The Operational Excellence procurement initiative team released Friday a summary of its initial recommendations to cut campus spending in various areas of information technology in order to save between $1.1 million and $4.5 million.

According to the summary, the campus currently spends about $37 million to order computers, servers, software, copiers and printers from external suppliers. The procurement team hopes to form a collaboration with information technology to reduce the overall cost of delivering information technology services to the campus.

In order to cut costs, the summary recommends limiting desktop and laptop options for administrative staff to choose from, as well as narrowing the campus's computer supply base to one supplier for PCs and one for Macs. The campus should also coordinate "group buys" periodically for cheaper rates on computers and servers and "use higher demand to leverage improved pricing and better terms," the summary states.

The summary also recommends initiating UC San Francisco's Documents, Media and Mail Copier Management Program on the UC Berkeley campus to "optimize the distribution and use of copy and print equipment and reduce overall administrative and operational costs."

According to the program's website, Documents, Media and Mail is a print, copy and mail facility run by UCSF employees that manages self-service copiers for various campus departments in a centralized location.

In the coming weeks, the team will solicit feedback from the campus on its initial set of recommendations, add further detail and prioritize the most important recommendations.

The team will then present its proposal in the form of a business case, request for resources and budget to the Operational Excellence program office before the initiative's coordinating committee reviews it May 5, according to Operational Excellence communications manager Bill Reichle.

Tags: OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE PROCUREMENT INITIATIVE TEAM, BILL REICHLE