Merced Celebrates the Successful Launch of BobcatBuy+

UC Merced’s Supply Chain Center of Excellence launched BobcatBuy+ in October, an improved shopping solution for their campus. BobcatBuy+ is powered by Labviva, a UC Systemwide Procurement (SWP) contract awardee first launched at UC San Diego. 

Building on the success of UC San Diego’s implementation, the UC Merced team opted to enable full Labviva functionality with the added benefit of onboarding additional Labviva suppliers. Though branded as a Life Science application, Merced enabled Labviva for all purchasing categories.

Meagan Torres, UC Merced Chief Procurement Officer said, “The collaboration between the Systemwide Procurement Systems team, UC San Diego, Labviva, and UC Merced was outstanding, leading to an exceptionally smooth and successful launch. It was a pleasure to work with such a dedicated team and strategic partner committed to the UC.”

The elevated Labviva shopping experience includes:

• All catalogs in one location
• Quick and responsive search results
• Small and diverse suppliers showcased in shopping results
• 1:1 product comparison 
• Supplemental product information, such as published peer-review papers that cite the product and molecular breakdowns for chemicals and gasses
• Multi-vendor cart that will return to the financial system for convenient line-item requisitioning

Terese Merrell, SWP Procurement Systems Manager, served as the SWP project lead, subject matter expert, and supplier relationship manager for the Merced and San Diego Labviva implementations. Anna Coffman, UC Merced Contract Administrator, served as the UC Merced lead.

This success could only happen with the dedication of a cross-functional team:

Check out more pictures from the successful launch event at Merced!