SUBJECT:  Buying Furniture and Furnishings

We are pleased to announce that a comprehensive guide to purchasing furniture and furnishings at UCSD is now available to the campus community through the Blink Buying tab. This is the first step to deliver more effective information to those who purchase goods and services.

A highlight of our new Furniture and Furnishings guidelines is to introduce the new University of California systemwide contract with Steelcase for office furniture, paneled office systems, work surfaces, filing and seating. Steelcase's designated San Diego service provider, BKM Total Office of Southern California, supports this contract locally. The terms of this contract provide that Steelcase is the sole and primary provider for most of UCSD's office and departmental furniture needs.

Buying furniture is a complex process and requires careful planning and oversight. To learn more about purchasing all types of furniture, please see the new Blink information by either exploring the Blink Buying tab at http://blink.ucsd.edu/tab/buying or clicking any of the following links:

-Furniture Overview http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/furn
-Steelcase Overview http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/furn/sc
-How to Buy Furniture From Steelcase http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/furn/buysc
-Furniture Main Menu http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/furn/main

The information will guide you through the process of planning your furniture needs, scheduling design services, processing and placing orders and delivery and installation services. You will also pick up tips from our buyer about key issues to consider when planning your furniture needs.

In the future, our Blink furniture guidelines will be enhanced with the following features:

-Online catalog of Steelcase products specifically designed for UCSD featuring frequently purchased furniture lines
-Inventory of frequently purchased items available from UCSD Storehouse
-Online catalog of Steelcase products that allows customers to configure and order their products online using convenient order and payment features supported by the Express Card
-Online access to status of quotes, orders and shipments
-Tools to assist in the budgeting and planning process
-Design plans of typical office furniture layouts including budgetary price and furniture specification

In the meantime, we invite you to tour this site to become familiar with issues relating to purchasing furniture for your department, and to provide feedback for future improvements.

                                                Linda Collins
                                                Manager
                                                lcollins@ucsd.edu
                                                858 534 3082