AMERICA TO GO PUNCHOUT TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE

CARTDecember 2019

1 | America To Go Punchout

2 | VT Procurement Wins Gov-ernor’s SWaM Innovator Award, Vendor Spotlight: Sub Station II

3 | Contracts Corner: VASCUPPFAQ: SCHEV, New Airgas Pun-chout

4 | Did You Know: On Demand Cleaning Services, Have You Seen: Quadrupedal Robot

5 | Procurement Spotlight: Mary Seyler

6 | Continued: FAQ SCHEV,Farewell To Patricia Mullins

What’s happening in Procurement at Virginia Tech

www.procurement.vt.edu

The university’s e-procurement catering services solution, America To Go, is implemented in HokieMart and available to all university de-partments. As a full service catering concierge, America To Go offers university caterers a web presence within HokieMart and offers depart-ments an easy to use solution for ordering catering whether it be for pickup, delivery or for a full service function.

Visit the Procurement website today to see self-directed training videos, FAQs and PowerPoint slides showing the functionality, ordering, receiving, and invoicing processing through the America To Go HokieMart solution. https://www.procurement.vt.edu/america-to-go.html

Select the punchout from the Hok-ieMart homepage to America To Go to see over 75 caterers available to select from. These will include cater-ers from Virginia Tech’s own Dining Services including Au Bon Pain, Blue Ridge BBQ, Dunkin’, Chick Fil A, Pizza Hut, Personal Touch & Qdo-ba. Also included are caterers who service the university campuses in Blacksburg, Richmond, Roanoke, National Capital Region and oth-

er university locations across the Commonwealth. Don’t worry if you don’t see your favorite caterer listed. We have many more that are still in the onboarding process. Additional caterers are being added every day!

By early 2020, the university will standardize the purchase of all routine catering needs through the America To Go HokieMart pun-chout catalog. Only non-routine or special events will still be processed as a “Direct Pay”. Until that time, we are asking for all departments to take the time to review the training ma-terials, explore the available caterers on the America To Go program and plan for a full transition of ordering routine catering within HokieMart’s America To Go punchout catalog.

2 | PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT

VENDOR SPOLIGHT Did you know SWaM vendor, Sub-station ll, uses biodegradable bags? Way to go Substation ll! The advantages of biodegradable products are numerous. They take less time to break down after be-ing discarded, if they haven’t been recycled. Biodegradable products are renewable, better for the environ-ment, require less energy to produce, and are non toxic.

Please be sure to email us at suppli-erdiversity@vt.edu if you would like to highlight your favorite vendor in the spotlight.

VT PROCUREMENT WINS 2019 GOVERNOR’S SWAM AWARD FOR SWAM INNOVATOR

Mary Helmick and the Procurement Team were honored with the 2019 Governor’s SWaM Innovator Award in November. The entire Procurement department demonstrates several best-practice approaches to maximize opportunities for SWaM firms and continues to strive for the importance of recognizing Supplier Diversity as a facet of the university’s overall diversity initiatives. The University was recognized for the great job at implementing the new SWaM search tool for campus, hosting the annual SWaM Vendor Fair, and doing presentations regarding SWaM activities across campus.

CONTRACTS

CORNER

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEW VASCUPP CONTRACTSVirginia Tech now has access to more to nearly 40 brand new VASCUPP contracts!These contracts include the follow-ing vendors: AAA Plastic Products Company, Anatomage Inc., Animal Specialties and Provisions South, Ankom Technology Corporation, Aqua Logic, Azure Biosystems, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, Clearpath Robotics, DJO Global, GenScript

Shortly after the start of the new calendar year, we are typically given clearance from VT Office of Budget and Financial Planning to start the acquisition phase of equipment ap-proved through the SCHEV Equip-ment Trust Fund program. Once the approved list of ETF equipment is released to both procurement and departments, purchases should start being placed in HokieMart. Please ensure that your areas utilize their allocations and that the items meet the ETF guidelines. Get ETF orders placed quickly and early to ensure receipt of your items prior to the de-livery and receiving deadlines of mid June, 2020. All standard procure-ment protocols and procedures need to be followed to acquire equipment with ETF funding. Be familiar with the following specific ETF procure-ment guidelines:

• While the University would prefer for equipment purchases to be over $2,000, a single item must cost at least $500 or more in order for the University to be reimbursed from the Equipment Trust Fund Program. Similarly, a single functional system must also cost at least $500. If the actual cost drops below $500 for an item or functional system, the department will be responsible for the cost.

Continued on last page:FAQ SCHEV

When will SCHEV purchases begin?

Corporation, Grazing Shade LLC, Hirox-USA, Illumina Inc., LI-COR Inc., Percival Scientific, TCI Ameri-ca, and TestEquity LLC. Before requesting a quote from one of these vendors, go to https://vas-cupp.org/contracts.php and find the contract number. Then request the vendor to extend pricing in accor-dance with the contract and refer-ence the contract # on the quote.

NEW AIRGAS PUNCHOUTEffective December 2, 2019, Airgas updated their punchout catalog which included the following chang-es: • Electronic delivery of purchase

orders and electronic invoicing• New quote feature• Selection of account number in

the punchout which eliminates the need to add the account number in the “External Notes to Suppliers”

If you have questions about the new punchout, please contact the Hok-ieMart helpline (540-231-2020) or Matt Pisanti, matt.pisenti@airgas.com, 540-381-2343.

4 | PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT

DID YOUKNOW?

ON DEMAND CLEANING SERVICESDid you know that Virginia Tech has five contracts for on-demand clean-ing services?

• Evergreen Janitorial Services Inc VTS-1225-2020

• Goodwill Industries of the Valley Works Inc: VTS-1245-2020

• Jett Cleaning Services: TS-1249-2020

• Servpro of South Roanoke Mont-gomery & Pulaski Counties: VTS-1221-2020

• Special Touch Cleaning Inc: VTS-1243-2020

Virginia Tech provides routine, scheduled janitorial services uti-lizing university employees and/or an outsourced contracted janitori-al services, to clean and maintain university facilities, buildings or occupied locations on or around its campuses. To supplement routine, scheduled janitorial services already

provided, there was an additional need for non-routine, on demand cleaning services that may be re-quired either on a “one-time” basis or could be scheduled on a continu-ous basis dependent on the needs of the individual university department responsible for the specific facilities or occupied space.

Have you seen .... Virginia Tech’s new quadrupedal ro-bot doing pushups on the sideline of Lane Stadium after the Hokies score?

This robot went viral after its ap-pearance on ESPN in late September. Procurement played a role in pur-chasing this robot from a firm called Ghost Robotics Corporation out of Philadelphia, PA which specializes in the creation and revolution of legged robotics. When it’s not perform-ing push-ups on the sideline, this 4-legged robot can be found in Dr. Kaveh Hamed’s laboratory located in Goodwin Hall. Dr. Hamed and his team study how living animals, usually dogs, make their movements. They then translate those move-ments into tens of thousands of lines of computer code, which controls motors that mimic hips, elbows, wrists, and more. This allows the robot to perform a wide array of dif-ferent movements, as well as perform push-ups on the sideline after its favorite team scores.

5 | PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT

PROCUREMENT SPOTLIGHT

Mary Seyler has worked at Virginia Tech for 16 years, all of which have been with the Procurement Depart-ment. Mary supports the purchase of renovation services through our On-Demand construction program, as well as the purchase of furniture and fixtures for the University. She also is responsible for various goods and services contracts for the Uni-versity.

Fun Facts About Mary

Favorite Sport/s to Watch: Women’s Gymnastics

Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving

Hobbies or what do you do in your spare time: I love to bake and assist my husband with brewing beer. I also love watching old movies and cooking shows

Favorite Animal: OttersCurrent Pet/s: I have one rescue dog, a cat, and a leopard Gecko.

Favorite Movie: “The Shawshank Redemption” and “All About Eve”Favorite Book: “To Kill A Mocking Bird”Favorite TV show: The Great British Baking Show

Who is your biggest Role Model: My Mother

Which three people living or dead would you invite to dinner: Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Patty Smith

Mountains or Ocean: MountainsSummer or winter: Summer

Continued... UPCOMING EVENTS

FOLLOW US:Facebook: @VirginiaTechProcurement

Instagram: @VT_Procurement

Have Suggestions?Tell us how we are doing by using the link below:

Give us your feedback

LabConnect: April 1 ,2020 • Requisitions must be prepared and submitted through Hok-ieMart. When procuring ETF equipment through HokieMart, SCHEV numbers should be entered into the External Notes field in the cart as follows “ETF=20819xxxx1.”

• SCHEV reference numbers are assigned to specific equipment items; they are not interchange-able. They are also assigned by departments, and may not be used by another department un-less transferred by the Office of Budget and Financial Planning.

• Please note that departments will be responsible for the cost of items purchased which do not comply with ETF guidelines.

FAQ: SCHEV?

Patricia Mullins has served Virginia Tech for the past 14 years. On De-cember 12, 2019 she is officially re-tiring from the position of Assistant Director for Research Support. She has guided many Faculty and Staff members on procurement policies and procedures, and has always been passionate to ensure Virginia Tech receives the best value by negotiating numerous purchases and contracts. Patricia’s strong work ethic, knack for procedures, and resourceful wis-dom has made her an amazing asset to her co-workers, campus and sup-pliers throughout the years. During retirement Patricia wishes to travel, and continue to cheer on the Hokies when attending football, basketball and other sporting events. Patricia, on behalf of the Procurement De-partment, thank you for your ser-vice, enjoy your retirement.