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Overview

Vision for HUIT Vendor Management

The HUIT Vendor Management Office serves the HUIT community, Central Administration, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for IT procurement and relationship management assistance and support, as well as serving as a central point for university-wide IT vendor engagements.

All participants in procurement of a contract are expected to follow the VMO methodology.

 

Objectives

With the core objective of improving value received by Harvard from its sourcing contracts, the HUIT VMO will work across the Vendor Management (VM) lifecycle to:

  • Inform the distributed practice of VM by developing and communicating standards and best practices and by collecting and maintaining IT vendor reference data and information.
  • Support the performance of VM activities at key points in the lifecycle by providing subject matter expertise and necessary coordination with other functional areas.
  • Drive VM activities at an operational level for a subset of IT vendors, independently or in partnership with embedded VM resources.

Guiding Principles

1. Build and maintain trusted relationships both within Harvard and with external vendors and service providers

2. Engage and act with a University-wide perspective

3. Leverage economies of scale and avoid duplication of effort

4. Serve as a key point of coordination between all stakeholders involved in IT Vendor Management Lifecycle, including:

  • University groups such as the Office of General Counsel, Strategic Procurement, Risk Management and Audit Services, HUIT Security
  • HUIT Architecture and Engineering
  • The University Chief Information Officer
  • Local and embedded vendor and procurement functions within HUIT and across the University

5. Focus on continuous improvement to evolve the maturity level of vendor management practices within HUIT & Harvard