Overview
The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth is one of five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and the Chan Medical School in Worcester) in the UMass system. The UMass system was established under Section 1 of Chapter 75 of the Massachusetts General Laws and is overseen by a president. Each campus is overseen by a chancellor. The president and a 22-member board of trustees provide governance to the UMass system. UMass Dartmouth is a member of the Massachusetts public higher education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and the five UMass campuses. It is located at 285 Old Westport Road in Dartmouth, with satellite campuses in North Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and Fall River.
According to UMass Dartmouth’s website,
As chief executive officer of the campus, the Chancellor provides leadership in all areas of campus life, from academics and student affairs to the advancement of the university and the region. The Chancellor is also responsible for maintaining relationships with the UMass Office of the President and the UMass Board of Trustees.
During fiscal year 2021, UMass Dartmouth had a student population of approximately 6,710, a faculty employee population of 443, and a nonfaculty employee population of 639. During fiscal year 2021, UMass Dartmouth had $241,240,000 in revenue, which included $95,942,000 in state appropriations, and $240,186,000 in expenses.
According to UMass Dartmouth’s website,
UMass Dartmouth distinguishes itself as a vibrant, public research university dedicated to engaged learning and innovative research resulting in personal and lifelong student success. The University serves as an intellectual catalyst for economic, social, and cultural transformation on a global, national, and regional scale.
Unified Procurement Services Team
In January 2020, the UMass system established the Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST). According to the website for the Office of the President of the UMass system,
The Unified Procurement Services Team (“UPST”) is established and under the direction of the Chief Procurement Officer and is responsible for the implementation of the Standards applicable to the University’s campuses and the President’s Office. . . .
The Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST) was created to provide purchasing, accounts payable, bid execution (sourcing), contracts, and supplier management services to the University of Massachusetts and our partner/supplier community. We are professionals gathered from all the various UMass campuses to provide high-quality service while driving transaction efficiency.
We manage an average of $1 billion in third-party spend annually, and 17,000+ suppliers/partners.
The UPST also administers the UMass Bank Card Program, which is described below, for the UMass system.
UMass Bank Card Program
The rollout of the UMass Bank Card Program started in October 2020 and finished in January 2021. This UMass Bank Card Program transitioned the UMass system away from using a procurement card administered through Citibank to using a bank card administered through U.S. Bank.
According to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard,
The purpose of the University of Massachusetts Bank Card program . . . is to offer a payment method for those vendors that do not accept a Purchase Order, a mechanism for emergency purchases, and a payment method in lieu of employee Travel reimbursement. . . . The UMass Bank Card is a commercial credit card. The card works in much the same way as your personal credit card except the monthly statement amount is paid for by the University. Each card has specific spending limits and card controls.
The UPST issues these bank cards to employees who are first approved by their UMass Dartmouth department supervisor or manager and have, according to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard, “a frequent need to make purchases on behalf of their department.”
After the transition from the procurement card to the bank card, the UMass Bank Card Program created a new process for reviewing cardholders’ bank statement reconciliations. Previously, for Citibank cardholders, the process consisted of submitting all reconciled bank statements and supporting documents3 to UMass Dartmouth management, who then kept these documents on file. The new process for U.S. Bank cardholders is to upload all reconciled bank statements and supporting documents into the UMass system’s online bank card transaction repository.4 According to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard, the steps the cardholder must take include the following.
- After the cardholder reconciles their monthly bank statement, they fill out the bank card form in the UMass system’s online bank card transaction repository. This opens a requisition, which is a folder that contains any supporting documents, within the bank card transaction repository.
- The cardholder then uploads the bank statement and any supporting documents to the requisition.
- The cardholder submits their requisition to their UMass Dartmouth supervisor for approval. (Both of these actions occur in the bank card transaction repository.) The bank card transaction repository timestamps the requisition upon its submission. The requisition, which should be submitted within 30 days of the bank statement date, is considered complete after management approves it, at which time the bank card transaction repository timestamps the requisition again.
During the audit period, there were 297 UMass Dartmouth cardholders, whose spending on items and services totaled approximately $1.4 million.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
UMass Dartmouth uses Section 1 of Control 14 (Security Awareness and Skills Training) of the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls as guidance for cybersecurity awareness training. This guidance recommends formalizing a cybersecurity awareness training program to educate an agency’s workforce and conducting “training at hire and, at minimum, annually.”
| Date published: | May 2, 2024 |
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