Ithaca College

Greetings from the Office of Procurement Services and Strategic Sourcing.  We are happy to take this time to reflect on some of our collective accomplishments from 2015 and to provide an outlook of our goals for 2016. 

COST SAVINGS RESULTS:

To date, the Office of Procurement Services and Strategic Sourcing, in collaboration with various stakeholders on campus, has negotiated $2.4MM in total (multi-year contract) cost savings.  Highlighting our negotiation activities was the collaboration between Strategic Sourcing and the Facilities department on the renegotiation of the College’s electricity agreements which yielded an average annual savings of $315k per year over the next three years for a total cost savings of $945k.  This negotiation was an example of how departments from across campus can work collaboratively to achieve cost savings results for IC.  We’d like to thank the AVP of Facilities, Dr. Tim Carey, for his dedication to the success of the campus’s Strategic Sourcing initiatives and for playing a supportive role in working towards our savings goals.

IC MARKETPLACE IMPLEMENTATION:

2015 saw the implementation of a new Unimarket based e-procurement tool --- “IC Marketplace” --- which provides for more accurate spend-data gathering with much greater granularity over our legacy “iProcurement” system; this data will assist the Strategic Sourcing team in identifying opportunities to leverage the College’s spend within specific product or service categories. 

Our thanks to the many people who provided support through various phases of the IC Marketplace project integration including but not limited to:

• Project Team Members:  Ann Martin, Bill Liddick, Chris Davie, Dave Weil, Dean Casterline, Irene Scott, Jeff Newhart, Jennifer Landon, Jerry McConnell, Jim Meyers, Jo Anne Rosato, Karen Cleveland, Karena Krauss, Ken Hess, Lisa Cavataio, Mark Yowan, Michele Vineyard,   Paula Wedemeyer, Robert Cree, Sheryl Scott, Susan Shutts, Vanessa Brown, Wendy Anderson 

• Pilot Team Members:  Chris Rogers, Donna Holzbaur, Ernie McClatchie, Irene Scott, Karen Wheeler, Karenn Reeter, Laura Keefe, Leslie D’Arcy, Linda Spencer, Lisa Cavataio, Lori June, Lori Ray, Maria Haner, Maria Haner, Sheryl Froehlich  

Additional thanks to Jo Anne Rosato and Michele Vineyard for their efforts with regard to user setup and training activities.  More than 230 IC employees and affiliates have received training as Buyers, Browsers and/or Approvers.

To date, approximately 2,750 purchase orders have been processed through the new system since the roll-out began in August 2015 and nearly 1,000 suppliers have registered with IC Marketplace to receive electronic purchase orders and invoicing for products and/or services to Ithaca College.

A/P, TRAVEL SERVICES, & WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS:

The Accounts Payable, Travel Services, and Warehouse Operations teams are also to be commended.  These groups are key components of the Procurement Services and Strategic Sourcing functions and their efforts are very much appreciated.

GOALS FOR 2016:

Strategic Sourcing is excited to continue the momentum of cost savings initiatives in 2016 as we strive to achieve best overall value for every Ithaca College procurement.  Cost savings is a collaborative effort and we encourage the campus community to include our team in your purchasing related activities. 

We will continue to reach out to stakeholders on campus and work collaboratively to identify strategic sourcing opportunities and to provide general procurement support.  If anyone is interested in speaking with our organization please contact the Director of Procurement, Dean Casterline, at extension 4-5826 or dcasterline@ithaca.edu.

We are committed to building and maintaining a diverse supply base utilizing minority and women owned enterprises (MWBE) and small disadvantaged businesses (SDB); MWBE and SDB suppliers will be included in sourcing opportunities.

Our department webpages will be ‘overhauled’ soon to provide current information on the services we provide.

IN-CLOSING:

2015 was our organization’s first full year in existence.  We are pleased with the traction we’ve gained and are looking forward to engaging in future cost and process efficiency savings opportunities.  In 2016 we will continue to build our organization and strengthen our relationship with campus stakeholders and with our supply chain partners with the goal of providing best overall value for Ithaca College procurements.