Table of Contents

• Updated: Office Hours
• Group Purchasing Organizations
• Gateway Receiving
• Data Security in Contracts
• Freelance Worker Platforms
• New Cylinder Gas Contract
• Purchasing Sustainably: Small Choices, Big Impact

Updated: Office Hours

Procurement Services is happy to announce we are hosting the below workstream-focused office hours each week for anyone to drop in as needed to ask questions and troubleshoot issues.

With go-live of the new Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC) system and updates to Gateway quickly approaching at the end of this fiscal year, we will also be available to answer questions about the upcoming changes, and help you prepare for the transition. For more information, visit the Financial Management Modernization (FMM) Project Website.

Group Purchasing Organizations

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), also known as Cooperative Purchasing, are organizations that conduct bids and collaborate with public procurement departments nationwide to award bids on behalf of participating public K-12 and higher education and government entities. These GPO contracts streamline the UC procurement process by meeting or exceeding UC requirements with industry-leading suppliers, and can be used for UCSB purchases over our competitively bid threshold of $100,000.00.

If UC Office of the President or UCSB does not have an already existing competitively bid contract meeting your need for a specific transaction exceeding the bid threshold, you can search the below GPO databases that UC participates in, to locate a supplier meeting your need. When asking the supplier for a quote, please make sure they use the GPO contract pricing, and include the GPO contract number on the quote.

• OMNIA Partners Contract Offerings
• Sourcewell Contract Search
• E&I Contract Navigator

When submitting the requisition, please be sure to attach a completed Form A, and use the New or Existing Formal Competitive Bid/Contract# option in Section I, then breeze on through to Section VII.

Gateway Receiving

Receipts should be created within 7 days of acceptance of product or service deliverable. Receipts can be either cost or quantity based.

In preparation for the upcoming conversion of Gateway to the new Chart of Accounts on July 1, 2025, PO’s are being closed 30 days after they are fully invoiced. To open a PO after it has been closed and process a receipt please submit your request to the Procurement ServiceNow Portal.

Gateway will be the system of record for all purchase order related receipts as of July 1, 2025.

The Importance of Data Security in Contracts

In the October 2024 edition of The Current, Jackson Muhirwe, UC Santa Barbara’s Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Information Assurance, reflects on his journey into the field, offers practical advice for safeguarding personal information online, and discusses the challenges and evolving landscape of modern cybersecurity and the future of protecting digital spaces. From insights on massive data breaches to reflections on the role of artificial intelligence in security, this Q&A offers valuable takeaways for the campus community and beyond.

Below are some of his responses that we like to highlight regarding purchase and contract activities, but you can read the full article on The Current.

We’ve gone from using the same simple password for all our accounts to needing complex passwords, entire phrases, MFA, security questions, password managers, etc. What would you say to people who find all of this too inconvenient and unnecessary?

If you lived in a neighborhood where your home was constantly under attack from criminals wishing to harm you and steal your valuables, you’d probably consider increasing security for your home to stop the criminals, right? UCSB systems and all of our accounts are under constant and unrelenting attacks from cyber criminals wanting to steal our information, disable our operations and cause havoc to our lives. The goal is to balance security with usability — making it possible for authorized users to access the information they need to access when they need it.

Massive organizations and businesses are experiencing data breaches from hackers, resulting in our personal information being leaked. Is this happening more often than before and if so, why? What security measures should we expect from organizations that we're sharing our personal information with?

In today’s online environment, it is no longer a question of if you fall victim to a breach, but when. Data breaches have increased exponentially in the last few years due to a number of factors. Externally, there continue to be more highly-motivated and well-funded criminal organizations that are constantly scanning and searching for organizations to breach.

Many organizations struggle to keep up with this growing trend and still have unpatched systems and weak internal security controls. Improving the security posture of an organization requires a combination of strategies and tactics that include administrative, technical and physical safeguards. One form of protection is never enough to provide robust security for an organization.

At an organizational level, the first step is making security everyone’s responsibility. Each and every member of the UCSB community has a role to play. At some point, security measures might fail and if they do, each individual in the organization has an obligation to detect and mitigate threats. People have less reason to worry if they are acting in ways that reduce the probability of falling victim to a breach.

Freelance Workers Platforms

Companies like Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal may seem like a good way to connect with freelance workers to provide logo design, website development, editing, translation, writing, etc. However, these companies have strict contracts with the workers that require the companies or workers retain all rights and ownership to the deliverable, which is in direct contradiction to the work made for hire relationship we need to have with our suppliers. Items or services we pay for must belong to the University. In addition, these workers are considered Independent Contractors, and not employees of the company, which further limits our ability to use them pursuant to California labor law AB5/2257. Therefore, we are unable to add these types of companies to Gateway or allow them on the Flexcard.

Purchasing Sustainably: Small Choices, Big Impact

Our journey toward a more sustainable campus begins with mindful purchasing decisions that create a meaningful impact. Here are some tips to consider when making procurement decisions:

By purchasing thoughtfully, we can collectively reduce waste, lower our carbon footprint, and support the university’s sustainability goals. Together, let’s make every purchase a step toward a greener future!

Please use the Helpdesk for targeted topics:

Submit requests and track inquiries directly through our online portal.

Go to Procurement Helpdesk

UCSB Procurement Processing Times

Standard turnaround times for purchase orders and contracts are available here:
bfs.ucsb.edu/procurement/processing-times

Where is my order?

After pulling up your requisition, locate the "What's Next" section on the right side. The current status will appear in a green checkmark. You can also use the Comment tab to get in touch with the person assigned the requisition.