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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL">Dear all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL">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</span><span lang="EN-US"> (from Juan or me)</span><span lang="en-NL">,
I </span><span lang="EN-US">now have an update. I </span><span lang="en-NL">had a meeting at the end of last week with representatives from Finance, HR, Procurement and the faculty. The
</span><span lang="EN-US">good</span><span lang="en-NL"> 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 </span><span lang="EN-US">keep pushing on the fact</span><span lang="en-NL"> 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.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL">It is </span><span lang="EN-US">of course nice</span><span lang="en-NL"> that all the departments mentioned are aware that the current rules are not workable</span><span lang="EN-US"> in practice</span><span lang="en-NL">.
Solutions will therefore be found to make procurement easier, better and faster and to support us as a scientific department</span><span lang="EN-US"> (I myself will work with Procurement to realise improvements)</span><span lang="en-NL">. 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:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="en-NL">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).</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="en-NL">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 (<a href="mailto:susanne.de.backer@vu.nl">susanne.de.backer@vu.nl</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">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.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL">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.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Jordi <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-NL"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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