Leaning on UMass Administration & Finance Functions During Disruptive Times

by Amanda Onwuka, Director of Quality and Services, UPST

I just finished reading our UMass President, Marty Meehan, President’s Report – March 2025. And took time to reflect on the President’s opening statements about this being a disruptive moment at UMass and stated that as we navigate these times, we will “stay true to our values as an institution and respect the responsibility we have to our students, faculty, staff, and all members of our campus communities.” 

The Administration & Finance (A&F) team wants to play our role in supporting our faculty, staff, and students in managing the impact of these uncertainties concerning federal policy changes and their extended implications on our research funding. Over the last five (5) years, the President’s Office A&F team, which includes, among others, the Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST), Travel & Expense (T&E), Treasurer's Office, and Innovations & Operational Services (Innovations), has supported the campus with cost reduction activities achieved through the competitive process enabling campus budgets to go further, increased transaction efficiency (with efficiency gains, ranging from 10% to 37%, in supplier onboarding, contracts, and invoice processing) while also driving compliance to UMass Board of Trustees approved policies (Procurement, Travel, and Business & Travel Expense).

To continue to do this in partnership with you, we want to use this opportunity to highlight other ways UMPO A&F can support you.

Contract Compliance & Risk Management

UPST is here to proactively support you in managing vendors and subcontractors to comply with federal and Commonwealth policies and limit liability issues. This can be achieved through the following: 

• UMass Contract All Agreement: These have been reviewed by the UMass Legal Team (Office of the General Council) and align with the Commonwealth’s requirements while mitigating various risks that would have risen from using vendor contracts.
• Proactive Contract Management: We have created a Procurement Strategic Planning Analytical & Reporting (SPARC-Pro) tool that helps department decision-makers proactively review and make contract management decisions up to 24 months in advance. It also allows departments to decide on contracts or supplier relationships that need termination. If you want access to this tool for your department, kindly email upst@umassp.edu.
• Use of existing strategic or GPO contracts: UMass has worked to ensure we have substantial competitively sourced contracts in significant categories like IT, Executive Search, MRO, etc. This is now the time for us to leverage these contracts to minimize non-optimized contract-related spending. We have additional Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) contracts with UMass partners like the Commonwealth (OSD) and Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) that are already loaded into BuyWays from which you can buy. We encourage you to make use of these options; remember to always start with BuyWays and solicit for 2 to 3 quotes for your purchases between $10,000 and $50,000. These contracts have been shown to have better pricing, discounts, and benefits when compared against the industry. .

Pre-spending Controls

We have been journeying to automate manual processes and leverage new technologies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. The implementation of Concur in FY24 has streamlined the travel and expense process by integrating supervisory workflows from our HR system. Additionally, leveraging workflows within BuyWays for requisition, invoice, contract, and bidding/sourcing approvals has improved visibility for both users and department approvers. 

However, during this period, our focus extends beyond simply approving expenditures—we aim to enhance your ability to exercise fiduciary responsibility, ensuring that every financial decision aligns with UMass priorities, budgetary constraints, and compliance requirements. 

• Pre-Travel Authorization: This is a must-do before any travel is booked or embarked on. During these times when some campuses have started curtailing discretionary spending, ensuring that all travel decisions begin with a pre-travel authorization will help manage downstream spending and risk exposure. To ensure you are current with what your campus is doing about managing travel-related discretionary spending, contact your campus Admin & Finance leadership for the latest guidelines.
• Travel Booking:  Once travel is authorized, it is recommended that airfare for Delta, United, American, and their respective partners be booked in Concur Travel.  This ensures the traveler will receive the best possible pricing.  We continue to work hard to build relationships with other air carriers to build a best-in-breed travel experience.
• Bank Card Spending Controls: During the COVID pandemic, one control leveraged by departments was the reduction of monthly or per transaction spending limits on their departmental cards. With this change, department leaders had a say when their department wanted to make any significant credit card-related transaction, as a Change Request would need to be generated for a temporary limit increase.  
• Purchasing Workflow Optimization: Most see workflows as agents for automation and improved efficiency. However, we use it to enforce UMass policies, budget controls, and regulatory compliance (e.g., federal grant guidelines and internal spending policies). For internal spending, UPST can help you review your departmental purchasing workflow thresholds to ensure that roles and spending thresholds are aligned. 

The UMPO Administration & Finance team and your Campus A&F Leadership are here to support you in meeting your business-as-usual needs during this period. We are one call or email away. To start discussions, email upst@umassp.edu, and we can contact you to discuss your unique needs.