In this issue:
- From the CPO's Desk | Procurement Practices to Mitigate Tariff Impacts
- BruinBuy Plus Enhancements | New System Rules to Improve Processing
- System Issue | RESOLVED: Sales Tax Impact on QDB & GL
- Next Week's Forecast | Office Hours & Other Important Events
- In Case You Missed It... | A Glance at Previous News
Earlier this week, Chief Procurement Officer O.T. Wells II sent the following message to CAOs, CFOs, and BruinBuy Plus users:
The federal administration recently announced significant tariffs that will impact nearly all United States trading partners. Considering this uncertainty, we must take proactive measures to mitigate disruptions.
The most effective and actionable step for the Bruin community is to prioritize the use of strategically sourced agreements with UCLA- and UC-systemwide vendors.
We have established collaborative, long-term relationships with these suppliers, and they are essential to our procurement strategy. By consolidating our spending, we enhance the value of these partnerships and ensure continuity during this period of instability.
Review additional details and recommendations in the April 15 communication.
Declining Balance Restriction on Catalog Orders
BruinBuy Plus’ Declining Balance functionality is typically used for recurring services / blanket purchase agreements because it reduces a PO’s balance as invoices are processed against it. Most catalog orders are considered one-time purchases and therefore ineligible for this functionality.
Historically, BruinBuy Plus has not prevented a user from accidentally applying the Declining Balance designation to a catalog order, resulting in various downstream impacts and delays. Moving forward, users will experience a hard stop if they try to submit a catalog order with the Declining Balance setting enabled.
NOTE: Airgas and Ricoh catalog orders are excluded from this restriction.
Mckesson Minimum Order Threshold
UCLA’s contract with McKesson Medical Surgical requires a minimum order value of $100. Previously, orders that did not meet this threshold were manually returned to the submitter for correction.
To reduce processing delays, users will now encounter an automated error if they attempt to submit a McKesson Medical Surgical order that is less than $100. The order minimum does not include sales tax and shipping / handling fees.
As previously announced, implementing the new Los Angeles County sales tax rate caused a temporary integration error between QDB and BruinBuy Plus. As a result, QDB and GL data may have been outdated / missing for invoices whose pay and/or invoice status changed between Tuesday, April 1, and Friday, April 4.
As of April 12, this issue has been resolved:
- QDB now reflects the most current invoice information.
- Missing encumbrance transactions are now appearing on the GL.
- Impacted encumbrance transactions with a March effective date will reflect in the April 2025 GL posting period.
If you notice any issues, please submit a ticket to the BruinBuy Plus service desk.
Irregular Invoices | Upcoming Resolution Deadline
Irregular invoices with a hold date of April 1 through April 13, 2025, must be actioned by departments no later than end of day Friday, April 25.
If the necessary department action(s) is not taken by this deadline, impacted invoices may be rejected or pushed to payment. Additional information on how unactioned invoices are centrally addressed can be found on the Irregular Invoice Resolution Calendar web page.
| Date | Details |
|---|---|
| Monday, April 21 | N/A |
| Tuesday, April 22 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. PT | Accounts Payable Office Hours 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. PT | Vendor Management Office Hours |
| Wednesday, April 23 | 11 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. PT | Purchasing Office Hours NOTE: Travel Accounting office hours are not being held this week. They will return to their normal schedule on April 30. |
| Thursday, April 24 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. PT | Subaward / Subcontract Office Hours 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PT | Non-T&E Reimbursement Office Hours 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. PT | Accounts Payable Office Hours 5 p.m. PT | BruinBuy Plus monthly maintenance begins |
| Friday April 25 | 3 a.m. PT | BruinBuy Plus monthly maintenance ends 11 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. PT | Irregular Invoice Working Session 5 p.m. PT | Irregular invoice resolution deadline |
Upcoming System Maintenance
To support monthly system maintenance, BruinBuy Plus may be unavailable during the following periods:
| Maintenance Window | Impact |
|---|---|
| Thursday, April 24, 5 p.m. PT through Friday, April 25, 3 a.m. PT | Intermittent system disruptions |
Please plan your transactions and activities accordingly. If you have any questions or experience issues, submit a ticket to our Service Desk.
TIP: Add BruinBuy Plus planned outage events to your calendar!
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Need Help? | We're Here to Support!
The BruinBuy Plus hub continues to be updated with new resources! For Service Desk support, create a ticket:
- Email: help@it.ucla.edu
- Phone: (310) 267-HELP (4357)
- ServiceNow Portal: tinyurl.com/bruinbuy-plus-support
BruinBuy Plus Recap Web Articles
Access previous BruinBuy Plus Recaps on the Campus Purchasing & Payables website.
