Effective immediately, the Division of Finance and Administration has centralized a number of departments to streamline purchasing and travel processes, ensuring greater efficiency, policy compliance, and enhanced customer service across the university. As part of this effort, areas of specialization that previously provided support under CBS2 – Purchasing and Travel & Reimbursements – have transitioned into the following DFA teams:
Purchasing Update
The CBS2 Purchasing Team has been integrated into Procurement and Contracts Services, further enhancing the university’s centralized purchasing operations. As part of this unified structure, the following teams provide specialized support:
Requisitioning and Customer Service Team led by Theresa Cline, Sr. Contracts Manager:
- Requisition entry
- Change order requests
- P-Card purchases
- Inquiries for requisition and purchase order status
Campus Purchasing Team led by Kristi Morales, Procure to Pay (P2P) Manager:
- Sourcing of goods & services between $0.01-$100,000
- Issuance of purchase orders $0.01-$100,000
- P-Card purchase of high-value goods greater than $9,999
Purchasing contacts and resources:
- Email for Purchasing inquiries: procurement@ucmerced.edu
- ServiceNow tickets for purchasing support
Travel Update
The CBS2 Travel Team has been integrated into Travel and Expense Management, led by Director Tracy England. This integration strengthens the university’s travel and reimbursement support by enhancing consistency, efficiency, ensuring compliance, and providing seamless support to UC faculty, staff, students, and campus visitors.
The centralized Travel team provides comprehensive travel and expense management support, including travel reservations, expense reimbursements, and guidance on travel and entertainment expenses, relocations, and audits of P-Card purchases and out-of-pocket reimbursements—all in alignment with UC Merced’s research and operational objectives.
Key services include:
- Facilitating individual and group travel planning
- Managing expense reimbursements
- Overseeing Procurement Card (P-Card), Event Card, and Travel & Expense (T&E) Card reconciliation
Travel contacts and resources:
- Email: travel@ucmerced.edu
- ServiceNow Tickets: travel, expense management, and expense reimbursements.
HR/Finance Transactional Support and Customer Service
DFA continues to provide centralized support for human resources and finance transactions, along with general customer service needs.
However, as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance service and operational efficiency, DFA is actively reviewing campus support structures. As a result, these services may evolve to better complement administrative support at the department, unit, and school/divisional levels, ensuring alignment with the university’s changing needs and priorities.
The CBS2@ucmerced.edu account remains active and monitored. However, please note that purchasing and travel inquiries will be directly routed to procurement@ucmerced.edu and travel@ucmerced.edu, respectively.
The Division of Finance and Administration remains committed to supporting the campus through these centralization efforts, with a continued focus on improving service, efficiency, and alignment with campus needs.
