The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) created a new system for purchasing items after a series of bad purchasing decisions in the 2012-13 academic year.
The new request for proposal (RFP) process requires all CUSA staff to get a minimum of three quotes from different sources whenever they purchase materials, spend money for programming, or make any form of investment.
The process applies to all purchases over $100, according to CUSA vice-president (finance) Folarin Odunayo.
CUSA president Alexander Golovko said the process aims to make the student association more financially accountable.
“There were a number of partners . . . we’ve been doing business with for many years. The best thing for us is to maintain some of those relations, but at the same time give some other companies the opportunity to see what they can offer us,” he said.
Odunayo circulated the new proposal idea as an internal memo in May 2013.
“There’s a lot of procurement that goes on in the CUSA office that most students are not aware about,” Odunayo said.
“If you don’t get the best price possible on the little things, then all of a sudden you’re spending a lot more money than you need to,” he said.
During the 2011-12 school year, Golovko said CUSA ran up against problems with student agendas costing too much.
CUSA promotional materials such as hats and shirts were also increasingly expensive, so Odunayo said he implemented his policy to try to cut costs.
The cancelled Rick Ross concert in April 2013 also prompted the new process after CUSA ran over budget putting on the show, Golovko said.
But the issue, he said, was one of many that eventually prompted the RFP process.
Odunayo, however, said the Rick Ross concert was a “completely separate issue.”
“It 100 per cent has to do with saving money on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Odunayo said the process is working well and has saved students money.
“Save some pennies and eventually you’ll have a $100,000,” he said.
