[staff-physics-and-astronomy-HL-UHD-UD] Reimbursements - update

[Dahlberg, J.D. (Jordi)]

Dear all,

Following my email from a week and a half ago, in which I had to inform you that, with immediate effect, expense claims could no longer be submitted without authorisation (from Juan or me), I now have an update. I had a meeting at the end of last week with representatives from Finance, HR, Procurement and the faculty. The good news is that everyone involved understands that the current situation is not a workable solution in daily practice. They also understand that there are understandable reasons why we purchase items ourselves in a number of cases via expense claims. At the same time, they keep pushing on the fact that the number of expense claims must be reduced. As mentioned, this is because it takes a lot of time, and therefore money, for the Finance department to process expense claims, and because we are breaking possible contractual agreements with contracted suppliers. This can lead to fines. Furthermore, it appears that in practice, equipment purchased independently is often not registered with the VU. Items purchased via expense claims are always the property of the VU and must therefore be registered as such. I am uncertain to what extent this applies to us, but I can imagine that we too are (or have been) incomplete in this regard.

It is of course nice that all the departments mentioned are aware that the current rules are not workable in practice. Solutions will therefore be found to make procurement easier, better and faster and to support us as a scientific department (I myself will work with Procurement to realise improvements). However, this will not help us in the short term. That is why I have negotiated a relaxation of the current regime. As of now, therefore:

  *   No approval from me or Juan is required for expense claims for: conference fees, dinners/lunches/drinks, publication costs and, to a limited extent, travel (when it is not possible via ATPI).
  *   Travel must still be arranged through ATPI. Unfortunately, I have already heard some negative experiences from a number of you. These are not known to HR, which is responsible for ATPI's services. So, please send all complaints, including email conversations with ATPI, to Susanne de Backer (susanne.de.backer at vu.nl<mailto:susanne.de.backer at vu.nl>).
  *   IT equipment must be purchased through IT, as was already the case. I know that this can take a long time, so I have negotiated an escalation option here. If IT cannot deliver a device within a reasonable period of time, we can bypass IT. However, we must contact IT Procurement to substantiate that a device cannot be delivered within a reasonable period of time. What is reasonable depends on the device, so we must assess each case individually.
  *   All other equipment and materials must, in principle, be purchased via SAP or Labservant (for chemicals). This is the group where, in practice, we often run into problems when ordering via SAP. For this group, approval from me and Juan is still required when we bypass the VU and purchase something via expense claim. This may be the case, for example, with a supplier from whom we make a one-off small purchase. Adding this supplier now would take too much time. Or a supplier that only accepts credit cards and where we therefore cannot work via SAP. In these cases, please email me and Juan so that we can give our approval. However, suppliers from whom we purchase more than once must be entered into SAP. There are no exceptions to this rule. Finally, all equipment purchased via expense claims must be reported to FCO and/or IT so that they can keep track of the equipment within the VU.

I hope this provides some clarification and also creates a workable situation for the coming period. At the same time, I remain committed to improving the procurement process.

Best,
Jordi


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