After extensive consultation with the 91亚色 community, we heard that purchasing goods and services was a time-consuming process and there was room for improvement. Through measures to simplify and digitize purchasing, we鈥檙e increasing usability and overall efficiency while reducing cost, effort and process time. These are considerable impacts that are aligned with our Vision for Service Excellence. 

What鈥檚听changed so far听

• The 鈥渟ingle quote threshold鈥� under which departments are permitted to determine fair market value will increase from $10,000 to $25,000. 

• Departments will no longer be required to solicit three quotes for payments under $25,000, except for consulting services which require multiple quotes regardless of value. 

For more information, you can view the Procurement Services bulletin听here.听听

Benefit to the 91亚色 Community听

Based on benefit analysis,听the update to the single quote threshold听is expected to听reduce the time to purchase goods and services听valued between $10,000 and $25,000听by up to four weeks.听This results in less time-consuming administrative work and frees听staff for more important听tasks within their respective departments.听听

What's next

To听stay up to date about the latest听improvements in the SEP鈥檚 Finance听Stream, join our mailing list.听听For any questions or feedback, please reach out to our team.听

What is the Finance stream improving?

Based on a review of benchmarking data and past and current initiatives and feedback from community, the Finance Stream has focussed its work on three key areas:

1. Simplifying and digitizing purchasing
2. Simplifying and digitizing expense reimbursement
3. Modernizing budgeting, forecasting and reporting

What specific improvements have we made so far?

• Sped up reimbursement of expenses by ~4.8 business days by reducing Finance reviews
• Sped up reimbursement of expenses by a further ~3 business days by simplifying approvals and standardizing the process across 91亚色.

What improvements are coming next?

• A number of other improvements across the three focus areas are currently in implementation.
• We will also shortly commence work to speed up the processing of grant funding for researchers.

Further blog posts will follow as more improvements are implemented. For more information on the work of the SEP Finance stream, join the SEP mailing list for regular updates or contact SEP.