Procurement / Materials Management

The procurement / materials management department partners with all scientific and administrative departments at the DKFZ. Its central role is efficiently supplying these departments with all necessary goods and services.

The DKFZ has found the combination of centralized and decentralized procurement to be both effective and efficient as an organizational model: procurements are usually conducted centrally via the department procurement / materials management. In order to accelerate the process, particularly for lab work, requisitioners can use decentralized procurement (direct order), provided a framework agreement with suppliers exists, the items and services to be procured have been cleared for direct order in the electronic catalog, and the price of the order is under 1,500 Euros. The DKFZ uses the catalog based ordering system e.biss, which contains both the catalog data for decentralized procurement as well as structured electronic forms to create procurement requests for centralized procurement.

Centralized procurement focuses on the consultation of procurers in choosing products and suppliers as well as configuring the award procedure. This allows for a synergy of both the procurer’s scientific and technical expertise as well as the purchasing department’s product and market knowledge, their economic and legal expertise, not to mention their experience with comparable processes.

For decentralized procurement, purchasing combines the goods and services into an electronic catalog, if these are needed by a number of requisitioners on a recurring basis. Countless product areas are available to both users in the DKFZ as well as participants in the buying syndicate initialized by the DKFZ. This allows for further purchasing benefits.

By splitting the procurement methods in two, the decentralized procurement of catalog items is highly efficient (due to product standardization and electronic processing of the order), while the centralized procurement areas (for those items not covered by the catalog) can emphasize fulfilling the demands of the customer.

The materials management team accepts the delivery of packages and forwards them to the various departments in their respective buildings. It also manages the DKFZ’s stock, including its chemical storage facility.

The business IT department maintains and develops the electronic data processing systems used in administration. There is particular attention to the e.biss ordering system as well as SAP-applications.

The Casino team provides the employees of the DKFZ with a delicious, appealing, varied, inexpensive and nutritious selection of meals and drinks. Naturally, this offer is also available to any guests at the Hochhaus and Technologiepark locations. Furthermore, we have coffee bars in both the foyer of the Hochhaus and in the Casino building of the Technologiepark.