UNC considering efficient buying program

The UNC system has signed on with a local company that allows universities to order supplies online and through a centralized system that helps them save money.

The e-procurement company SciQuest will become the business standard for most of the 16 UNC system universities, but not necessarily N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

The two universities already have their own system for ordering supplies and are unsure whether they’ll benefit from switching to SciQuest.

The SciQuest e-procurement software provides customers with a catalog of vendors for classroom, laboratory, and office supplies.

Roger Patterson, associate vice chancellor for finance at UNC-CH, said the University has had an ordering program, known as PeopleSoft, for the last several years. PeopleSoft has its own e-procurement option, though the school has not yet implemented it.

Stephen Wiehe, the CEO of SciQuest, said his product improves on the traditional procurement methods and the software currently used by most UNC-system schools because it makes ordering easier, more eco-friendly and more attuned to local business.

“If a university worker needs to buy a computer, which is the best contract to buy under? It’s based on all types of criteria,” Wiehe said. “We show the differences in all vendors, contractors, and suppliers.”

SciQuest allows the user configure their search keywords to support local, minority/disadvantaged, state-contracted, or preferred vendors, Wiehe said.

The order is sent directly to the supplier electronically, eliminating third party involvement and cutting down on paper use and pollution from gas and emissions.

According to a study conducted at UNC-CH by efficiency consultants Bain & Company, the annual savings from an e-procurement method such as SciQuest could run between $40 million and $45 million.

The University will meet with SciQuest in the next two weeks to consider their product. There are several criteria Patterson said he is looking for.

“Does SciQuest deliver a functionality PeopleSoft does not? What price do they charge?” Patterson said.

“We want the best prices we can get our campus. There are just variances in whether SciQuest is the right vendor to use for that.”

This is not SciQuest’s first partnership with an academic institution. Wiehe said they currently service 104 colleges and universities including University of Virginia, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.

Jeff Davies, chief of staff for the UNC-system General Administration, said the software most schools use is not strong enough for increasing demands, and needs to be replaced by something more efficient.

SciQuest will be able to fill this niche, Davies said.

Campuses will begin to use SciQuest before next school year, some right after Jan. 1, 2010. There is a four to five-month implementation process.

“In our mind, this is a way to capitalize on the strength of our system in negotiating contracts that will give us the best prices for all campuses,” Davies said.



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