Letter from the Director

Welcome to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Procurement Department's website. I hope that you find our site both informative and easy to use.

The Procurement Department is responsible for the acquisition of goods and services for the MIT community. Our mission statement reflects our commitment of service to the Institute community and to conducting business in an ethical manner.

MIT is one of the largest recipients of federal funding, and is a private research university with five schools of study, over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and approximately 9,500 faculty and staff. Our size, combined with the diversity of our educational and research efforts, creates myriad requirements for which the Procurement Department is responsible. We must balance the eclectic needs of the Institute with the need for utilizing sound business practices as well as complying with our obligations to the federal government to ensure proper purchasing procedures.

MIT's purchasing systems and procedures are subject to audit and review every three years by federal auditors. This review is known as the contractor purchasing system review (CPSR) and must be passed in order to retain the right to act as the government's agent when issuing purchase orders that commit federal funds. Failure of this review would result in the need to have every request for the purchase of goods or services using government money, regardless of the value, reviewed by the government before placing the order. I am pleased to report that MIT's procurement systems and procedures have continually passed this review; however, we emphasize the need for continuous sound business practices regarding procurement management and administration.

Thank you for visiting the MIT Procurement website. If you have any questions or feedback regarding this site or Procurement in general, please feel free to contact us. We are a service organization committed to fulfilling the needs of the MIT community.

Sincerely,

Diane J. Shea
Director of Procurement