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The University of Nebraska Board of Regents could grant the system’s top administrator broader authority to sign contracts, a move board members say will increase efficiency. When regents convene for their final meeting of 2018 on Dec. 4, the board could extend the contract amounts NU President Hank Bounds and future leaders could approve by 150 percent. NU’s current procurement policy was last updated after previous efficiency reviews conducted in 2000-01 and about a decade ago, said Chris Kabourek, the universitys vice president for business and finance. As we just went through with the (budget response teams), weve been having this conversation with the board and Business Affairs Committee if there are other ways to modernize our policies to deal with business in 2018, Kabourek said. Under the existing policy, presidents are authorized to sign contracts for the procurement of goods and services or construction projects up to $2 million without board approval. Any contracts above $250,000 but below the $2 million threshold simply require a report be made to the Board of Regents, according to the policy. Likewise, any change order to a construction project, or other facility improvement less than $150,000, can be approved by NUs president without board approval, with similar reporting requirements if the cost rises above a certain threshold. NUs president can also sign contracts for certain professional services, such as search firms or other consultants, without needing a vote of the regents if those contracts do not exceed $400,000. The proposed changes to NU’s procurement policy would raise those thresholds to $5 million for construction and service contracts, while triggering reporting requirements for contracts above $1 million. The university systems president could also approve change orders to construction projects up to $1 million, and approve service contracts up to $2 million under the proposed policy. Any contract with an accounting or auditing firm, regardless of the dollar amount, would require the approval of the regents’ Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, according to the plan. The proposed policy would also restrict the president from signing leases longer than 20 years, or exceeding $5 million, without regents’ approval. Kabourek said committee discussions have centered on balancing the administrations ability to move ahead with buying specialized equipment such as microscopes or MRI machines without requiring several months of review by the regents, as well as oversight and control by elected leaders. This is a policy the committee has vetted extensively and they are comfortable at this level of control that the risk of anything going haywire is minimal, he said. Regent Jim Pillen of Columbus, who chairs the board’s Business Affairs Committee, said the proposed changes will make NU more efficient and effective. “We believe the proposed changes to our contract policy — the first in more than a decade — give us an opportunity to be more streamlined and competitive in the way we do business,” Pillen said in a statement. “The changes strike the right balance between appropriate board oversight of university contracts, administrative authority, and accountability to the public,” he added. Regents will also consider approving the construction of a privately funded $5 million Gnotobiotic Mouse Vivarium at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that will support the Nebraska Food for Health Center established last year. Gnotobiotic mice, which are born in controlled environments, are critical to understanding how dietary fibers affect the functions of the gut. UNL created its Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility in 2008, and it has since generated $5 million in research grant funding and contributed to 30 peer-reviewed papers, according to a program statement. “Facility expansion is needed to move microbiome research at the University of Nebraska to the next level,” the university said in its proposal for a 12,000-square-foot facility that would be built on the northeast side of the Life Sciences Annex on East Campus. If approved, construction on the vivarium — an aquarium for mice — would begin in August, with opening set for July 2020. At that point, UNL could expand the number of experiments it performs annually from 50 to roughly 300, researchers say. Regents will also consider a proposed $3.4 million renovation of approximately 10,000 square feet of the third floor of Hamilton Hall, home of UNL’s Department of Chemistry. According to the project description, the renovation of the hall’s north wing would overhaul four undergraduate teaching laboratories and the Undergraduate Instrument Center. It would also lay the groundwork for future renovations to the south wings of Hamilton Hall’s third and fourth floors, which are used for organic chemistry courses. Construction, which would be paid for through state funds, would begin in December 2019 and wrap up in time for the 2020-21 school year. |
