Welcome 

Welcome to Supply Chain Management (SCM) News for UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley. While we are currently working on ways to better communicate within SCM, this blog is one new effort to keep you informed. Please use the comments section below to give us your thoughts and ideas on what you'd like to see in the future and if you have story ideas, please email carol.tady@ucsf.edu.

SCM Staffers Receive UC Starlight Awards
Each year the University of California 

John Arbolino, Susan Riddle and Andrew Clark

Procurement Services honors staff members’ exemplary work by giving out the Procurement Starlight Award in five categories: Innovation, Collaboration, Initiative Leadership, Early Achievement and Most Valuable Procurement Professional (MVPP). This year, three of the recipients, John Arbolino, Andrew Clark and Susan Riddle, are from Supply Chain Management at UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley.

Strategic Sourcing’s Arbolino claimed the top award, being named MVPP. Clark, Director of Strategic Sourcing, received the award for Innovation, and Senior Business Analyst Riddle was honored for Collaboration. Each honoree will receive $1,000 cash award and a framed certificate.
Read more about the great work these three are doing...

Helium Deal Will Save Universities Thousands

You may remember trying to buy party balloons a couple years back and being told there was a worldwide helium shortage. Annoying, but not exactly life changing.

For UCSF and UC Berkeley, the impact was felt in labs (and bottom lines) across both campuses. Helium, with its unique cooling properties, plays an essential role in a range of the scientific applications and the two Universities consume between 60,000 to 80,000 liters every year. The shortage meant the price climbed from $5 a liter to $14 to $20 a liter.

That was until Alex Butler, who works in Supply Chain Management’s Strategic Sourcing unit, stepped in, worked out a new deal with suppliers, and saved the campuses between 25 percent and 30 percent on the cost of helium. The new price will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to the campuses. Butler is also hoping to expand the deal beyond the UCSF and Berkeley to Lawrence Berkeley Lab and other UC campuses.

Jim Keenan, buyer at Space Sciences Laboratory in Berkeley

Now Featuring...

In an effort to get to know each other a little better, this blog (and later the website and/or newsletter) will feature a quick look at SCM staff members.

PROCUREMENT AT UCSF and UC BERKELEY helps save clients time and money so they can focus on teaching, research and public service. Our buyers are subject-matter experts in everything from paper and office supplies to goats for clearing brush and the unique items that allow our researchers to shape the future. Here's a glance at one buyer's experiences.

Unified UCSF Zip Code Required by USPS

Effective immediately, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is requiring that all UCSF locations in San Francisco use the 94143 zip code. This includes all campuses and satellite locations (i.e. Beale Street, China Basin, etc.)
Read the complete article

SCM Honored for Sustainability Work

Supply Chain Management received a 2015 Sustainability Award from the UC Berkeley's Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) for integrating environmental sustainability within existing campus operations. Leading the charge have been Sandy Macasieb and Alex Butler.

Read more about their efforts

New Tools for Purchasing  Accessible Products
Information technology accessibility is a priority within the University of California system and procurement is one of the most important and challenging components of this transition. If accessibility is taken into account at the time technology is acquired, each campus may avoid the expense of retroactive customization or the even more costly attempt to provide individualized accommodation.
Read more