Supply Management

The Interim Purchasing Shared Services Centers Help Desk Offers a Solution to Local Buying Questions

As part of the continuing effort to integrate supply chain management in the U.S. Postal Service® and in support of the recent organizational announcement (http://blue.usps.gov/hr/edr/csfp/ocg/restructure.htm) realign­ing the district purchasing specialist roles under Supply Management (SM), two new Purchasing Shared Services Centers (PSSCs) are being created — one in Windsor, Connecticut, and the second in Denver, Colorado. The PSSCs will consolidate the district-level local buying resources into a single SM customer-focused organiza­tion. The new PSSCs will provide call center support as well as district-level local buying assistance to Postal Ser­vice™ employees.

Help Desk support for general SM (purchasing and local buying) policies and process questions/guidance is avail­able for all Postal Service areas as outlined below:

n Call Center hours: M–F 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. EST.

n Call Center phone number: 877-293-2410. When calling, have your Fedstrip number available.

n Call Center e-mail: helpdesk.pssc.eastern@usps.gov. When e-mailing, provide the following: name, phone number, Fedstrip number, and detailed question.

Beginning November 16, the PSSCs will start transition­ing district purchasing specialist roles and responsibilities as follows:

n Transitioning purchase card agency program coordi­nator (APC) roles from areas and district purchasing specialists to the PSSCs.

n Transitioning eBuy/eBuy2 administrator roles from areas and districts to PSSCs.

n Customizing district-level eBuy2 approval matrices.

n Processing PS Form 8230, Authorization for Pay­ment, payments for district-level local buys where the supplier does not accept the purchase credit card.

Additional SM resources are available as described below.

n National Materials Customer Service (NMCS) Self-Service website (for online self-help system and a directory of answers/resources to common SM-related topics): http://topkkssgics.usps.gov/nmcs/BlueBalloon/en-us/default.asp.

n PSSC website: http://blue.usps.gov/purchase/
services/psschome.htm.

n Supply Management website: http://blue.usps.gov/purchase.

The target completion date for this transition is April 2010, when the two new PSSCs will be fully staffed and operational.