Internal Controls and Integration Lead to an Ethical, Effective, and Efficient Purchasing System

The University of Washington is the state of Washington largest university and third largest employer, behind Boeing and Microsoft. Purchasing is performed using hybrid system, made up of a central purchasing department that oversees many sub-buying units assigned to individual departments. Facilities Services is responsible for maintaining the operation and maintenance of the campus. They have a Finance and Business unit that is responsible for all procurement needs for the department. The department also includes “stores”, a warehouse location of MRO supplies. Problem The university’s has established an e-procurement system; within in it offers a vast number of suppliers and e-catalogs. It is an on-going challenge for the purchasing to control what is being purchased and through what means it is being purchased. Customers continue to seek out suppliers and look for loopholes in policies that allow them to conduct business in their own self-interest, conflicting with university policies. For example: • Personnel issuing multiple purchase orders to equal to amount of a single purchase to bypass the RFQ process. • Low-level employees able to request material purchases without any department approval. • Supplier selection based on personal relationships Objective We will focus our research on Facilities Services Finance and Business unit and how they are governed by Central Purchasing. Also, research more in-depth the issues and recommend solutions to help them achieve greater value and efficiencies by integration.