Advocacy | Committee on Government Affairs
November 2, 2009

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Monday November 2, 2009

Dear Committee on Government Affairs Attendees,

I have invited Caleb Dardick, Director for Local Government and Community Affairs, Office of the Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley, to be the featured guest at the November 2 meeting of the Committe on Government Affairs, which will take place in the Berkeley Chamber Conference Room from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.

Caleb is a long time colleague of many of us who have been active in Berkeley politics, and community and economic development over the past decade.  He has worked in the Mayor's Office, for LBNL, for the University, and was one of the main forces behind development of the Ed Roberts Campus.  Caleb operated his own community development consulting firm, CDA Strategies, for several years, until, in September, 2009, he became Director for Local Government and Community Relations, Office of the Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley. 

This will be the Committee's first opportunity to have a discussion with a representative of the University since we met early last year with Vice-Chancellor for Administration, Nathan Brostrom.  Please plan to attend and participate in this discussion with Caleb.  I have worked on several DBA projects with Caleb over the past couple of years, and have gained a great deal of respect for his skills as a strategic thinker.  We are fortunate to have him in this new position with the University.  Let's use this opportunity to learn how we can build a stronger partnership with the single largest employer in this town, and with one of the finest universities in the country.

I have suggested to Caleb that I am interested in exploring a variety of questions, including the following:

1.  What do you do as Director of Community and Government Affairs?  What are examples of your offices "community orientation?"  of your offices "government orientation?"

2.  What are the big challenges for you as you settle into this new position?

3.  What partnership opportunities might there be between your office and the Chamber?

4.  How do you see the relationship between the city's business community and the University developing over the next five to ten years?  In what ways is UCB an economic development engine for the city?  In what ways does UCB present financial challenges to the city?

5.  How does the current budget crisis in the state effect UCB?  effect your office?  Do you see the University changing its character in significant ways over the next five to ten years because of financial constraints?  Do you see the socio-economic makeup of the student body changing significantly?

6.  What do you think the relationship between community colleges and UCB will be in 2015, compared to what it was in 2000?

7.  Do you think that the difference between public and private education at the college level is likely to diminish over the next decade?  If so, what are the implications for the city and its residential population?

Please bring your own questions and concerns.  Hope to see you on Nov. 2, 12:00 noon.

Mark McLeod
Director, Committee on Government Affairs
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce
510/757-4954

 

MEETING MINUTES

Berkeley Chamber of Commerce
Committee on Government Affairs

11/02/09 
 

Topic:  Potential Partnerships between UCB and the Berkeley Business Community

Featuring UCB reps:

Caleb Dardick (Director, Local Politics & Community Affairs, Office of the Chancellor, UCB),

Roesia Gerstein (Supplier Diversity Program Coordinator, Procurement Services, UCB)

Sandy Macasieb  (Strategic Sourcing Specialist, Procurement Services, UCB)

Doreen Moreno (Legislative Coordinator, Government & Community Relations-CIO, Office of the Chancellor, UCB)  
 

In attendance:  Roland Peterson (TBID), Deborah Badhia (DBA), Sam Eilman-Leavitt (Citigroup), Helen Marcus (Mechanics Bank),  Greg Chan (EBMUD),  Winston Burton (BOSS), Denise (Daily Cal), Heather Hensley (North Shattuck BID), Diane Rames (Daily Cal), Jennifer Cogley (Office of Economic Development, City of Berkeley), Terry Light (Berkeley Food and Housing Project), Terry Regan (Northside Travel), Marissa LaMagna (East Bay Green Tours), Lisa Bulwinkel (Event Coordinator), Mark McLeod (Buy Local Berkeley and Sustainable Business Alliance) 
 

Caleb:  Partnerships between UCB and the business community can and should be important and mutually beneficial.  Let’s start by asking, “What are the opportunities in buying and selling for the city and UCB?” 
 

Roesia: I am going to start by distributing a FAQ on “Conducting Business with UCB”  It poses four questions, and then offers answers.  My presentation today will be an elaboration of these four questions and their answers.  Keep in mind that I have been in this position for less than six months, and this is very much a work in progress. 
 

  1. Whom do I contact to initiate doing business with UCB?
    1. Strategic Sourcing (http://businessservices.berkeley.edu/procurement/sourcing)
    2. Supplier Diversity Program (http://businessservices.berkeley.edu/procurement/diversity):  If you are a small business, this office can provide more information about campus project teams with federal contracts which require that they use particular types of certified small businesses.   For more information about certification, visit the Small Business Administration website at http://www.sba.gov.  Small business vendors wishing to do business with the University for such projects must register on the Central Contractor Registration system at http://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx.
    3. Campus departments:  UCB has a very decentralized purchasing system.  Specific staff in campus departments are authorized to make low value purchases (under $5,000) for their departments, depending on the type of purchase and the dollar amount of the item or service.
    4. Campus buyers:  When campus depts.. need to make higher value purchases or purchases for items or services requiring special consideration, they must work with their designated Campus Buyers, who are delegated the authority to make such purchases.  See http://businessservices.berkeley.edu/procurement/authority.
 
  1. How do I find out which depts.. may need the products my company sells or the services we provide?
    1. Vist the websites of our 300 plus depts.. to learn more about their academic and research programs.
    2. See the bid opportunities pages at http://businesservices.berkeley.edu/procurement/bids to review any open Requests for Information, Quotation, or Proposal.
 
  1. How can I get my company on UCB’s preferred vendor list?
    1. The campus does not have a list or database for potential vendors.  If you are currently doing business with UCB or have done so in the past, your company information is stored in UCB’s vendor database.
    2. The Supplier Diversity Program is currently developing an online Supplier Diversity database which will allow depts.. to search for small and local businesses by commodity type as well as federal and state government classification types.  Visit:
      1. The SBA website http://sba.gov for info. about federal classification requirements.
      2. The EPA Amall Business MBE/WBE Certification website at http://www.epa.gov/osbp/dbe_certification.htm for information about EPA small business certification requirements.
      3. The State of California Small Business and DVBE Services website at http://www.pd.dga.ca.gov/smbus/default.htm for state certification information.
 
  1. Does UCB have a procurement card program?
    1. Yes.  The card is called the bluCard.  Depts. Work with bluCard Administration to set up a program and all staff must participate in an online training program before they are authorized to use a card for departmental purchases.  Vist the bluCard website at http://businesservices.berkeley.edu/cards/bluecard for more information about the products and services which department are allowed to purchase with a bluCard.
  

Roesia:  My office works with small businesses, whereas Sandy works with lots of large businesses. 
 

Greg Chan:  Could Chamber serve as a clearinghouse for information more effectively connecting small business people and UCB buyers? 
 

Roesia:  We want to list local vendors who can provide desired goods at UCB.  Vendor data base currently is only businesses that have been involved in doing business with UCB.  We are also trying to clean up vendor data base. DB:  Berkeley has 3,000 small businesses.   
 

Jennifer Cogley:  How effective have you been in expanding use of small local businesses? There are many people sitting around this table who would be glad to help you use small businesses more. 
 

Roesia:  We are doing what we can to bring small local businesses into the mix.  I can’t speak to past history, but I can say that I want to work proactively on engaging small local businesses.  . 
 

Sam:  Do UCB have quotas for purchases from small businesses? 
 

Greg:  How many Berkeley businesses have relationship with UCB? 
 

Deborah:  It is very important to us that we keep sales tax within the state. 
 

Caleb:  Has anyone at this table recently done business with UCB? 
 

Steven Donaldson:  My company has done lots of work with Haas School of Business.  Projects range from $5000 to $30,000.  There were some bureaucratic problems at the outset, but projects went well once they were established.  One lesson I learned is that department reps frequently do not know as much as they pretend to know.  That can be one big source of bureaucratic obstacles. 
 

Deborah Badhia:  Payment from UCB takes so long that it is risky for small businesses. 
 

Roesia:  We are working on building a 21st century data base and way of communicating.   
 

Jennifer:  I worked with your predecessor , Karen Woo.  As I recall, there were very few local businesses on her list. 
 

Roesia: www.ccr.gov .  
 

Caleb:  I would like to see a page on Chamber website on purchasing from UCB.  The notes from this discussion could be the initial content. 
 

Samuel:  At one point in the past, I represented a small business to UCSD.  One thing I learned that any success I had was built upon cultivating face-to-face relationships.

Roesia:  Some buyers are embedded within departments – Space Sciences, Athletics.  Other buyers represent several departments. 
 

Helen:  There used to be a booklet which outlined how to do business with UCB.  And periodically there were meetings with UCB to discuss buying.  Could we bring campus buyers before the Emeryville and Berkeley Chambers?   It would be good to include LBNL, EBMUD, city.  This would be a terrific way to begin building these critical relationships. 
 

Roesia:  I am looking  at some of the guides of the past. 
 

Caleb: BCofC should raise the bar.  Be systematic.  Coordinate with BLB, BIDs, etc.  I would like to see this relationship between local businesses and UCB strengthened.   
 

Marissa:  Everyone, including students, should be encouraged to seek out the experience of buying local. 
 

Caleb:  Students have a special credit card which not all merchants accept.  Students use these a lot.  If we can get these cards more widely accepted in the merchante community, it could send a lot of student dollars to local merchants. 
 

Rod:  I agree with Caleb that BCofC and UCB need to develop new strategies for buying local.   
 

Caleb:  Vice Chancellor Ron Coley is very interested in buying from local vendors.  We need to find out successes and barriers to successes.  
 

Winston:    On a different topic, what is the status of  Center St. and its various projects? 
 

Caleb:  UAM may have raised 50% of what it needs.  As for hotel, no private operator seems to be able to make the project pencil out at this time.  The turmoil in the financial markets has made development of these projects far more problematical than anyone expected five years ago. 
 

Caleb:  Berkeley business community should take the lead on building a new relationship with UCB, and one that will be mutually beneficial.  Once a new Chamber CEO has been chosen, convene a meeting of the various Berkeley business associations, create a proposal for a new relationship with UCB, and send us this proposal.  We will be very eager to consider it.  The Chamber and BLB should jump in and play a lead role in this effort. 
 

Jennifer:  Roesia said that she is reworking their website.  I would like to contribute to that effort. 
 

Roesia:  Would like Excel spreadsheet of categories of businesses in Berkeley.  I need a list of classifications.  Addresses?  Contact information?  Websites? 
 

Caleb:  Ask, “How can we connect business community with UCB, and with the students of the University?”  Students are highly motivated to be contributors to their community, but need educational opportunity to learn more about local businesses. 
 

Steven: Have any surveys been taken to discover buying habits of UCB students? 
 

Jennifer:  Such a survey was conducted. 
 

Roland:  Caleb, in what levels of government do you get involved? 
 

Caleb:  Doreen and I do exclusively local – Bay Area cities and agencies. 
 

Jennifer:  How do we get a commodity list?     
 

Roesia:  We do a lot of buying from Office Max because they can make very attractive discounts to UCB.  We are also having to operate in a climate where budgets limits are very stringent. 
 

Diane:  Lets get a basic commodities list.  Disseminate it.  Aggregate some information.  Turn our next meeting on this topic into a work session.  Let’s do some hands-on workshops.    Get Chamber, BLB, and BIDs to work on it collaboratively. 
 

Caleb:  Let’s be strategic.  Let’s find need at UCB, and see the Berkeley business community can meet that need.  Would be great to find out how many local businesses are already doing business with UCB.  Get their stories. 
 

Roesia:  I am so eager to get 21st century communications implemented at UCB. 
 

Jennifer:  Can we find out which Berkeley businesses are doing business with UCB? 
 

Roesia:  Will try to discover. 
 

Lisa:  A lot of the business we small businesses do is based on personal contact.  We need to have a mixer where we get campus buyers to meet local businesses face-to-face.  Personal connection is of critical importance .  We need to also include any department buyers who are buying under $5000. 
 

Jennifer:  Most of what we have been talking about has been b-to-b.  Caleb also brought up b-to-consumers.  Would be helpful to find someone in Caleb’s office who could help us with this.  
 

Caleb:  BCofC should create a work plan and partner with my office.  Students would be receptive to green and local message if it is effectively disseminated. 
 

Mark:  In conclusion, we all agreed that this should be the first of periodically renewed conversations about building the relationship between Berkeley businesses and UCB.