2016 Efficiency Reporting Guidance

In the early part of 2015, Gov. John R. Kasich created the Ohio Task Force on Affordability and Efficiency to make recommendations to Ohio’s institutions of higher education based on three simultaneous principles 1) to be more efficient both in expense management and revenue generation 2) while offering an education of equal or higher quality and 3) decreasing costs to students and their families. The Task Force met several times during the course of 2015. In October the Task Force issued a report with ten recommendations to advise institutions on efficiency and academic practices which will improve both the quality of education and lower costs for students.

Furthermore, House Bill 64 (Section 369.550) requires each institution’s board of trustees to complete an efficiency review, based on the Task Force’s recommendations, by July 1, 2016, and submit their findings and implementation plans to the chancellor within 30 days, or by August 1, 2016. For additional information on each category and recommendation, please review the Action Steps to Reduce College Costs report, issued by the Ohio Task Force on Affordability and Efficiency.

This document is intended to provide guidance for institutions’ reports to the chancellor, based on the legislation – please modify and add additional detail as necessary. The institutional efficiency review and the implementation plans captured by this template will serve as the data for 2016 Efficiency Advisory Committee Report. These reports are due August 1, 2016. In 2017 and moving forward, ODHE will issue a survey to the institutions, based on the Task Force Report, as a status update to the implementation plans and will serve as the Efficiency Advisory Committee report.

Campuses will want to review the template to familiarize themselves with the format and content before beginning. The template is structured into four sections:

·  Section 1: Efficiencies – The first section captures practices likely to yield significant savings for institutions that can then be passed on to students. This includes Procurement, Administrative and Operational, and Energy.

·  Section 2: Academic Practices – This section covers areas such as textbooks, time to degree incentives, and academic course and program reviews. While improvements to academic processes and policies may not convey immediate cost savings, there will likely be tangible benefits that improve the quality of education for students.

·  Section 3: Policy Reforms – This section captures additional policy reforms recommended by the Task Force.

·  Section 4: Cost Savings, Redeployment of Savings & Tangible Benefits to Students – The last section will ask institutions to provide, if applicable, cost savings to the institution in actual dollars saved for each of the recommendations. Furthermore, the institution must advise if the institutional savings has been redeployed as a cost savings to students or offered a benefit to the quality of education for students.

Any questions can be directed to Sara Molski, Assistant Policy Director at the Ohio Department of Higher Education, at 614-728-8335 or by email at .

Central State University

Section I: Efficiency Practices

Procurement

Recommendation 3A | Campus contracts: Each institution must require that its employees use existing contracts for purchasing goods and services, starting with the areas with the largest opportunities for savings.

The University requires employees to use existing contracts where they are already established. The University uses the IUC and State Term Contracts for goods and services. In addition, strict purchasing guidelines have been implemented to ensure the campus is taking advantage of the largest opportunity for savings. The University has a very rigorous approval process that begins with all requisitions going to the Purchasing Department first before being processed. The requisition process must also go through at least three levels of approvals, and if over $5,000 the CFO and the President must also sign before processing is complete. If the requisition is not using a state contract, IUC contract or is not adhering to University policy it is stopped and returned to the requestor. Also, purchases of goods above $5,000 must obtain three quotes or the request will not be processed. No purchase can circumvent this process. In 2016 CSU spent $1.5 million through IUC and State Term contracts realizing a savings of over $400,000.
In situations where there is no State or IUC contract the University works with local vendors to leverage the best cost for the institution. Our purchasing group maintains a list of preferred vendors for specific goods and services. These vendors are used and they have been vetted in cost and quality. This process does not supersede the policy, but it gives the University a reliable business partner in an emergency and a local vendor that support the institutions mission.
Finally, the University has a centralized budget process. With this approach one office oversees all spending and requests for spending. This process establishes a high level of review and efficiency in order to obtain approval. The budget office tracks spending and reviews any unusual expenses that exceed budgeted expectations. This additional level of review leads to greater efficiency in our expense management. The University budgets annually a 3% efficiency target that has been reached every year.

Recommendation 3B | Collaborative contracts: Ohio’s colleges and universities must pursue new and/or strengthened joint purchasing agreements in the following categories:

•  Copier/printer services

•  Computer hardware

•  Travel services

•  Outbound shipping

•  Scientific Supplies and Equipment

•  Office Supplies and Equipment

Contract Type / Is the institution participating in joint contracts?
[yes, no, plan to] / Include additional explanation here if needed.
If the institution chooses not to participate, please explain why.
Copier/printer services / Yes / Xerox with Wright State, Clark State and Sinclair
Computer hardware / Yes / CSU uses state term with CDW
Travel services / Yes / Enterprise Fleet program
Outbound shipping / Yes / State Term Contract with Pitney Bowes
Scientific supplies & equipment / Yes / CSU uses State Term
Office supplies & equipment / Yes / IUC Contract with GBEX

Assets and Operations

Recommendation 4 | Assets and Operations

4A Asset review: Each institution must conduct an assessment of its noncore assets to determine their market value if sold, leased or otherwise repurposed. Where opportunities exist, colleges and universities must consider coordinating these efforts with other Ohio institutions to reap larger benefits of scale.

The University continues to evaluate all its assets for the opportunity to sell, lease or repurpose. Examples of this initiative include our decision to lease (Enterprise Lease Agreement) all university vehicles instead of buying; the University student transportation program was discontinued and we engaged local transportation (Greene County Public Transportation) for student transportation to town; and we submitted an RFP for our farm land and we obtained a 25% increase in our lease value; and campus offices have been outfitted on main campus from excess furniture that was part of the CSU Dayton location building purchase.
The University is collaborating with surrounding colleges and universities, such as Wright State, Clark State, Miami and Sinclair to realize new opportunities. The Xerox collaborative is an example of an innovative project where three institutions have partnered on print and copying services.
The University is also working with Cedarville University in the areas of sharing Animal Care Facility and ROTC programming. This collaboration has sparked more discussions between our institutions especially those within 20 miles.
The University is also a member of Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) which provides an opportunity for the institutions in this area to discuss issues that we face locally and for the President’s of the institutions to see where we can partner. Also, CSU and Wilberforce University began holding discussions on potential collaborations and joint purchasing opportunities.
Finally, the University over the last four years has formed a tangible partnership with the City of Xenia. Through this partnership we have realized savings in the areas of facilities and city services. Xenia has provided water infrastructure support, facility maintenance (equipment use), and technical support. They have provided advice and counsel on University Fire Inspections and EMS Services. In 2016, cost avoidance and technical support exceeded $175,000 for these activities.

4B Operations review: Each institution must conduct an assessment of non-academic operations that might be run more efficiently by a regional cooperative, private operator or other entity. These opportunities must then be evaluated to determine whether collaboration across institutions would increase efficiencies, improve service or otherwise add value.

The University is continually assessing non-academic operations and looking for opportunities to run more efficiently. This year we performed an assessment of our bookstore operations and determined that a private operator would be able to run the operation more efficiently. This decision was a significant cost savings in inventory expense and personnel costs. It also opened up a new revenue opportunity that the university did not have the capacity to grow. As a result, of selecting Barnes & Noble we obtained additional support because they are also the bookstore provider at Wright State. The staff at WSU bookstore assisted with set-up of the store and this summer’s operation.
In July 2015 we entered into an agreement with a private company (Brewer Garrett) to manage the maintenance of our facilities. This decision decreased our energy usage and overall campus maintenance costs. The outsourcing of our maintenance area has a projected personnel savings of $250,000 annually and more importantly we reduced our potential risk of further deferred maintenance issues because we have a very experienced company overseeing our physical plant. Our partnership with Brewer Garrett provided that experience and oversight that will allow us improve our physical plant and build even more efficiencies into our system. We estimate the cost avoidance of repairs to our equipment to exceed $250,000 annually. We have already seen a $1.1 million decrease in our utility expense as a result of the Energy Conservation Project that Brewer Garrett led.
The University also outsourced a significant part of Human Resources to again leverage expertise in this area by securing subject experts to help us stay up on changes in healthcare, employee benefits and staff hiring. The Affordable Care Act was a major change to the healthcare industry and we decided to secure USI (Healthcare company) to oversee our activities. This decision led to people cost savings of $150,000 annually along with providing additional expertise from an outside consultant. These operational efficiencies are the major projects undertook by CSU in 2015-2016, but there were many more efficiencies that contributed to our financial improvements. The following is a list of other efficiencies:
·  Used temporary employees during fiscal year start-up
·  Developed a partnership with Alpha and Omega for cleaning services
·  Renegotiated trash contract
·  Christmas shutdown of University
·  Spring week shutdown
·  Developed flexible summer work schedule
·  Secured state support for road repairs and tree removal
·  Moved to leasing of university vehicles
·  Renegotiated uniform expenses
·  Reduced cell phone expense for employees
·  Initiated energy conservation program and recycling
·  Renegotiated Dining contract (profit sharing)
·  Increased fees to drive additional revenue
·  Leveraged work study students in administrative areas
·  Police and security leveraging with local universities
·  Coordinated a student beautification program
The university has the most affordable tuition cost of 4 year institutions in Ohio. We have always been aggressive in cost reduction initiatives and programs. Our university is lean and efficient and it must operate in this manner to survive in this competitive higher education environment.

4C Affinity partnerships and sponsorships: Institutions must, on determining assets and operations that are to be retained, evaluate opportunities or affinity relationships and sponsorships that can support students, faculty and staff. Colleges and universities can use these types of partnerships to generate new resources by identifying “win-win” opportunities with private entities that are interested in connecting with students, faculty, staff, alumni or other members of their communities.

Has the institution implemented this recommendation? If yes, please provide an overview of the process used and the key outcomes. The University is a very active community partner in the Greene and Montgomery County area. We belong to both Chamber of Commerce’s and we are very active in initiatives that affect our region. The University Economic Impact of this area exceeds $150 million dollars annually. As a very involved community partner we have developed many important relationships the following are our activities:
Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
·  School District/Community Organizations/National Agency partnerships:
In order to increase our student recruitment efforts, we have established partnerships with different school districts and access groups. Some of the recent partnerships include:
o  Indianapolis Urban League Project Ready Program—the goal with this collaboration is to recruit students who have engaged in a multi-year college preparedness program and provide them with the tools and resources to be successful in college. This partnership has led to campus college visits and connectivity with the Indianapolis Public School District.
o  Columbus Public School District collaboration is underway in order to increase the number of students from Columbus to attend CSU. We are hosting an upcoming college showcase at a STEM high school this month.
o  Sexual Assault Prevention Organizations
Our community partners are The Family Violence Prevention Center of Greene County (FVPC), The Greene County Prosecutor’s Office, Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV), and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. FVPC services are designed to address the issues associated with domestic violence from a holistic perspective, and are categorized into the four key areas of Intervention, Safe House, Outreach and Prevention. The Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for prosecuting adult offenders of felony crimes as well as juvenile offenders of felony and misdemeanor crimes. The Victim/Witness Division has provided support, advocacy, referral and crisis intervention assistance to all felony crime victims and witnesses including domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking victims. The Division, which operates with a professional staff and a group of trained volunteer advocates, provides 24-hour assistance free of charge following established procedures as set forth in the Greene County Domestic Violence Response Protocol and the Greene County Sexual Assault Response Protocol. The Greene County Prosecutor is also a member of the Greene County Domestic Violence Consortium. OAESV and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network will be instrumental in providing various training opportunities for our campus constituents.