Over the past five months, with input from a five campus Product Advisory Team, an extensive and rigorous Request for Proposal for office supplies was developed, issued, responded to and evaluated.   The best overall value and service was presented by Office Depot resulting in an award of a contract to them.  

An integration effort will be taking place with Office Depot over the next several weeks so that by March 1, 2008 Office Depot will be the single supplier of office supplies and paper for the University.

 Office Depot offers such things as:  overnight delivery; 17,000 items in stock; a very robust punch out site (that will be available via PantherBuy); a dedicated customer service team; 2 University of Pittsburgh student interns; on-line item selection from a “Green” Catalog; an online view to track orders; and an on-line request feature for a Return Material Authorization (RMA).

Office Depot will be enabled as a punch out supplier in the new PantherBuy System.  All users of the current Internet Procurement System (IPS) will be completely trained and moved to PantherBuy by March 1, 2008. The current Internet Procurement System will be available for buyers until February 29, 2008 at which time the Office Max and Corporate Express contracts will expire.

Office Depot has also agreed to work with the University to provide an option allowing buyers to purchase from diversity suppliers to meet research grant obligations.   Until that solution is in place Target Office Products will be available as a Diversity supplier on the PantherBuy System.

Office Depot will be conducting a robust rollout campaign to all five campuses with advertising, face to face training and webinars.

Training will be provided at all University campuses.  Please register for one of the training sessions to learn how to order, and more about the full array of products and services available to the University of Pittsburgh. Visit the Training Registration page at https://odams.officedepot.com/registrations/Univ_of_Pitt_webcast.php.

Simply complete your personal information and select a time for training on campus or via a web-cast call. You will be sent an email confirming the time of your class.

On- Campus sessions:

• Tuesday, February 19 - 11:30 AM  (Oakland- WPU Kurtzman Room, lunch provided)
• Tuesday, February 19 - 3:30 PM   (Oakland- WPU Kurtzman Room, refreshments provided) 
• Thursday, February 21 - 11:30 AM  (Oakland- WPU Ballroom, lunch provided)
• Thursday, February 21 -   3:30 PM   (Oakland- WPU Ballroom, refreshments provided) 
• Tuesday, February 26 - 11:30 AM  (Oakland- WPU Kurtzman Room, lunch provided)
• Tuesday, February 26 -  3:30 PM   (Oakland- WPU Kurtzman Room, refreshments provided) 
• Wednesday, February 27 - 11:30 AM  (Oakland- WPU Dining Room A, lunch provided)
• Wednesday, February 27 - 3:30 PM   (Oakland- WPU Dining Room A, refreshments provided) 
• Thursday , 02/28 – 9:00 AM  (Johnstown campus, refreshments provided)
• Thursday, 02/28 – 3:00 PM  (Greensburg campus, refreshments provided)
• Friday, 02/29 – 9:00 AM  (Bradford campus, refreshments provided)
• Friday, 02/29 – 3:00 PM  (Titusville campus, refreshments provided)

Web-cast calls:

• Wednesday, February 20 – 10:00 AM EST
• Wednesday, February 20 –   2:00 PM 
• Wednesday, February 25 – 10:00 AM 
• Wednesday, February 25 –   2:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 29 – 10:00 AM 
• Wednesday, February 29 –   2:00 PM 

Renee Galloway will administer the Office Depot contract.  She can be reached at rgalloway@bc.pitt.edu   or 412-624-5261.

We will be forming a Customer Advisory Board that will meet quarterly to provide feedback and suggestions for improvements to Office Depot.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Renee Galloway..