Dear Campus Community,

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

This month's features:  

• Scheduled BFS Maintenance
• New: Change Request Auto-Return
• Supply Chain Management Winter Curtailment
• UC Procurement Annual Report 
• Reminder: New Federal Restrictions on 1260H & Biotech Vendors
• Reminder: Hays Talent Solutions Selected as UC Berkeley and UC-Wide Managed Service Provider (MSP)
• Reminder: Bears that Buy Open Office Hours

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, 

UC Berkeley, Supply Chain Management

Scheduled BFS/BLUMaintenance

The BFS system and Blu Portal will perform maintenance on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. PDT. BearBUY will be unavailable during this maintenance period.

After the maintenance, please delete your browser cache, close all your browsers/tabs, and open a new window before you log in to BFS.

Please prepare for planned system downtimes and visit the Controller’s Office website for the BFS Maintenance Schedule.

There has been an increase in Change Requests being created and approved in BearBUY for the following suppliers, resulting in errors after the Change Requests are merged with the POs and dispatched to BFS:

• Amazon Business
• Tango Cards Inc

Effective today, Monday, October 19, 2026, all Change Requests submitted for either of these suppliers will be automatically returned with the following message: "This Change Request was returned to you because a Change Request cannot be created for this supplier." To view the history, please press on the History tab.

Reason for the change:

• Amazon Business: Invoices for Amazon Business are generated directly in BFS, not in BearBUY.
• Tango Cards Inc: Invoices are received within 24 hours, if not sooner, after the PO has been dispatched from BearBUY to Tango. 

(BearBUY, Procurement, Business Contracts, and Property Management)


Thanksgiving Holiday:

• Limited staffing: 11/23/2026 to 11/25/2026
• Observe the full Thanksgiving: 11/26/2026 and 11/27/2026

Winter Curtailment/Holiday Break:

• Limited staffing: 12/21/2026, 12/22/2026, and 12/23/2026
• Winter Curtailment: 12/24/2026 through 01/01/2027


The campus community is encouraged to submit requests for services and high-value orders (over $10,000) by Tuesday, 12/01/2026, for any goods or services required for research and operational continuity in December. Business Services will make every effort to complete work in the order submitted. During the curtailment period, self-service tools such as BearBUY, BETS, and BCMS will be available for use although approvals will be impacted by staff availability.

Catalog orders that meet auto-approval thresholds will continue to dispatch normally in BearBUY. Orders requiring additional approval levels may be delayed based on departmental staffing levels across campus.

Emergency Life-Safety acquisitions and automatic approvals (such as catalog orders under $1,000.00) will continue to be processed over the curtailment periods.

If you have an emergency during this time, please email your assigned buyer and copy supplychain@berkeley.edu with the subject line "Emergency Acquisition" and be sure to include a description of the business need as well as a PO or Requisition Number. A buyer will contact you as soon as possible during regular business hours.

As a reminder: Only those emergencies necessary to protect the life-safety of the campus community will be processed. Departments must plan to obtain sufficient safety stock to maintain research continuity.

Please report any service issues or unscheduled downtime to bearbuyhelp@berkeley.edu. When checking Service Levels, please note a delay in turnaround time due to limited staffing.

For emergencies related to Moving Services and Property Management, please contact Tamera Garlock, Director of Property Management (cell: 510-812-0342, email: tgarlock@berkeley.edu) and include a description of the emergency as well as your return contact information.

Source: Supply Chain Management Winter Curtailment 2026

Check out the UC Procurement FY26 Annual Report – a deep dive into the vital yet often unseen role Procurement plays in advancing the UC mission. This report highlights key achievements and confirms how procurement continues to be a cornerstone of UC’s success. 

NEW THIS YEAR: UC Berkeley has its own webpage (with a downloadable pdf) so you can see your campus achievements all in one place. Explore and enjoy discovering how Procurement makes a difference, one strategic endeavor at a time. 

On June 8, 2026, the Department of Defense (DoD) expanded its Section 1260H list of Chinese Military Companies to include Alibaba, Baidu, WuXi AppTec, Novogene, TP-Link, BYD, and Unitree. Some of these vendors are used at UC Berkeley today. Existing vendors will not be barred or restricted by Procurement at this time as non-DOD funded research is still allowed.


Key Compliance Rules

• DoD Funding Restriction: Under current policy, federally funded research cannot use equipment or services from any 1260H-listed entities.
• BIOSECURE Act Impact: Enacted in December 2025, this law will soon prohibit all federal agencies from funding biotech equipment or services from listed companies (like WuXi and Novogene), with full implementation expected by early 2028.
• VAR Restriction: Please note that this prohibition also applies to goods and services purchased through a Value Added Reseller or Distributor. 


Your Next Steps

1. Review Your Research Funding sources and Vendors: Check if your lab uses these restricted entities.
2. Respond to Outreach: The Research Security team is actively contacting PIs with matching purchase records. Please reply promptly to help us protect your funding.
3. Plan Transitions: Begin identifying compliant alternative vendors to avoid research disruptions.  

A Simpler Way to Manage Non-Employee Hiring Coming Early 2027

On-Demand Talent: UC Managed Service Program


Following a competitive bid process, the University of California is partnering with Hays Talent Solutions to bring a Managed Service Provider to all campus locations. As our new MSP, Hays will be providing campus hiring managers a streamlined, centralized resource for non-employee hiring. UC Berkeley is currently working alongside campus departments in a collaborative discovery phase to ensure this tool fits our everyday needs ahead of the 2027 launch.


No action is needed today. This initiative is designed to take administrative headaches off your plate while keeping your existing team and contractor relationships running smoothly.


Supported Worker Categories Hays will support and simplify hiring across four key areas:

• Temporary Workers: Short-term staff sourced through agencies.
• Independent Contractors: 1099 and self-employed professionals.
• SOW Consultants: Project-based, deliverable-focused talent.
• Direct Hires: Permanent placement services.


How Hays Will Support You

• Save Time: Centralized support handles compliance and operational logistics so you don't have to.
• Clear Guidance: Consistent, hassle-free processes tailored for campus administrators.
• Hands-On Help: Dedicated assistance throughout the entire sourcing and onboarding lifecycle.


We are committed to a smooth transition and will share step-by-step guides, transition timelines, and training opportunities in the coming weeks.

Please join us for our next remote office hour tomorrow Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. PDT


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.

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.