Dear Campus Community,

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has important updates and upcoming events to share with you.

This month's features:  

• Bears that Buy Open Office Hours
• Scheduled BFS Spring Maintenance and BearBUY 26.1 Upgrade Release
• Coming Soon! BearBUY Assist (Chatbot)
• Upcoming UC Surplus Online Bike Auction – April 2026
• What Stygian Helps You Buy: MRO & Everyday Needs
• Streamlining Procurement with BearGPT
• Update: UC Insurance Requirements
• Tariff Exemption

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the BearBUY Help Desk at 510-664-9000 (options 1, 2) or bearbuyhelp@berkeley.edu for immediate assistance.

Go Bears!

Thank you for your continued support, 

Supply Chain Management

Please join us for our next remote office hour tomorrow, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.

We encourage you to submit topics of discussion and/or questions in advance using this Google form.


Representatives from the Procurement, BearBUY Solutions, Account Payable, and BRS teams will be available to answer your questions and provide information about purchasing at the University of California, Berkeley. Open Office Hours will be held on the third Tuesday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.

Instructions and Zoom URL:

• To attend office hours, you MUST first be signed in to your Berkeley Zoom account. Please see How to sign in to your UC Berkeley Zoom account.
• You don't need to register. Join the Bears that Buy Open Office Hours or enter the Meeting ID 99363039857 in the Zoom desktop client.

BFS:
BFS will be performing its Spring Maintenance this Friday, March 20, 2026, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. PST. BearBUY will be unavailable during this time.

Please plan for the scheduled system downtime and refer to the 2026 BFS Maintenance Schedule for more details.

*****

BearBUY:
As part of the Jaggaer 26.1 upgrade, BearBUY will also be unavailable starting from next Friday, March 27, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. PST to Sunday, March 29, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. PST.

The 26.1 upgrade release in BearBUY will go live on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Documentation of new features and changes can be found on the BearBUY New Features webpage.

Get Your Questions Answered:

Assist leverages a comprehensive knowledge base to provide answers to common BearBUY questions. With timely information and guided support, shoppers are empowered to quickly find the help they need and build confidence using BearBUY.

To begin, select the Assist (chatbot) icon located in the lower-right corner of BearBUY.

Focus on Value:

By delegating routine inquiries and tasks to an intelligent digital assistant, shoppers can focus on other work and dedicate more time to their responsibilities.

To support the continued development of BearBUY Assist (Chatbot), we invite you to complete this survey and share your input.

UC Surplus is pleased to announce that their next online bike auction will take place on April 3-5, 2026 at publicsurplus.com

Payment:

• All payments must be made on publicsurplus.com via credit card or wire transfer.

Pick up/Delivery:

• Moving Services can facilitate campus deliveries for a nominal fee. 
• Private sales MUST be removed by the buyer within 10 days of the end of the auction. 

For inquiries, please contact our team at ucsurplus@berkeley.edu.

We look forward to your participation!

What Stygian Helps You Buy: MRO & Everyday Needs

Stygian supports UC Berkeley departments with everyday MRO needs through the “Stygian Powered by Grainger” tile in BearBUY. From facility maintenance supplies to essential tools and equipment, departments can access the same Grainger products and pricing they expect with responsive local support. By ordering through Stygian, you help UC Berkeley meet its small business goals and invest in the growth of a local Oakland-based company! UC Berkeley’s approved small business partner for procuring Grainger products.

Stygian product catalog for common MRO and facility supplies

Our on-campus Account Manager, Rachel Lucas, is available for procurement guidance and order support at rachel@stygianhc.com.

In December 2025, we were pleased to highlight the integration of the Purchasing Assistant within BearGPT. This tool leverages OpenAI’s advanced language models while remaining within the secure, UC-managed environment of the UC San Diego Supercomputer Center. This ensures all institutional data remains private and protected.

Key Capabilities:

The assistant serves as a first-tier resource for navigating contracts, policies, and supplier information. It can efficiently summarize technical documentation and newsletters to save staff time. For more complex issues, it seamlessly routes users to the BearBUY Help Desk at bearbuyhelp@berkeley.edu.

Eligibility:

• Authorized Users: Faculty and staff (including student employees).
• Security Rating: P2 Data.
• Authentication: Required via CalNet.

Purchasing Assistant Job-Aid

The University of California's Office of Risk Services has published a new Risk Matrix as a standardized framework to evaluate contract risk levels across the UC system. This matrix helps Bears that Buy determine whether a Certificate of Insurance (COI) must be collected for contracts and purchase orders, in accordance with UC Policy BUS-63. The matrix categorizes risk exposures as "High," "Moderate," or "Low" to ensure consistent certificate of insurance collection practices. Note: The matrix should not be distributed to individuals outside of UC or to suppliers.

If a purchase or contract involves any of the high-risk exposures described in the matrix, a Certificate of Insurance (COI) must be collected from the supplier and included on your BearBUY requisition before the supplier ships its goods or starts services for UC Berkeley. Per UCOP of Risk Services, a COI does not need to be collected on Moderate and Low risk categories. Contact your SCM buyer for guidance on using this matrix or interpreting specific contract risk levels. The final determination of risk is always subject to UC Berkeley's local Risk Management office based on the activities involved in each purchase order/contract.

Tariff Exemption

Supply Chain Management has established a new website explaining the process for the duty-free application submission via the ITA-338P Form for potential tariff exemptions on equipment manufactured outside the United States.


Some scientific and research equipment could qualify for a tariff exemption on scientific/research equipment purchases. UC Berkeley departments may wish to voluntarily submit an exemption request to the federal government when the equipment purchase will be used for educational or scientific purposes and, importantly, the equipment has no equivalent manufactured in the United States for the applicant's intended use. 


The application process is complex and time-consuming and should only be considered for high-value equipment purchases imported from outside the United States. Departments will likely need to budget and pay the duty upon entry to the United States and seek a refund if the exemption is eventually granted. For more information on this process, please visit the Process for the Duty-Free Application Submission via the ITA-338P Form website.

Order Status





If you need assistance with determining the status of your order in BearBUY, visit the How to Find the Status of Your Order page on the SCM website. 

Please note that your SCM assigned Buyer will not receive the requisition until it has been approved by the department Org Node approver.

Who is My Department's Assigned Buyer?



If you are unsure of how to start your purchasing transaction, contact your Buyer for assistance by using your Org Node and Department Name to find your assigned Buyer located in this matrix.

Contracts in BearBUY





If you need help searching for a contract and applying it to your cart in BearBUY, please view the Searching for Contracts and Applying a Contract to Your Cart in BearBUY job aid.

Whether you are an experienced or a new BearBUY shopper, it is always best practice to take the BearBUY: Basics for Shoppers training if you haven't already.

To take this ESSENTIAL training, please click on this course #: BEESS950-Online.