Dear Colleagues,
As many of you are aware, representatives from YSM departments and Procurement have
successfully partnered to identify non-salary cost savings opportunities across the Medical
School. Many of the opportunities we’ve identified will also be available throughout the Yale
community going forward. Today we are pleased to report to a best practices guide for Lab
Maintenance Service Agreements.
We hope this will assist you in examining your department’s maintenance services spend and
support decision making for future savings. After meeting with several departments, the
efforts put into creating this Best Practice Guide focused primarily on identifying savings
opportunities, while maintaining quality service, allowing for some flexibility, but ultimately
meeting the needs of our faculty, staff and students. As the committee developed the
strategies and processes contained in the guide, many questions arose that were addressed
and resolved…some of which your department may also experience. Please know that
members of our committee would be happy to work with individual departments upon request.
Attached is the Lab Maintenance Best practices Guide**, which will be rolled out first to Lead
Administrator clusters and then more broadly to other staff.
One of the critical needs identified by Lead Administrators, clusters, etc. was guidance on who
to contact when initiating new service or maintenance agreements. Once a quote is received,
contact your Buyer prior to any negotiations with vendors to ensure all Yale discounts are
applied. If there are additional negotiations needed, it will be a collaborative effort between
Procurement and the department. If you are unclear as to which Buyer to call, please contact
David Salerno and he will identify a person to assist you.
If you have any questions about this announcement, please feel free to contact David directly
or Chris DiGioia, team leader for the equipment maintenance cost savings team.
- Committee Members – Chris DiGioia, David Salerno
Chris DiGioia
Yale School of Medicine
Department of Pharmacology
BEST PRACTICES FOR LAB MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS
These Best Practices are provided as a guide for departments’ to review and evaluate.
If you have any questions please contact Purchasing Services for assistance.

Identify all maintenance agreements within the unit
o Perform a total inventory to account for all assets

Evaluate the level of support needed for each piece of equipment based
upon:
o The age of the equipment
o History of repairs
o Criticality to the operation of the department
o The number of similar pieces of equipment
 If support is needed, determine the level required, such as:*
o Full support (24x7)
o Preventive maintenance only
o Time and materials contract
 Consider which suppliers to use for support:*
o Original equipment manufacturer(OEM)
o Certified third-party service company
 Contact Purchasing Services to review and negotiate any new agreements
*Purchasing Services can provide assistance in these areas