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  • 1.  Service contract consolidation questions

    Posted 04-17-2025 12:06

    Dear all,

    I have been working on ways to save money in service contract costs, which as we all know, have ballooned over the past decade. I am trying to get an idea of what other institutions and cores are doing to decrease this particular cost. If anyone has insight to the following questions I would be most grateful.

    1. Does your institution track service contracts centrally as part of your institutions accounting/inventory system?
    2. Do you or your institution purchase 3rd party service agreements from insurance providers?
    3. Have you bundled service contracts with OEM vendors and gotten a better price?
    4. Has your institution considered self-insurance? Has an actuarial system been implemented to determine risk of self-insurance?

    Thanks much for your input,

    James



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    James Cox
    Assistant VP Cores Infrastructure
    University of Utah - HSC Cores Research
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  • 2.  RE: Service contract consolidation questions

    Posted 04-18-2025 08:57

    Morning James - 

    Having just moved Institutions, I can say a YES to all from the standpoint of my old institution and that I will be looking into doing the same at my new institution.  I'm happy to chat offline...  



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    Susanna Perkins
    Exec Director, Research Facilities
    Worcester Polytechnic Institute
    Worcester, MA
    508 831 6577
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Service contract consolidation questions

    Posted 04-18-2025 09:06
    1. Does your institution track service contracts centrally as part of your institutions accounting/inventory system?
      1. We are starting to, but have not historically so its a lot of data to manage

    2. Do you or your institution purchase 3rd party service agreements from insurance providers?
      1. The "insurance providers" is throwing me off, as we usually use that specifically to think about damage from flood, building-level events, fire, theft, etc. We do have cores that purchase 3rd party service contracts, but for UNC Chapel Hill, insurance is separate and more complicated. 

    3. Have you bundled service contracts with OEM vendors and gotten a better price?
      1. We have tried to do this with a little bit of success, but we want the data from 1 to know which vendors to target. Both the cores and myself have been very frank with vendors lately that service contracts are on the chopping block for some cores. They seem to be taking that seriously and considering ways to work deals.

    4. Has your institution considered self-insurance? Has an actuarial system been implemented to determine risk of self-insurance?
      1. As a state institution we have rules about this from our state legislature which makes it so far not worth pursuing, but I've been gathering information to see if there's a way we can thread the needle between compliance and utilization. Very interested to hear how other institutions (particularly state institutions) are handling self-insurance questions. 

    Happy to chat more, this is an area we're actively exploring. 

    Kara Clissold
    Associate Director
    Office of Research Technologies
    (M) (410)322-5093




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Service contract consolidation questions

    Posted 04-18-2025 09:24
    1. No
    2. Tried third party briefly.  A. Before you go down that path, ask the OEM vendor if they will work with 3rd parties (lots won't because they have been stiffed by them in the past).  B. Can you accept the extended down time we experienced with 3rd party service? There was a limit on $$ for each service visit and if it exceeded that, a request had to be made with justification on why, which waiting for their approval added down time.  C. Do you have the personnel to shuffle the additional paperwork during each 3rd party service (see 2B)?  D. If you go 3rd party, will the OEM vendor allow you back without a paid for service call to "recertify" the instrument if you decide 3rd party is not to your liking? 
    3. Yes, among vendors with multiple instruments, multi-instrument discounts.  No for across vendors.
    4. Our institution is self-insured for things like floods (had a fire up a floor or two and the water sprayed by the fire department dripped on an instrument a floor below).  Don't think normal repairs are covered.  That is different from having a budget line item where one places the money that would have gone for a service contract and uses that fund for repairs/maintenance. 


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    Randy Nessler
    Director, Central Microscopy Research Facility
    University of Iowa
    Iowa City, IA
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    Original Message


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