This bulletin is to advise the community of a change to the current Cylinder Gases and Related Supplies Vendor of Record (“VOR”) list and to ensure everyone affected takes the action required in support of this new University-wide Cylinder Gases Program.

Background

Cylinder gases and related supplies are currently being purchased across the University from three (3) vendors: Air Liquide, Praxair, and Linde, the latter being York’s previous VOR.

A comprehensive analysis of the current procurement process was conducted which revealed the following:

• Gas cylinder rentals have been an administrative nuisance across campus; and
• Overall pricing for York’s primary cylinder gas purchases have the potential to be substantially reduced in comparison to the previous VOR.

Rationale

To reduce administrative costs associated with procurement cycle, Public Sector institutions are being encouraged by the Provincial Government to participate in collaborative agreements to pool spending and benefit from economies of scale. In support of these priorities, York reviewed a post-secondary institution collaborative contract led and awarded by Carleton University in 2013.

Considerations for the analysis included consolidated University spend data, and pricing comparisons for commonly purchased items between York’s previous VOR and the new Praxair agreement.

Collaborative Association	VOR Number	Awarded Vendor
Ontario University Procurement Management Association (OUPMA) (led by Carleton University)	Request for Proposals No.: 2013-17	Praxair Inc.

 New Cylinder Gases Program

To capitalize on competitive pricing, while ensuring that a wide assortment of Cylinder Gases and Related Supplies are made available to the University, the following vendor was selected and a contract has been established:

Vendor	Collaborative Association	Purchasing Method	Anticipated Timeline
Praxair	OUPMA	P-Card (Temporary)	January 2017 to Spring 2017
Praxair	OUPMA	Sm@rtBuy	Spring 2017 - Onwards

IMPORTANT: Implementation Details

The awarded vendor will be on-boarded to Sm@rtBuy, the University’s on-line purchasing system, expected to be completed by Spring 2017.

Benefits for ordering your cylinder gases through Sm@rtBuy include:

• Consistent pricing across the University
• Broad-range of products available at competitive price and provide savings
• Seamless order/pay process, eliminating invoices, credit card payments, etc.
• Enables Procurement Services to monitor and analyze spending to look for opportunities for better pricing
• Allows us the ability to work with toner vendors to achieve service consistency and customer satisfaction

Praxair’s contact details are available at: https://www.yorku.ca/procure/internal/preferredvendors/index.html.

Please contact Maaz Khan, Senior Buyer, at ext. 22417 or via e-mail at maazk@yorku.ca  should you have any questions.