The Case Western Reserve University Office of Procurement and Distribution Services recently won the “Strategic Innovation Challenge” at the annual Education Advisory Board conference in Washington, D.C.
Simon Fritz, assistant director of strategic sourcing, presented a case study on CWRU’s competition for lab supply distribution partners and the use of a tool called “Spend Compass” to complete the relationship of selling lab supplies to the university.
The university will change from having a “sole preferred” lab supplies partner to having two “preferred” lab supplies partners. This approach institutionalizes competition between the top two firms, creates two on-site lab supply centers, and requires each firm to commit to meeting objectively determined, benchmarked pricing for the benefit of all researchers, Fritz said.