Over the past several months, Purchasing Services has been in discussion with Westjet representatives in efforts to reduce point of purchase costs for air fares being reimbursed to employees through travel expense claims or for air travel for UVic guests arranged through UVic.s designated travel agency (Uniglobe Geo).
We are pleased to report that we have been successful in obtaining significant discounts on university air fares commencing with all flights booked on, or after, September 5, 2012. These rate reductions will apply to all travel on Westjet Y,V,Q,L,M,B,P,G,X and D fare types, including both university and employee personal travel, as well as family members travelling with a UVic employee. There are no fare reductions under the new agreement for already discounted fares or Westjet advertised seat sales. You will find the reductions by fare class on Purchasing Services website at: http://web.uvic.ca/purc/etravel.php.
Westjet are offering these discounted rates for eligible flights booked through UVic.s designated Travel Agency or when booked directly by an employee on Westjet.s BIZLink website, only accessible through the UVic Purchasing Services website noted above.
Please feel free to contact Rosanna Perri at 250 . 472 . 5041 or rperri@uvic.ca should additional information or assistance be required.
A possible strike by Air Canada customer service and sales staff is expected to hit Tuesday morning 12:01 am in cities across Canada. Air Canada is advising the following information:
Check in online or on your mobile device at any time within 24 hours of flight departure. Although more than 500 self service kiosks for check-in and baggage tagging are available at the nine Canadian airports that would be affected by the strike (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto Pearson, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and St. John's NL), lines would be longer than usual with limited available personnel.
Check your flight status online and make sure you arrive at the airport in advance of recommended check-in and boarding gate deadlines to avoid problems associated with summer travel congestion.
If at all possible avoid traveling with checked baggage.
For after hours emergency assistance please contact our Rescue line at 1-800-787-2912 and quote our SOS code YEGWV2100.
For cell phone users in the US please call 416-928-5404 collect and quote our SOS code YEGWV2100.
Update June 15:
In partnership with Air Canada, UNIGLOBE Geo Travel is providing complimentary service fees until the labor dispute has ended, to anyone needing to make changes to their Air Canada bookings made direct with UNIGLOBE Geo Travel, online or with the Air Canada Call Centre.
UNIGLOBE Geo Travel service fees will be waived; however this does not cover airline specific imposed change fees, additional collections and non refundable amounts. Please note: some flights booked direct with Air Canada may be inaccessible.
Please stay tuned to AirCanada.com for more updates.
During the rotating strikes, if you wish to pick-up your cheque for payment relating to a supply to UVic, please contact UVic Purchasing Services at 250-721-8326, fax your request on your letterhead to 250-721-8327, or by e-mail to purchase@uvic.ca and advise us accordingly. Otherwise your cheque will be mailed in the normal manner.
Update June 15:
Firms that want their cheques couriered would have to make their arrangements directly with Maximum Express and the rates noted would apply.
UVic would only pay the courier charges where we specifically committed to do so in advance with each respective supplier, where the delivery was FOB UVic prepaid and charge, or FOB the supplier freight collect.
The purpose of this communication is to advise you that commencing January 2nd, 2011, the University of Victoria has changed the manner in which it will make up-front hotel accommodation and special purpose/event bookings and reservations.
In the past, most hotels included in their agreements with the University, attrition clauses and have applied significant financial penalties where guest room stay targets were not met. We will no longer accept, nor execute agreements that require guaranteed block room bookings and commitments in conjunction with requests for meeting room space, special purpose/function space, conference or meeting room space, food and beverage services, and other related services, such as audio visual rentals, trade show arrangements and display space. Purchasing Services have informed the respective hotels in Victoria and Vancouver that in future, attrition fee clauses cannot be included in any contracts involving a UVic Department or Faculty, and that contracts that contain these clauses will not be accepted.
As well, in the past, Faculty’s and Department’s have often by-passed Purchasing Services in the sourcing, review and contract formation/execution stages of the commitment with the respective hotel. Please note that, all UVic contracts greater than $2,500 MUST be approved and signed by Purchasing Services prior to commitment to be valid. When these agreements are not processed and approved in advance by Purchasing Services, they will be deemed VOID and non-enforceable.
Commencing in January 2011, all UVic requests for hotel guest room accommodation will be on a “first right of refusal” (on-hold) basis. In other words, a UVic representative would book dates for an event, expected room nights for these dates, and other related food, beverage and ancillary services. Should another non-UVic client wish this same space that is on “Hold” for UVic, we are to be provided with a first right of refusal by direct contact with our internal faculty/department contact, or Purchasing Services by the respective hotel representative. Should we wish to keep and commit to this space or interim booking, we will be required at that time to confirm into contract our specific requirements. Guarantees and cut-off dates for reductions will also not apply.
With the economic conditions as they are, it is impossible to predict attendance at each event and it is inappropriate to bear the burden of attrition penalty charges. We encourage individuals making reservations or booking of hotel guest accommodation to only consider those establishments that do not include attrition clauses and penalties within their contracts.
Should you wish to discuss this announcement, or require clarification, please contact me at 250-721-8330.
Ken S. Babich, Director, Purchasing Services
Each year-end, Purchasing Services conducts a review of all Corporate Supply Agreements (CSA), generally referred to as Agreements or AGRs, to determine if they should be extended, amended, cancelled or re-sourced prior to renewal.
Renewal of Purchase Agreements (AGRs and CSAs) without sourcing where the annual spend is anticipated to exceed $10K based on the prior fiscal year spend level, must be accompanied by a completed directed award form. Purchasing Services reserve the right to tender commodities under $10K if it is in the best interest of the University or if there is a sufficient local supplier network to warrant a competitive sourcing process. Directed Award forms are available on our e-procurement website:
http://web.uvic.ca/purc/docs/misc/directedAwardRequest.pdf
A listing of all current AGRs or CSAs issued for your administrative, research, or academic unit, expiring in fiscal year 2010-11 will be forwarded to your office under a separate document.
Please continue reading the complete News Bulletin.
The purpose of this announcement is to provide you with advanced notice of several important changes to the processing of BMO Purchasing Card statements effective with the issuance of the January 4th, 2010 Cardholder “Account Statements”.
Following upon the recommendations of a recent internal audit report on the controls and processing of PCard transactions, the following changes will be placed into practice effective January 4th, 2010:
1. Cardholders will have two weeks to review their account statements, attach receipts and reconcile transactions after each billing cycle date, and return these to Purchasing Services with the required signature of the Cardholder, and the one-up supervisor or approver. The statements MUST be returned to Purchasing Services prior to the 19th of the month following the respective billing cycle;
2. Purchasing Card privileges will be suspended on the 19th of the month following non-submission of statements and released from block after receipt of the respective statements;
3. Effective with the January 4th Account Statement monthly statements will be distributed electronically to the Cardholder with a copy to the one-up supervisor/approver, in order to increase awareness of Pcard activity and to ensure that transactions are reviewed, reconciled and returned on time;
4. Commencing early in 2010, each faculty, research, administrative, and unit head will also receive a complete electronic listing of all Purchasing Cardholders for their respective units where PCards have been issued. This listing, to be provided periodically, is intended to inform unit heads of the cards issued in their units and assist in completing account statement reviews.
5. Also commencing early in the new year, Purchasing Services will be periodically issuing to each Cardholder their profiles for review, certification and return to Purchasing Services to ensure that transactions are charged and reported to the appropriate FAST accounts;
6. In addition to Cardholders having access to their transaction to “Details-on-line” in real time, faculty, research, administrative and unit heads will also be provided with access to Cardholder transactions in real-time. Cardholders are encouraged to access transactions directly from BMO’s database using their ID and passwords provided and review and reallocate transactions prior to the reporting deadlines, which are being advanced to maintain coverage by BMO for potentially disputed transactions.
Should you have any questions please feel free to contact any of the Purchasing Staff.
Deceptive telemarketers have been calling organizations in Victoria, including the University, to confirm information such as the correct mailing address and the type of printer the organization uses. The target may be under the impression that they are talking to their regular supplier and provides the requested information.
Regardless of whether the toner cartridge is ordered or sent, the organization will receive an invoice.
If the organization refuses to pay or tries to send the products back, the scammer either bullies the organization into paying or negotiates a lower price. Since the prices were extremely high in the first place, the scammer still makes a profit.
If you get a suspicious call, take their phone number and tell them you require a purchase order. This will either scare them off or give us time to check the legitimacy of the transaction. Don't be pressured into accepting a purchase over the phone just because they say it's a one-time deal, special or that your subscription will lapse. If they are legitimate they'll understand that you have procedures to follow.
Purchasing Services has negotiated special pricing with pre-approved businesses for the benefit of the University. Discounts on our standing agreements almost always represent the best value. Approved office products suppliers are Grand & Toy and the UVic Computer Store. Furthermore, any printers purchased under our Kyocera contract include the supply of cartridges.
For more details, please refer to the e-Merchant section on the Purchasing website.
Budget and Enterprise Rent-A-Car have updated their rental options and rates for University of Victoria faculty and staff. For more details, please see the News Bulletin.
Programs are accessible under e-Merchants (for UVic business) and on the Discount Program page (for staff & faculty personal use).
Accent Inns "Best Rate Guarantee" ensures that your rate will be reduced to match the lowest available rate posted on their website. This is automatic.
Accent Inns is also offering a special rate of $89 sgl/dbl valid to September 30, 2009 at their Vancouver Airport location. This is a reduction of $16.
Programs are accessible under e-Merchants (for UVic business) and on the Discount Program pages. For reservations, please call 1-888-663-0298 or visit www.accentinns.com.
The Great Canadian Oil Change has revised their special fleet discount program for UVic faculty, staff, students, and alumni to a 10% saving off their regular retail price of $47.99 at their Langford location at 876 Langford Parkway.
Details available on the Discount Program pages.
UVic has joined West Coast Air’s Air Bucks e-ticket floatplane travel credit program. This new program facilitates travel for faculty, staff, students and guests traveling on UVic business between Victoria, Vancouver downtown, and Vancouver airport locations.
Click Here for important information.
Join UVic Supplier Accent Inns at their InnAid Community Expo, Saturday, April 18, 10-4 at the Blanshard at Cloverdale Accent Inn.
30 Community Organizations join to offer education, understanding and new ideas for our community, through interactive demonstrations and presentations.
Enter to win fabulous prizes! Tell your friends. Families welcome.
Please bring clothing for the Salvation Army and non-perishable foods for Mustard Seed.
Click Here for the poster.
This memo is to confirm the deadlines for submission and entry of transactions to be included in the 2008/09 fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.
Click Here for important information.
West Coast Air now offers the ability to Charter their aircraft. They have 2 types of aircraft available to Charter; the deHavilland Beaver, which seats up to 6 passengers, and the Twin Otter that seats up to 16 passengers. For details, please contact Tony Wilson, Charter Manager at 604-648-4417.
As part of UVic's Year-End procedures, Purchasing Services conducts a review of all Corporate Supply Agreements (CSA), generally referred to as Agreements or AGR(s), to determine if they should be amended, cancelled or re-sourced prior to renewal...
Click Here for important information.
To help celebrate the season, Accent Inns is offering UVic Staff and Faculty a special rate from December 19, 2008 to January 4, 2009 at all of their locations.
Please login to the Staff/faculty discount program page for details.
The Accent Inns Staff/Faculty and Student Discount Programs have been updated with rates for 2009. See the Staff/Faculty or Student Discount pages for details.
Purchasing Services is pleased to announce that UVic has entered into a strategic supply arrangement with Grand & Toy effective August 15, 2008 which will give UVic the ability to realize savings in many different office supplies categories through discounts as high as 60% on a majority of products and 80% on select items.
Click Here for the notice. Details will be available on the e-Merchant Program page after August 15, 2008.
The Great Canadian Oil Change has announced a special fleet discount program for UVic faculty, staff, students, and alumni at a 15% saving off their regular retail price of $42.95 at their new Langford location at 876 Langford Parkway.
Click Here for the notice. Details are also available on the Discount Program pages.
Effective September 1, 2008, rental or lease of 15 passenger vans by a UVic employee to be used for UVic business is not permitted. This action is taken as a result of the risks associated with frequent roll-overs being experienced with the 15 passenger van.
All auto rental agencies have been informed that prior to rental or lease of a 15 passenger van to a UVic employee or representative after September 1, 2008, MUST be referred to the Purchasing Services office at 250-721-8326 or purchase@uvic.ca
Should you require transportation for large groups necessitating a vehicle for at least 15 passengers, please contact Purchasing Services for assistance. Thank you for your understanding.
Have you received an email from AP Reply workflow requesting that you login with your Netlink ID and password?
The process for approving invoices has been changed. New guidelines require that all expenses charged to research accounts must be approved and signed by the account holder or their delegate, regardless of the dollar amount at the time the expense is charged to the account.
Training Session notices for this and other processes will be posted on FAST after users logon to uSource and click on the FAST icon. Notices will appear on the left side of the screen.
Click Here for the notice from Accounting Services.
Island Blue is hosting its annual Art Fair May 31st from 10-4, 905 Fort St.
Purchasing Services wants your opinion! Please complete the survey here to assist us in evaluating our current suppliers of Stationary and Office Supplies at UVic.
The Accent Inns Staff/Faculty and Student Discount Programs have been updated with rates into 2009. See the Staff/Faculty or Student Discount pages for details.
A special group package has been negotiated on behalf of staff and faculty at UVic, including special RBC Royal Bank promotional residential mortgage rates, preferred interest rates on GICs, and day-to-day banking packages. For more details see the e-Staff page.
West Coast Air has announced a new route to Comox on Vancouver Island. The daily scheduled service will start on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008. Please refer to the schedule and press release below.
Purchasing Services News Bulletins are now archived for reference on this website in the Information section.
Click Here to access.
If a device is intended to be hosted on UVic's Network, or if software is to be installed on any UVic Network attached device, the respective request will require Technical Approval from Computer and Systems Services (CASS) prior to purchasing for acquisition by Purchasing Services or the Computer Store, irrespective of cost. Please see attached Chart for Guidelines.
Please Click Here for guidelines.
The purpose of this communication is to inform the University community of new US and Canada customs clearance regulations implemented recently by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Canada Border Services Agency for import and export of commercial goods.
Please Click Here for detail.
We have received notification that a number of DeWalt Individual Cordless Drillsare being recalled for repair as the trigger switch may over-heat which maypresent a possible risk of fire. Please refer to the attached notice from DeWalt tocheck the model numbers and date codes that are affected.
If you have a drill that is included in this list, STOP USING IT IMMEDIATELY, and callDeWalt toll free at 1-888-742-9168 between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm, Eastern Time,Monday through Friday for additional information or log onto DeWalt's website at www.dewalt.com.
Click Here for the official notice.
As part of UVic's Year-End procedures, Purchasing Services conducts a review of all Corporate Supply Agreements (CSA), generally referred to as Agreements or AGR(s), to determine if they should be amended, cancelled or re-sourced prior to renewal.
Click Here for important information.
The purpose of this communication is to inform UVic BMO Purchasing Cardholders that recently an individual with no ties to the University of Victoria obtained via fraudulent means a current UVic Cardholder's purchasing card number and was able to make several purchases in-person at several Merchants (different locations) in a period of several days during the Christmas break. This individual replicated a BMO Mastercard with a UVic employee's card number and was successful in completing a number of transactions with a combined value in excess of $1,000.
Due to active monitoring of transactions by the Cardholder, Purchasing Services were promptly advised and cancelled the PCard with BMO. As a result, our fraud insurance with BMO will negate the charges to UVic.
This is a reminder that Cardholders should be monitoring their transactions frequently (preferred daily) to ensure unauthorized charges are not made against their respective PCards. Under our fraud insurance, UVic has a brief (reasonable) period to report lost, stolen, unauthorized, or fraudulent transactions with BMO. BMO then resolves the unauthorized transactions directly with the respective Merchants.
Cardholders are to inform BMO directly and immediately at: 1-800-263-2263 (Canada) or 1-416-283-2263 (elsewhere) when they become aware of a lost, stolen, or damaged card; and, Purchasing Services promptly (immediately if possible) upon detection of problems with their transactions, including lost, stolen or damaged PCards.
Please feel free to contact Rosanna at 5041, or Sharon at 5147 in Purchasing Services should you require further information or clarification of this communication or training assistance on transaction monitoring.
Click Here for access to your transaction reports and instructions on how to access and view your reports.
New US and Canada customs clearance regulations have been implemented recently by US Homeland Security and Canada Customs for import and export of all goods.
Click Here for important information.
Everyone at Helijet would like to take this moment to thank all of our valued passengers, suppliers and colleagues for their continued patronage and support.
We are proud to be your Helicopter service of choice and hope to keep serving you for years to come.
Wishing you all a safe, happy and prosperous 2008!
Helijet has a revised Holiday schedule effective Dec.14, 2007- Jan.11, 2008. Please note there are no flights operating Dec.25, 26, 2007 or January 1, 2008.
The purpose of this communication is to inform current one-up approvers of Monthly Billing Reconciliation Statements, that Purchasing Services MUST BE advised of all terminations and status changes for any Purchasing Cardholders within their department and/or faculty, as UVic Purchasing Services is required to notify BMO of these changes within 24 hours of such change. In the event of abuse (unauthorized use of the card for purchases not related to UVic business) of the Purchasing Card by the Cardholder, and we have not notified BMO of the termination, UVic is not covered by our anti-abuse insurance coverage.
Purchasing Services will continue to enforce the requirement to submit one-up approved reconciliation statements, including original receipts, otherwise the respective Cardholder PCard will be blocked from use until such time as all reconciliation statements are up-to-date.
Click Here to see full announcement.
e-Merchant suppliers will be shipping 100% post consumer waste (PCW) white bond paper in place of 30% PCW as their stock is depleted. For details or to order see the e-Merchants page.
Effective 21 July through 30 September, weekends and statutory holidays (6 August and 3 September).
Click Here to see full announcement.
The Hotel Reservation and Authorization Form - Non Faculty and Non Employees has been updated with informationon Non-Smoking and Smoking rooms. Should the use of a non-smoking room be violated, a levy may be applied by the hotel which is the responsibilityof the guest and/or the department.
Click Here to access the Hotel Reservation form.
This is the summer to experience an amazing, scenic helicopter flight between Vancouver and Victoria! Do you have friends or family that have always wanted to fly via helicopter, but never had the opportunity?
Click Here to access UVic Helijet summer fare program.
Corporate Express has announced an account for the University Staff to make personal purchases for themselves. Staff is entitled to the same pricing and discounts as we offer to the University.
Click here to access the discounts (Netlink ID and Password is required)
Effective June 28, 2010, the Technology Solutions Centre (TSC) provides institutional technology acquisition assistance to faculty and staff. It is the first point of contact for all institutional technology acquisitions. Click more to access further details.
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UNIGLOBE Geo Travel is the University of Victoria's preferred travel service provider for non-employee travel.
Phone: 1-250-386-8444 (press 1)
Toll-free: 1-800-457-6449 (press 1)
Email: uvic@geo.ca
