About

Cornell Procurement Services (Procurement) reports to the executive director of financial administration and is led by the senior director of procurement services.

Organizational Chart (PDF)

Our Operations

Procurement provides a number of services to assist Cornell units with efficiently making purchases that are cost-effective and beneficial for the university, the economy, and the environment. Services provided by Procurement include vendor registration, contract review, managing purchase transactions, and strategic sourcing. In addition, we provide innovative shopping tools (e-SHOP), spend analysis tools (Spend Viz), and management of credit card programs to name a few. Procurement also offers several training opportunities to help staff members learn about the procurement process at Cornell and how to process purchases in line with university policy, using the tools available.

To ensure flexibility, efficiency, and a high level of customer service, Procurement is configured into three functional teams: Campus Services, Supplier Services, and Payment Services. The functional team responsibilities are defined in the table below.

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How We Can Help

Procurement Services staff members possess a unique blend of business and technical skills required to purchase goods, supplies, equipment, and services, including the following:

• Providing the interface with suppliers in matters of price, quality, and delivery at both the quotation and ordering stages of the procurement process.
• Identifying alternative sources of supply through regular commodity reviews.
• Conducting transaction-or supplier-specific negotiations with suppliers.
• Communicating with units to stay current with planned needs.
• Assisting units with the development of specifications for required products and services.
• Review supplier contracts for acceptable terms and conditions.
• Resolving legal and risk management issues with the aid of the offices of University Counsel and Risk Management and Insurance, respectively, that may arise during contract and purchase order negotiations.
• Deliver user-friendly and efficient buying methods, training programs, customer service, and support.
• Leverage the institution's buying power to develop strategic supplier business relationships and implement cost-effective contracts that produce significant financial return-on-investment.
• Provide customer service for accounts payable and invoice processing.
• Process vendors' invoices and credit memos against purchase orders for goods and services provided to the university.
• Set up payee Automatic Clearing House (ACH) accounts in KFS for direct deposit payments.

Purchasing and strategic sourcing agents are responsible for all aspects of their assigned commodities, including customer and supplier relationship management; spend analysis and contracting initiatives; purchase order review and approval of transactions greater than the university bid limit; and problem resolution. For more information about each agent, see our Contact page.

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