By Denise Barton, Chief Deputy General Counsel
In the Fall of 2019, the University’s Unified Procurement Services Team (“UPST”) was formed and introduced themselves to the Office of the General Counsel “OGC”). Upon meeting one another, the teams immediately recognized their shared purpose: providing excellent, efficient, and prompt service to our campus colleagues, particularly in the contracting process.
"The synergy between UPST and OGC existed from the moment they met one another in 2019 and has resulted in a wonderful five-year working partnership between the two teams."
- Denise Barton, Chief Deputy General Counsel
UPST and OGC brought their talent portfolios together in many ways. The first order of business was to design and implement a new, but always responsively evolving, contract review process to create efficiencies for our campus colleagues, including periodic training on that process and complementary software tools that communicate with one another.
In addition, examples of the collaboration between UPST and OGC include working to revise relevant Board of Trustees policies, the creation of vendor performance management guidelines, and working together with law enforcement to address external fraud efforts, including advising our campus colleagues how to limit instances of fraud by instituting internal protocols to track and validate orders for the university system.
The synergy between UPST and OGC existed from the moment they met one another in 2019 and has resulted in a wonderful five-year working partnership between the two teams.
Contact the Office of General Counsel (OGC)
The OGC includes leadership and staff across various UMass campuses, including Amherst, Boston, and areas such as International Affairs, Export Control & Compliance. For more information, visit the Contact the General Counsel page.
About Denise Barton: Denise Barton serves as the Chief Deputy General Counsel for the University of Massachusetts, bringing her over three decades of legal experience to the Office of General Counsel. With her commitment to collaborative problem-solving, Denise and her colleagues have played a pivotal role in working with UPST to streamline the legal processes inherent in the procurement process. Her leadership fosters innovation and efficiency across the UMass system, ensuring robust legal and operational support for university initiatives.