Anecdote: How to get (then keep) a research department from being shut down

I took a job in 2004 where the federal purchasing was so out of compliance, they were threatened with shut down and mandated to create my role. My job started off with a deposition early and I was asked how I was going to address the problems.

BTW: Don't ever read your own deposition. Just take my advice on this. I know they want you to read it for corrections and you should do that, but if you can separate your emotions from how bad you sound - do it. 

It was federal purchasing - so much had been done incorrectly. For a long time. No more than $2,500 per transaction. Hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) were insufficiently accounted for.

The system provided to researchers was DOS based. This system required entry of a proper purchase order and later reconciliation in that DOS based system.

Well duh! They handed credit cards to researchers and trusted they would be able to enter a purchase order and reconcile in DOS. Oh, this also had to adhere to all federal purchasing regulations.

These were researchers doing cellular level research. Purchasing was not in their skill set, purchasing was the necessary evil to get the supplies and equipment they needed to do their science. For me, it was a straightforward fix. No, I didn't know all the rules or the system but I was able to figure it out.


Hell, after digging through all the ways someone could inadvertently do something wrong it was easy to forge a system to get and keep them in compliance.  Added bonus, I found ways to purchase on and off contract that saved obscene amounts of money and still followed all appropriate rules. 

I worked with the individual researchers, helped get all the prior financials reconciled and set up a centralized system that was still being used 14 years later. It was simple, it worked. I like stuff like that.