]was declared this last week.
[00:21:54.720]Keeping that in mind, I think a lot of departments
[00:21:57.280]have already done what's necessary, you know in some cases,
[00:22:00.450]I think procurement moved to remote,
[00:22:02.790]officially all of us the week of the, you know the 23rd.
[00:22:06.630]But now, you know taking away that ability to go to
[00:22:09.300]the campus, that has changed some of the guidelines
[00:22:13.360]that we even already have in place.
[00:22:16.780]I think there has been a question, I've already received
[00:22:19.860]some from a few about the quote and quote,
[00:22:24.000]requirement to deliver packages to the campus.
[00:22:28.330]So prior to level four being declared we still had,
[00:22:34.104]you know people on campus and there was you know,
[00:22:37.040]there was still people that were on campus picking up orders
[00:22:40.267]and making deliveries and such and so forth.
[00:22:43.210]Now that we have reached level four,
[00:22:44.970]that certainly does change the situation.
[00:22:48.140]But it doesn't change the fact that the university
[00:22:50.620]has guidelines and policies around
[00:22:53.310]what can and can't be delivered.
[00:22:55.430]And that we still need to follow those guidelines,
[00:22:58.710]regarding personal purchases not being permitted on P-cards,
[00:23:04.600]or you know even by board policy in any way, shape or form.
[00:23:08.530]So as Mary addressed earlier, these do need to be reviewed
[00:23:13.740]by managers, funding approvers to make sure that the proper
[00:23:18.920]discretion is being followed,
[00:23:20.620]before purchases are being made.
[00:23:23.030]Where purchasing is not attempting to tell people per se
[00:23:28.150]what can and can't be used or purchased for employee use.
[00:23:32.750]What we're hoping to help you and your team ensure,
[00:23:37.070]is that protocol's being followed and that once those items
[00:23:41.570]are received, it's also departmental responsibility
[00:23:44.610]to ensure that they follow appropriate object on loan
[00:23:48.910]process, so for example I think if someone needs
[00:23:52.850]a piece of equipment or something to go or peripheral
[00:23:55.390]to go along with their computer that they brought from work,
[00:23:58.260]or if they brought their computer from work home
[00:24:00.667]and they don't have a cable but they need, you know,
[00:24:03.680]to go along with that those are the types of situations
[00:24:06.760]that we certainly understand and see.
[00:24:09.970]The key here is just making sure that we're using
[00:24:12.730]this process with discretion
[00:24:14.820]and ensuring that the form being utilized,
[00:24:17.410]helps us ensure that the P-card team is receiving
[00:24:21.050]the appropriate information
[00:24:22.590]when these transactions come through.
[00:24:24.790]So they've all been validated.
[00:24:26.750]So at the end of the day if you haven't visited it already,
[00:24:30.149]there is an online form.
[00:24:32.660]And thank you very much Emily, you drive well.
[00:24:36.500]And there's a little bit of explanation here that recommends
[00:24:41.260]what is considered acceptable and or not.
[00:24:45.167]I'm going to say that this list of recommendations,
[00:24:48.620]was collaborated upon with ourselves as well as the P-card
[00:24:53.627]leadership team, our business operations leadership.
[00:24:58.870]It is not all inclusive nor does it suggest
[00:25:01.526]that in appropriate situation, approval may be given
[00:25:06.800]by a manager, again I remind you that we are not
[00:25:10.320]necessarily here to, to try to suggest that we know
[00:25:15.110]what's needed or not.
[00:25:16.530]What we're trying to do is ensure that University policies
[00:25:20.990]are being followed,
[00:25:23.170]Keeping in mind, this is a time where our shared sacrifice,
[00:25:27.170]if I could borrow President Carter's words.
[00:25:30.890]Even this week we received notice that, you know,
[00:25:33.500]I think everybody probably read the announcement
[00:25:35.820]that our budgets are gonna be cut by 3%,
[00:25:39.300]this final quarter of fiscal year.
[00:25:41.651]You know try to lower spending in other words,
[00:25:44.360]not necessarily our budget cut, but lower spending by 3%.
[00:25:48.500]So keeping in mind that everyone, each one of us has
[00:25:52.720]the ability to do our parts of a whole to ensure
[00:25:55.630]that the purchases that we're making, are viable
[00:25:59.650]and for business use and appropriate and to help through
[00:26:03.013]with this pandemic and our unusual remote situation,
[00:26:07.740]we'll return to a new normal.
[00:26:10.500]And we'll be going back to the offices with whatever
[00:26:14.090]it is we procured or in some cases consumed
[00:26:16.740]while we were away.
[00:26:18.200]So the form is fairly easy to complete.
[00:26:21.131]I think it says just tell us what you're getting
[00:26:25.900]and why that delivery is needed.
[00:26:28.830]The cost of the product, a little bit more background,
[00:26:31.590]who's the supplier, in some cases I will tell you
[00:26:34.970]and I'll mention this a little bit later on.
[00:26:36.900]So I guess I'll just jump a slide and tell you
[00:26:39.700]that Office Depot, has worked with the university
[00:26:43.030]to provide an alternative method for purchases.
[00:26:47.632]And if indeed you need to buy some supplies,
[00:26:51.350]you know, normally they only take orders through eSHOP.
[00:26:55.060]And of course normally eSHOP orders
[00:26:57.110]can only be delivered to campus.
[00:26:59.160]So if you're in a situation where those types of things
[00:27:02.020]are needed and that's what your request comes in as,
[00:27:05.120]will help support that and respond to your request
[00:27:08.340]accordingly with the instructions provided.
[00:27:12.270]The beautiful thing about this couple of minutes
[00:27:14.850]that it takes you to complete this form, we're able to track
[00:27:18.870]all of these and provide the information as well
[00:27:22.210]'cause most of these purchases are happening via P-card
[00:27:25.440]and basically ensure that information is provided over
[00:27:29.170]to the P-card team.
[00:27:30.270]So I will say that I'm really pleased
[00:27:32.850]that this is our teamwork effort, between us and our P-card
[00:27:38.150]department and we really you know, any questions
[00:27:42.610]or concerns or comments you have about it,
[00:27:45.590]again keep in mind, we did our best to build this either
[00:27:50.350]before level four hit and we've had to make changes to it
[00:27:55.710]even while it was in process.
[00:27:57.670]So thanks for going to the page,
[00:28:00.600]there Emily I appreciate that.
[00:28:03.480]Sara or Mary do you wanna add anything?
[00:28:07.050]To what I just clarified?
[00:28:11.330]Thanks Maggie, I think you did great job.
[00:28:14.162]Just to reiterate that most of these purchases are happening
[00:28:18.373]on a P-card, so while this form
[00:28:23.030]is taking care of the home delivery address,
[00:28:26.030]which is not allowed normally on a P-card,
[00:28:28.520]It's taking care of that exception requests for you.
[00:28:31.750]I am reviewing these and so there's something else
[00:28:35.150]that is questionable regarding P-card rules.
[00:28:39.920]I will work with the P-card team and in my response
[00:28:43.110]to the approval for the purchase,
[00:28:47.720]I'll let you know that they have also approved it.
[00:28:52.640]So I'll work with them on that and then,
[00:28:56.448]get back but just know that some of those
[00:29:01.380]requests that are from your request now may take an extra
[00:29:05.230]you know a few hours or a day but we are trying
[00:29:07.640]to get these back to you within 24 to 48 hours.
[00:29:16.530]Thanks Mary, Sara?
[00:29:21.350]I don't think if i have anymore interesting questions
[00:29:23.880]that have been coming in.
[00:29:24.980]So we will address those once we get to the end,
[00:29:27.840]'cause some of them may get answered
[00:29:29.130]as we continue to go along.
[00:29:31.600]So continue to submit your questions
[00:29:33.680]everybody through the chat feature.
[00:29:36.430]Thanks Sara, I'm looking at into all really,
[00:29:39.300]really, really good question.
[00:29:41.460]Thank you.
[00:29:42.350]Maggie I want to say-- Okay I think that.
[00:29:44.920]I'll just say real quick about that is that a lot
[00:29:47.730]of the requests, we do have resources that were aware
[00:29:52.070]of that, in a lot of cases, I've been able to redirect
[00:29:56.690]the purchase to something that is, either just as good
[00:30:01.020]or even better than what the original request was.
[00:30:03.900]So just be patient with us, as we try to work through
[00:30:06.690]this kind of crazy time.
[00:30:12.920]Thank you.
[00:30:15.600]Back to you Emily.
[00:30:17.640]Yeah so next we're gonna go ahead
[00:30:19.350]and give our buyers a chance to try to talk on their areas,
[00:30:23.450]how the COVID-19 is affecting them and any updates
[00:30:26.690]that they have to provide with us.
[00:30:28.700]So we'll go ahead and get started with
[00:30:30.610]our Scientific buyer Sydney.
[00:30:34.730]Okay so thanks everyone for joining us.
[00:30:38.120]Hopefully everybody can hear me, okay and my apologies
[00:30:40.970]is we have a special guest appearance from a four year old.
[00:30:45.788]So as we all know and we've seen in the news recently,
[00:30:49.137]PPE is basically the unicorns
[00:30:51.970]of the major need of products right now.
[00:30:56.240]The bright side is in communications with our contracted
[00:31:00.450]preferred suppliers at the university,
[00:31:02.830]there seems to be a little bit of a bright horizon
[00:31:05.950]on the upswing so masks, scans, gloves, goggles,
[00:31:11.420]face shields, things that are very hard to find,
[00:31:14.940]or were very hard to find
[00:31:15.990]are coming back into stock in inventory.
[00:31:18.800]And in constant communication with our reps.
[00:31:23.800]They're getting daily, even hourly updates of inventory
[00:31:26.820]that they have in stock.
[00:31:28.380]So in terms of face shields, gloves, goggles,
[00:31:34.000]those things are kind of leveling out in inventory
[00:31:37.230]coming back to normal, so that's a good sign.
[00:31:40.470]Gowns are a little bit of slower on the uptake.
[00:31:44.310]So I will keep an eye on that for any of your end users
[00:31:47.550]that will need those once we kind of get our research up
[00:31:50.590]and going again.
[00:31:52.150]And masks are, the one that we've seen in the news
[00:31:56.140]very recently with shortage of supply.
[00:32:00.120]We have a lot of manufacturers switching to making
[00:32:04.400]solid masks or suppliers that weren't even making masks
[00:32:07.680]before coming on board for our suppliers and distributors,
[00:32:12.120]so there seems to be an upswing in in availability of masks
[00:32:16.410]that will be coming in the couple, the next couple of weeks.
[00:32:21.360]With there are a couple options from some of our preferred
[00:32:23.820]suppliers right now that will be available in the next
[00:32:27.988]coming days, they're getting shipments in right now.
[00:32:31.620]But all other typical lab supplies, consumables
[00:32:35.440]that our researchers need should be on a standard shipment,
[00:32:38.520]standard order procedures so there shouldn't be any delay
[00:32:41.550]or backwards for those standard items.
[00:32:43.730]So I'm in constant contact with our reps from our suppliers.
[00:32:48.350]So once we get our research up and going hopefully
[00:32:50.920]we'll be ahead of the curve and we can get our researchers
[00:32:54.000]the things they need when they hop back on campus.
[00:33:00.690]And I will throw it over to Sara
[00:33:03.480]for facilities updates.
[00:33:06.770]Thank you Sydney.
[00:33:09.320]So as far as facilities, business continues
[00:33:13.014]and all the related categories on our campus,
[00:33:16.156]all of our current eSHOP catalog suppliers for facilities
[00:33:20.110]are still taking orders for PPE.
[00:33:24.160]Although they are experienced some delays in that,
[00:33:29.388]please keep in mind that our suppliers are merely
[00:33:33.030]the distributors, so getting access to these items
[00:33:36.791]has been delayed on their end as well.
[00:33:38.820]Please continue to place those orders for those items
[00:33:40.929]as needed and our suppliers fulfill these orders
[00:33:44.560]as soon as possible.
[00:33:46.320]And if there are any questions regarding facilities related
[00:33:50.150]supplies, please feel free to contact Dustin Kotik,
[00:33:53.360]his contact information is found on our web page.
[00:33:56.576]Also capital construction and minor construction project
[00:34:00.780]are still progressing on a project by project basis.
[00:34:04.790]If you have any questions related to construction
[00:34:07.130]or maintenance projects on our campus,
[00:34:09.210]Those should be directed to the new facilities group.
[00:34:15.420]Next is Scott with IT.
[00:34:20.270]Thank you Sara, so I'm Scott Stremick
[00:34:21.880]and I'm gonna talk about technology and as it relates
[00:34:25.060]to the more working from home setup,
[00:34:27.710]so the first section I'll
[00:34:29.557]talk about is customer service.
[00:34:32.060]And I'm actually responding to quite a few stakeholders
[00:34:35.610]concerns about longer responses than normal from vendors
[00:34:39.160]when we have questions about products or services.
[00:34:44.690]Technology companies just like the University itself
[00:34:47.230]have been stretched pretty thin on the customer service
[00:34:51.000]part due to the pandemic, so what I always ask is this,
[00:34:55.130]please be patient with our suppliers, as most businesses
[00:34:58.480]are working remote just like we are, now if you do start
[00:35:01.830]feeling like you're having a problem and you're not getting
[00:35:04.070]information back from somebody in a timely manner,
[00:35:07.220]if you could just reach out to myself, Claudette or Sue
[00:35:10.920]and we can help you out with getting in contact
[00:35:13.880]with the supplier sales
[00:35:15.560]or somebody to get an answer for you.
[00:35:19.350]So generally any other items is a kinda related to the
[00:35:22.420]working from home setups, which would be the laptops,
[00:35:25.040]headsets, webcams and other type peripherals are having
[00:35:30.040]a much longer lead times.
[00:35:33.060]Currently right now, in most cases a lot of our type
[00:35:37.446]of working from home materials are actually moving
[00:35:39.930]out to July, in some instances, there was definitely a big
[00:35:44.220]rush on those from the beginning from the various customers.
[00:35:49.100]So as always if there's something you need,
[00:35:52.010]I would get it on order right away.
[00:35:53.724]If it's not there, I always look for the options
[00:35:57.830]for yourself 'cause a lot of those in some cases
[00:36:00.210]are also starting to stretch out, so you may not always
[00:36:03.112]get exactly what you want, but definitely keep looking
[00:36:07.420]through the different suppliers we have.
[00:36:10.530]The next thing is for software purchases and we have not
[00:36:13.570]really been directly impacted at this time for our software.
[00:36:17.510]The one thing that is kinda slowing down is customer service
[00:36:20.810]responses in some cases we have had reduced
[00:36:25.800]people, the reduced timeframe for people to get back to us
[00:36:30.170]so we do ask again for patients on that part,
[00:36:32.600]but for current software requests,
[00:36:35.540]we have not had too many problems.
[00:36:38.730]Many of our current software packages
[00:36:40.530]already have enabled us, for to work remote.
[00:36:44.980]So we heard that has been a blessing and a lot of cases
[00:36:47.880]for a lot of our software's that we've had.
[00:36:51.400]The next item I have is hardware and this is more related
[00:36:54.510]to again, the working from home setups desktops,
[00:36:58.490]have not really had much of a change in lead time
[00:37:02.470]and we have been able to get desktops of our standards
[00:37:05.001]list fairly easily.
[00:37:07.000]So I'm just gonna kinda go by model.
[00:37:09.040]So for the Dell, right now we're averaging about 17 days
[00:37:13.430]on the Dell standards, for fulfillment.
[00:37:17.910]We have seen that fill rate range from basically seven days
[00:37:22.310]to up to 51 days with Dell depending on the standards
[00:37:27.320]inventory that they have.
[00:37:28.164]HP via Connection at this time they have stock available
[00:37:33.720]on all University standard models on our list.
[00:37:37.480]When and if this inventory is ever depleted,
[00:37:40.720]their lead time could move to a four to eight-week
[00:37:45.390]time frame to replenish.
[00:37:47.410]But they do have pre-built models in stock
[00:37:49.410]that aren't on our standards list.
[00:37:51.100]In some cases that are you could get fairly quickly
[00:37:54.080]if needed be, anything off of a custom list
[00:37:57.340]with HP models is looking at about four to week,
[00:38:00.892]four to 12-week lead time, depending on what your needs are.
[00:38:05.460]The other one Lenovo via CDW, they're taking pre-orders
[00:38:09.640]to stay ahead of the orders, for that their standards list,
[00:38:13.130]but they're still currently looking at around a four-week
[00:38:16.130]time frame or less to take care of our standards computers
[00:38:21.410]and they are trying to stay ahead of it though.
[00:38:24.830]For servers and storage hardware, these are actually
[00:38:27.640]in short supply with longer than normally times and Samsung
[00:38:32.160]drives which have been very popular also in a very limited
[00:38:35.330]inventory with manufacturers pushing out their replenishment
[00:38:39.760]schedules and deliveries to July also,
[00:38:42.750]so they're getting longer.
[00:38:44.650]And then the last one is networking products.
[00:38:47.570]Currently they're averaging about two to four-week
[00:38:50.423]lead times on that.
[00:38:51.570]So that kind of covers the main technology items,
[00:38:54.600]but I always say if there's any questions or concerns,
[00:38:57.420]you're always free to call, or email Kotik, Sue, myself
[00:39:01.760]individually or reach us through the itprocurement@unl.edu
[00:39:06.290]department email and we'll help you as on a soon quickly
[00:39:08.870]as possible, they'll figure out what you need
[00:39:11.610]and get you moving on.
[00:39:14.100]Thank you.
[00:39:17.410]Thanks Scott, that was good information.
[00:39:19.870]My name is Teresa Fleming, in case you didn't know me.
[00:39:22.320]I joined the Procurement Services team in August
[00:39:25.737]of last year and I currently have the agricultural
[00:39:31.410]department as well as a professional services category.
[00:39:35.290]So everything's been pretty much business as usual,
[00:39:38.660]on my desk I've been working with agricultural
[00:39:41.680]and natural resources.
[00:39:44.150]On irrigation systems before, crops get planted this year.
[00:39:48.800]And well drilling and equipment purchases
[00:39:53.180]and other odd demands.
[00:39:55.740]As far as professional services, I do have a few bids
[00:39:59.710]on hold due to COVID and we are moving cautiously
[00:40:03.660]forward on the other contracts.
[00:40:05.560]So if you ever have any questions, feel free to reach
[00:40:08.760]out to me via email and that's all I have.
[00:40:12.200]Maggie if you have any more information on office supplies,
[00:40:15.513]I'll turn it over to you.
[00:40:18.037]I thank you Teresa.
[00:40:19.790]And so those of you that haven't had a chance
[00:40:21.930]to meet Teresa yet, do so virtually, or you know,
[00:40:27.510]once we get back to normal, we'll get a chance to get out
[00:40:31.010]in the, in the offices a little bit more,
[00:40:33.750]especially out in western Nebraska, we're really looking
[00:40:36.240]forward to taking a trip, hopefully this fall,
[00:40:39.220]but she's been a blessing in addition to our team
[00:40:42.828]and regarding professional services to that messy area
[00:40:48.325]that Teresa stepping in and assisting our contracts team
[00:40:52.460]with as well, so we really hope that these changes
[00:40:56.840]that we're making in procurement by adding the talent
[00:40:59.370]that we've got with people like Teresa and Sydney joined
[00:41:03.290]last year and of course, Emily hosting our call today,
[00:41:07.800]we hope you're finding that this additional support
[00:41:10.420]is helpful to you.
[00:41:11.950]I did speak briefly about office supplies earlier,
[00:41:15.300]this is a system wide contract
[00:41:16.780]that we have with Office Depot.
[00:41:18.983]And Office Depot is really really, really working hard
[00:41:22.540]to try to ensure that they can conform
[00:41:24.560]to whatever our needs are.
[00:41:25.750]So again as I mentioned, they have created an internal
[00:41:29.960]process that does permit approved use of the P-card
[00:41:35.200]for purchases as needed.
[00:41:36.670]So when that occurs, if you complete the form,
[00:41:39.450]you'll get instructions from procurement to support
[00:41:41.393]that purchase, they wanna make sure that they continue
[00:41:46.870]to take care of our campuses, you know no matter what
[00:41:50.790]and they're also reaching out and trying to find products.
[00:41:54.320]I've actually got a line on some PPE items that we're having
[00:41:58.178]Sydney and Dustin, Try to coordinate and see what
[00:42:01.620]opportunities there are and even some increased volumes.
[00:42:05.070]So we're gonna talk to leadership about whether
[00:42:08.487]or not the University needs to do anything
[00:42:09.600]to prep for returned to normal when we go back to campuses.
[00:42:13.790]But again to echo what Teresa said or got in everyone else,
[00:42:20.080]if I didn't answer your questions here,
[00:42:22.430]let us know I do co-lead this category with sourcing
[00:42:27.260]manager, procurement manager from the NL campus,
[00:42:31.150]because we feel that this needs to be shared across
[00:42:33.280]the system so, anything we could do to help you let us know.
[00:42:36.860]Thanks, I'll turn it back over to Sarah.
[00:42:40.680]Thank you, our next area is Furniture and Food.
[00:42:45.540]While that is no longer my responsibility, has been passed
[00:42:48.950]off to one of our newer buyers.
[00:42:50.713]Jessica Merhoff Unfortunately,
[00:42:52.870]she's not able to be on the call today.
[00:42:55.350]She's got some other projects that she's working on.
[00:42:57.430]So I'm passing some information along for her,
[00:43:00.090]as far as furniture, many furniture manufacturers
[00:43:03.725]have shut down operations for the next
[00:43:05.930]two to three weeks at a minimum.
[00:43:08.320]This is due to shelter and shelter at home mandate.
[00:43:12.047]One of the main areas that a lot of our commercial furniture
[00:43:16.815]is manufactured in is Michigan.
[00:43:19.790]We do have some furniture and other stations well,
[00:43:22.500]but Michigan is the one that's been impacting,
[00:43:25.330]the furniture commodity the most.
[00:43:28.885]So this will have an impact on lead times
[00:43:30.760]for university projects.
[00:43:33.302]Once the manufacturers are up and running,
[00:43:35.490]I expect those lead times, your typical four to six to eight
[00:43:40.310]weeks, that will definitely increase because they're still
[00:43:44.180]pulling in orders and just putting those on the line.
[00:43:47.590]So our furniture suppliers or dealers are monitoring closely
[00:43:52.462]and they will continue to communicate all details to us
[00:43:56.940]once those orders are placed and they will begin working
[00:44:00.080]on the installation coordination.
[00:44:02.495]At this time installations are not going to be happening
[00:44:06.040]on campus, due to our current access restrictions.
[00:44:10.540]I hope that once we move out of our level four shut down
[00:44:15.360]that we can begin having some of those conversations
[00:44:18.870]with our furniture dealers and our installers to get some
[00:44:21.920]of those moving.
[00:44:24.229]As far as food, from what we're aware of,
[00:44:29.320]the only food service that's probably occurring on campus
[00:44:31.610]right now is limited through Dining Services.
[00:44:35.510]I know this will change once our levels of closure change.
[00:44:40.420]So if you do need some help with preparing food
[00:44:43.910]for an event, or just food for your operation,
[00:44:47.480]please feel free to reach out to Jessica or myself
[00:44:50.840]I can also help with that as well.
[00:44:53.990]As far as just the general, overall buying somethings,
[00:45:00.994]idea to keep in your mind.
[00:45:03.547]And I know with COVID a lot of people are now needing
[00:45:07.340]to buy things that they may have not purchased before,
[00:45:10.180]whether it be PPE or something else that's not necessarily
[00:45:14.423]related to their normal operation.
[00:45:17.540]And I know those things will definitely change.
[00:45:19.780]This is a very fluid situation.
[00:45:21.940]If you get into issue where you are needing
[00:45:25.500]to buy something that you don't have experience with
[00:45:28.390]and maybe it's not covered on our commodities listing,
[00:45:33.260]please feel free to reach out to any of the buyers
[00:45:35.960]in our listing and we have resources that we are able
[00:45:41.100]to go out and may be something
[00:45:42.440]that we haven't purchased before either.
[00:45:44.503]We have resources through our different cooperatives
[00:45:47.580]that we have access to.
[00:45:50.400]We've had some different requests that have come in
[00:45:52.620]and we've reached out to them and within a few hours,
[00:45:55.470]we have multiple suppliers that have been vetted
[00:45:59.110]and bid on a national scale, that are able to reach out
[00:46:03.230]to us and provide assistance.
[00:46:05.340]So just keep that in mind
[00:46:09.026]that we're here to help
[00:46:11.020]with whatever oddball thing that comes up
[00:46:15.210]that you guys need to purchase
[00:46:16.920]or haven't had experience with in the past.
[00:46:20.140]Reach out to us let us help you.
[00:46:22.600]We don't want you to have to try
[00:46:24.060]and research all that on your own.
[00:46:25.600]We have those resources that we can lean on and try to find
[00:46:29.920]something hopefully in a quicker manner and also--
[00:46:36.040]With that said, I will turn it over to Julie,
[00:46:39.270]to talk about contracts.
[00:46:42.950]Hi everybody.
[00:46:44.750]It's snowing quite good down here in southeast Nebraska.
[00:46:49.939]I want to let everybody know that the procurement contracts
[00:46:53.620]team is up and running and we've done a lot of work
[00:46:59.700]in management of procurement to try to make sure
[00:47:02.420]that all of our teams are pretty much seamless
[00:47:05.687]in transition to working remote.
[00:47:08.710]You may not even notice that there's any difference
[00:47:11.555]at all with what you're trying to accomplish.
[00:47:16.460]We continue to monitor the procurement contracts email box,
[00:47:21.200]and provide status reports every Monday.
[00:47:24.250]And like Sarah said, our office phones are forwarded
[00:47:28.371]to ourselves or our homes.
[00:47:31.010]So we can answer your calls if you have any questions
[00:47:34.090]or you need some advice about a contract or something
[00:47:41.340]that may have happened to affect a contract
[00:47:44.600]that is currently requiring some attention.
[00:47:51.210]If you have a contract that requires general counsel
[00:47:55.070]or legal review, I just wanna give you a heads up
[00:47:58.510]that the turn time, maybe a little bit longer
[00:48:02.500]due to the staffing issues with general counsel right now.
[00:48:06.280]And they're also handling a lot of COVID specific concerns.
[00:48:12.280]But they continue to respond as quickly as they possibly
[00:48:15.310]can and we reach out to them multiple times a day.
[00:48:19.710]So if you have a worry about something that seems like
[00:48:23.600]it's taking a little bit longer, just give us a call
[00:48:26.550]or send us an email to procurementcontracts@unl.edu.
[00:48:32.679]Like I mentioned earlier, some of you may have had to cancel
[00:48:37.610]events that were scheduled way before COVID-19 showed up,
[00:48:42.030]we've got some conferences that were scheduled as far back
[00:48:46.290]as 2017 that were supposed to happen
[00:48:48.690]this month and last month.
[00:48:51.040]Where we've needed to either cancel or try to reschedule.
[00:48:55.290]We're here to help you with that.
[00:48:57.844]And it's been passed down from leadership,
[00:49:01.950]that our campuses should continue to route,
[00:49:05.900]any kind of changes to contracts, cancellations,
[00:49:09.318]rescheduling advance if you need to amend something
[00:49:12.590]or change it, just use our regular normal contracting
[00:49:17.840]process, by sending your requests or your questions
[00:49:22.080]to procurementcontracts@unl.edu.
[00:49:26.320]There are three of us that are monitoring that
[00:49:28.360]and like I said if you need to, you can give us a call
[00:49:31.020]and it should ring through just fine.
[00:49:33.730]And that's all I have, thanks.
[00:49:42.971]So as far as suppliers, we have been getting information
[00:49:48.850]from them, updates directly, we have been putting those
[00:49:52.730]on that COVID--
[00:49:55.630]within procurement, so please make sure and check
[00:49:59.580]that regularly, we are updating that at least once a week.
[00:50:04.988]That is the best resource for that, if there's a question
[00:50:08.390]that you have about a supplier that maybe,
[00:50:10.302]isn't listed on there whether it's the supplier,
[00:50:12.760]the commodity and you're unsure, just please reach out
[00:50:15.840]to one of us and we can let you know, what is either going
[00:50:21.570]on with that situation or we can make some contacts.
[00:50:25.550]Additionally with suppliers, this hopefully should not be
[00:50:28.910]happening because people aren't traveling right now.
[00:50:31.050]But if for some reason if there's a sales rep
[00:50:34.160]that's reaching out and wanting to do campus visits,
[00:50:38.560]that's not something that should be occurring right now.
[00:50:41.490]They can definitely do a call or webinar with you,
[00:50:47.230]to address any questions that you have right now.
[00:50:51.010]virtual meetings are totally fine, but we definitely
[00:50:53.290]don't want sales reps coming on campus right now.
[00:50:57.130]That's something that can occur once we're back to normal.
[00:51:02.190]As far as getting through that whole procure to pay process,
[00:51:08.130]for suppliers that you have bought something from,
[00:51:11.540]say for example at the eSHOP or SAP, I would encourage
[00:51:16.008]them to have, I would encourage you to tell them to send
[00:51:22.940]their invoices electronically to you, that will ensure
[00:51:26.150]that their payments are processed quicker.
[00:51:29.410]And that's also something coming through AP,
[00:51:31.540]they need their concern out on campus,
[00:51:33.790]they're not able to get paper invoices quickly.
[00:51:38.750]So having that electronic version is definitely encouraged.
[00:51:44.320]And then, as we said earlier if you do have any recurring
[00:51:49.430]shipments with suppliers, please make sure
[00:51:52.140]and make that contact with them.
[00:51:53.670]Let them know the status change that we have going on
[00:51:57.322]and let them know that you'll coordinate with them,
[00:52:01.942]moving forward once our status does change back to where
[00:52:05.210]they can do some of those recurring shipments as well.
[00:52:10.660]Emily I think I'm gonna, close this up here.
[00:52:14.170]Yes thank you Sara.
[00:52:15.260]Thank you everyone else for giving your input.
[00:52:17.434]So again you can just reach out to us, we're available
[00:52:19.951]through email, through our phones, Microsoft Teams,
[00:52:23.220]wherever you can get reach of us.
[00:52:25.310]We will be there for continuing as business as usual.
[00:52:29.410]Until we are updating that web page
[00:52:32.560]at least once a week.
[00:52:34.220]Every Friday, we will be making sure to add any
[00:52:36.688]of those updates.
[00:52:39.290]And to just stay safe and wash your hands.
[00:52:42.400]I know you've probably heard it a million times,
[00:52:44.350]but it doesn't hurt to hear it again.
[00:52:47.110]But we are then going to go into questions,
[00:52:50.570]if nobody has anything else to add.
[00:52:54.960]Do you see some?
[00:52:56.530]And so I'll go ahead and get started,
[00:52:57.730]we have one from Cheryl.
[00:53:00.607]"Was there a change in the requirement to have
[00:53:02.720]any non-competitive purchase forms when you have bids?"
[00:53:10.003]This is Maggie, Cheryl and I wanna make sure
[00:53:12.840]I answer your question as fully as possible.
[00:53:15.000]So if I don't do me a favor and we'll try to connect
[00:53:18.899]after this call, if you want
[00:53:21.120]and message me accordingly, if I don't.
[00:53:24.457]So hopefully going back to the beginning and I think we
[00:53:27.334]talked about the non-competitive purchase form because
[00:53:30.290]it is available on the website, that is a new form.
[00:53:34.750]There really has not been a change in the form
[00:53:37.910]or the guidelines that go along with it or the conditions
[00:53:41.430]as to when you need to use it, except for what has been
[00:53:47.170]rewritten in board policy.
[00:53:50.070]I would be absolutely happy to get on a quick call with you
[00:53:53.740]after this and just helped clarify that for you.
[00:53:56.680]If you need some, you know need a little bit more
[00:54:00.270]information so if you wanna give me a nod in the chat,
[00:54:05.410]please do so if I'm not answering your question completely,
[00:54:08.720]I'd like to make sure that I do but also leave time
[00:54:12.060]for these other questions so, thanks so much Emily,
[00:54:15.040]back to you.
[00:54:16.295]Thank you, we did have someone asked to share
[00:54:19.450]the online form a link for that, I did add that in the chat,
[00:54:22.900]you can also find that on the website under the COVID-19
[00:54:26.270]our update and there is a link for it on the website.
[00:54:31.459]The next question is, "Does plant material ordered last fall
[00:54:35.560]for spring delivery acceptable to change to home delivery?"
[00:54:39.348]They are trying to coordinate with their essential person
[00:54:41.760]to pick them up and put them in a cooler on campus.
[00:54:46.258]Does anybody else wanna take that?
[00:54:49.091]I'll be happy to, it's really anybody's call.
[00:54:54.270]Okay nobody volunteered so I think the question
[00:54:58.420]was from Aaron and it sounds like it's material that needs
[00:55:02.990]to be kept in a situation or a special condition for,
[00:55:07.291]for planting and you know, I think it's really,
[00:55:13.130]I think with making a change to an order for home delivery,
[00:55:17.270]maybe, I don't know the nature of the order,
[00:55:20.880]how you placed it, if you placed it on a purchase order,
[00:55:23.730]but I think that it might be better that you recommended
[00:55:28.810]you're coordinating with your essential person to pick it up
[00:55:32.180]and put it in a cooler on campus.
[00:55:33.510]Because frankly, that might be a better place
[00:55:35.610]and you know hopefully if you put it at home,
[00:55:38.410]if you have a place for it.
[00:55:39.927]And again the question to ask yourself,
[00:55:42.600]Is that something essential that I need to have
[00:55:45.150]delivered to my home?
[00:55:47.000]And if it is capable of being coordinated on campus
[00:55:51.880]and safely, you might even give the guys at central
[00:55:55.110]receiving a call, 'cause I would bet that they would
[00:55:58.060]be more than happy to help you coordinate getting that over
[00:56:01.220]to a secure location on campus.
[00:56:04.078]So I'm not saying we would not approve that.
[00:56:07.870]I think it's just a matter of what's your best options
[00:56:10.320]and support, you know some important material,
[00:56:13.080]it sounds like for your research, you know on campus.
[00:56:16.700]So again, open to chatting after the call.
[00:56:19.930]If you'd like to discuss that further just let me know.
[00:56:24.609]And I think it would be good to point out to,
[00:56:26.210]I think Maggie, you had mentioned that over at central
[00:56:28.310]receiving, they do have some cold storage over there,
[00:56:32.220]because they were anticipating that, some of the items
[00:56:35.090]coming in could potentially need to be stored
[00:56:37.560]in a special manner.
[00:56:38.520]So they may be able to keep that for you
[00:56:41.410]for a period of time too.
[00:56:44.160]I can tell you that Tim, Jim, John,
[00:56:46.860]all the guys over there are just working their fannie's off
[00:56:49.820]and they're doing a great job.
[00:56:52.096]You know really, really, really pulling up a great
[00:56:55.510]responsibility for the University right now.
[00:56:58.780]If you haven't talked to them lately, give them a shout out
[00:57:01.370]and tell them hey, thanks a lot.
[00:57:03.280]They're doing an awesome job.
[00:57:09.490]I'm done.
[00:57:10.657]Alright.
[00:57:11.490]Back to you, Emily.
[00:57:12.410]Coming to our next question.
[00:57:13.930]This is referring to alternative delivery.
[00:57:17.467]"Will that address be added to SAP for use with eSHOP
[00:57:20.907]"orders or is it only gonna be for P-card purchases?"
[00:57:25.100]I'll take that.
[00:57:25.933]Mary do yo wanna take that?
[00:57:29.357]Are we not adding them to SAP for use in eSHOP
[00:57:33.690]or SAP orders?
[00:57:36.170]If the purchase requires,
[00:57:41.060]if it's a larger purchase
[00:57:42.213]that is gonna fall outside the parameters of the P-card,
[00:57:45.440]please contact us in that home delivery request,
[00:57:50.357]regarding the plant material also, just put as much
[00:57:53.820]information as we would need when we're reviewing
[00:57:56.810]it or P-card people, to determine this is essential
[00:58:00.421]that you have it in your hands
[00:58:02.890]and you need it to work with it during this time
[00:58:05.420]while we're away from campus.
[00:58:07.530]If that's like outside of the scope of the P-card purchase,
[00:58:11.620]we can create an SAP purchase order in the rare case
[00:58:15.840]that it needs to have a different delivery address.
[00:58:19.410]But we're not adding anybody's address to the address
[00:58:23.440]listing in SAP, because of SAP's limitations
[00:58:26.420]on removing them later.
[00:58:28.060]So this will be primarily P-card purchases.
[00:58:34.307]And then kinda another one just
[00:58:35.910]to be back off the alternative delivery.
[00:58:39.134]"Is it acceptable use a personal credit card
[00:58:41.827]"and do reimbursement or do we only want P-card purchases."
[00:58:49.230]So Mary I don't know,
[00:58:50.550]do you wanna take that Mary?
[00:58:52.543](laughing)
[00:58:55.470]You know first off I can--
[00:58:56.916]reimbursement auditing as well as P-card,
[00:58:59.997]all P-card training and reimbursement training.
[00:59:02.730]So I will just say this that, using a P-card,
[00:59:09.130]using a purchase order using a personal credit card,
[00:59:11.990]all of the purchasing rules for the University are the same.
[00:59:15.820]If it's for personal use item and there needs to be a good
[00:59:19.530]business reason for that and it needs to be pre-approved.
[00:59:23.140]I'm not gonna answer for the reimbursement group,
[00:59:26.790]you'll have to contact them directly.
[00:59:28.280]We have absolutely no hands on that
[00:59:30.530]and no decision making in that.
[00:59:32.740]But just from my past experience, the rules of purchasing
[00:59:37.640]and reimbursement don't change
[00:59:39.410]my method of how you bought it.
[00:59:45.150]If that makes sense.
[00:59:53.940]I'll go on to the next question.
[00:59:58.060]For that office, the alternative Office Depot process,
[01:00:02.120]if we can share that process, for my understanding currently
[01:00:04.810]right now, the process will be shared with you
[01:00:07.410]if you fill out the alternative delivery address form
[01:00:10.860]and then we will share the directions on how to proceed
[01:00:13.030]with that, If I'm not correct fully on that,
[01:00:15.930]please correct me.
[01:00:18.300]You're right Emily that is exactly
[01:00:20.170]how we have it set up.
[01:00:21.700]And that is per Office Depot's requests.
[01:00:24.670]The only way those purchases can be made is with
[01:00:27.750]the University P-card and also some you know,
[01:00:32.920]some internal documentation that can't be published,
[01:00:35.675]or made available on our website.
[01:00:38.280]So that is, those require pre-approval, but it works
[01:00:43.549]and we're grateful to Office Depot for working
[01:00:46.148]with us to make that happen, thank you.
[01:00:49.984]And then one more question in the chats,
[01:00:52.437]"Are we able to continue making purchases
[01:00:54.297]"or only if it's essential?"
[01:00:59.420]Can you say that again?
[01:01:01.230]Are we able to continue to make purchases
[01:01:03.710]or only if it is essential?
[01:01:10.300]Go ahead Sara.
[01:01:12.886]I would say yeah yeah, you should still be buying things.
[01:01:18.600]As long as just keep in mind that whatever you're buying,
[01:01:22.280]it needs to be something that you,
[01:01:25.110]like if you're planning ahead for a project
[01:01:26.920]and you're trying to buy something
[01:01:28.990]that has a longer lead time, that type of thing.
[01:01:31.970]Definitely go out and purchase it.
[01:01:33.440]Things have not stopped from purchasing.
[01:01:35.540]It's just that we are needing to be mindful of things
[01:01:38.770]that are being shipped home.
[01:01:41.670]That's an auditing thing and we need to make sure
[01:01:44.610]that we're not losing assets that type of thing.
[01:01:46.530]But just because we're working remotely doesn't mean
[01:01:49.970]that purchasing should not be occurring.
[01:01:53.210]We just wanna be mindful of what we are purchasing
[01:01:55.740]because of budget reduction those types of things.
[01:02:01.500]Comment on that Mary.
[01:02:02.760]Aside from the budget reductions
[01:02:05.150]that we'll be looking at.
[01:02:07.040]A lot of suppliers will work with you about delivering
[01:02:10.830]at an expected delivery time.
[01:02:13.460]So if you don't need to take delivery for a while,
[01:02:17.350]just have them scheduled that too for later on.
[01:02:20.381]And we don't know how long we're going to be out.
[01:02:23.190]On the other side of that, we all know that your end
[01:02:26.280]is coming up and there are some receiving issues,
[01:02:30.450]related to that which we haven't yet addressed.
[01:02:32.350]So we'll leave that set up for the main PED talk.
[01:02:42.563]And then, I had put a link out there for anybody
[01:02:45.170]who wants to submit questions previously.
[01:02:47.510]I believe most of those we did already address
[01:02:50.050]but there was one asking preparing
[01:02:52.110]for non-competitive forms through DocuSign?
[01:02:55.468]And who should be listed to route in procurement for review?
[01:02:59.160]And information we gonna need back for us to know who's
[01:03:01.640]gonna be the requester and the financial approver.
[01:03:04.869]I mean those people cannot be the same person.
[01:03:07.620]Julie if you have any more to add to this, that'd be great.
[01:03:10.940]But as far as I know, that's usually the information
[01:03:13.140]that Procurement Contracts needs,
[01:03:14.560]to be able to help you route that.
[01:03:17.080]Right thank you Emily.
[01:03:19.550]So if you are sending those in to have us
[01:03:22.520]route them through DocuSign for you, that's great.
[01:03:25.310]We welcome that opportunity.
[01:03:27.890]And we would just need to know who the requester would be.
[01:03:32.080]A lot of times it might be the buyer of that category.
[01:03:35.610]And then whoever's the financial approver of the cost object
[01:03:39.380]or WBS for which you're trying to do a non-competitive form.
[01:03:46.770]At the bottom of the form, it kind of gives it to you,
[01:03:50.260]so the first person would be the requester,
[01:03:52.960]then the financial approver.
[01:03:54.800]And then we can decide based on spend thresholds,
[01:03:59.000]whether it needs to go above Maggie, to Ben Nunez
[01:04:02.670]or Chris Gaborik or where it needs to go from there.
[01:04:06.300]So if you can just provide us with the requester
[01:04:09.530]and the financial approver.
[01:04:11.584]That would be great, just sent that in your email to,
[01:04:16.099]to procurement, so I think I answered that I hope so.
[01:04:22.820]Well not to confuse anybody anymore,
[01:04:25.380]but there are different thresholds for signatures
[01:04:29.560]on non-competitive purchase forms than there are on
[01:04:33.340]purchases alone and the reasons for that are the mystery
[01:04:39.190]of the beginning and the end of board policy and yet some
[01:04:42.560]things were changed with Signature Authority
[01:04:44.660]and other things were left as is.
[01:04:47.350]So just, you know we do have that instruction out
[01:04:50.680]on our website as well but in case you didn't know it,
[01:04:54.420]the threshold for a signature at the procurement level
[01:04:59.043]is a 100 is below $150,000 if it's non-competitive
[01:05:04.240]purchases requested, over 150,000 it requires
[01:05:08.280]Vice Chancellor Nunez authorization.
[01:05:12.220]So thank you.
[01:05:15.299]Alright well that looks like
[01:05:16.780]all the questions that we have.
[01:05:18.146]I do appreciate everybody coming out
[01:05:20.490]and joining us on this talk today.
[01:05:22.700]Like always this will be available online.
[01:05:25.500]We should probably get that up by Monday.
[01:05:27.710]And so there will be that recording.
[01:05:30.160]If you have any questions again, reach out to us
[01:05:32.970]on any of those emails that we showed previously
[01:05:35.390]and we will be happy to help.
[01:05:37.530]Thank you everyone and have a great day.
[01:05:39.674]Thanks Emily, thanks everyone.
[01:05:43.400]Had a great turnout, we appreciate you all.
[01:05:47.010]Thank you.

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PED Talks April 2020

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