Procurement

What We Do

Committed to excellence and a strategic approach, University of Nebraska Procurement and Strategic Sourcing operations are here to enable the sourcing, procurement, delivery, payment and facilitation of products and services to sustain university operations and further university growth. We enable a variety of services to help you get what you need, and are available to support you with questions and guide your next purchase, large or small. From sourcing through procurement, delivery and payment, we are here to help guide your project to ensure you achieve maximum value within University guidelines. Included among the services we support:

• Purchase Orders, P-cards, etc.
• Bids – request for proposals, information, invitations to bid, etc.
• Contracts – assessment, analysis, negotiation, review
• Supplier assessment, sourcing
• New supplier review, setup
• E-Procurement
• Accounts Payable
• Approvals, guidelines on signature authority
• Unique guidelines, including: emergency purchases, household moves, food, sole sources, etc.
• Inventory, Surplus and Asset Management

What’s Happening Now

Recently, Maggie Witt was named to lead the unification of procurement resources for the University of Nebraska. This includes, but is not limited to, structural, process and policy improvements that will drive efficiencies and cost savings and help the university continue to deliver on its mission. Procurement is a vital element in any well-run organization. Having a more aligned organizational model will increase effectiveness, create a unified approach to procuring goods and services and managing suppliers across the university, and serve the campuses and NU system in a more cohesive and collaborative manner.

Although the "what” is decided, the team is currently reviewing and working through the details of "how", "who", and "when" with stakeholders. While keeping a watchful eye on our savings targets, the ultimate goal for everyone is more efficient operations, processes and organizational structures.

Cost Savings and Strategies

The Procurement BRT has ten strategies in all. The first strategy is aimed at aligning procurement and accounts payable operations and professionals at each campus, to strengthen the overall organization across the NU system, becoming better positioned to collaborate and deliver consistent value. In this strategy we also outline opportunities for centralization, revenue enhancement, management and control and other efficiencies that we believe closely align with the vision of Procurement as a strategic partner. This strategy also establishes a framework for Procurement to be able to continuously provide additional savings in years to come.

In Strategies two though ten, the Procurement team targeted opportunities to reduce current manageable spend in a wide variety of categories for products and services that are procured across multiple areas of the University. These strategies are examples of leverage, as well as process enhancement, that empower our position with our suppliers when we work together as one University, instead of separate campuses or departments.

When implemented, these strategies have the potential to generate over $6 million in savings over the course of the next two years. For more detailed information, see the document below.

Implementation Team Members

Procurement Implementation Team Chair:

• Maggie Witt, UNL

Procurement Implementation Team Members:

Frequently Asked Questions

To aid in transparency and to ensure we have appropriate input, we are providing the complete list of BRT-related initiatives that have been approved. While these initiatives will be going forward—in other words, they are approved--the exact implementation design is a work in progress. BRT leaders will be working with colleges and departments over the coming weeks and months to determine specific implementation plans and answer questions. This allows for appropriate input which will be vital in reaching our savings goals and improving efficiencies and effectiveness.

Please see attached document of FAQs regarding the Procurement Budget implementation.

Procurement Contact Info

Your feedback is important. Please let me know if you have questions, comments or thoughts.

Maggie Witt
Associate Vice President, Procurement, University of Nebraska
Director, Procurement & Strategic Sourcing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
402-472-3609
maggie.witt@unl.edu

Julie Davids
Procurement BRT Steering Committee
402-472-2364
jdavids@nebraska.edu

Scott Benson
Procurement BRT Steering Committee
308-865-8431
bensonsa1@unk.edu