The competitive bid process lets the UC system and the UCSB campus secure the best quality products and services at the best possible price. UCSB achieves millions of dollars back to the campus in savings, revenue, and rebate programs as a result of competitive bidding and transactional discount savings:        

Campus FY21 Savings to date (10/2020) FY20 Savings
UC Office of the President $0M $20.5M
UC San Francisco $34.7M $60.3M
UC Los Angeles  $14.7M $28.9M
UC Berkeley  $4.7M $14.7M
UC San Diego  $11.2M $27.6M
UC Irvine  $3.9M $10.4M
UC Davis $5.9M $8.1M
UC Santa Barbara  $5.6M $5.6M
UC Riverside  $1.1M $5.2M
UC Merced  $3.0M $7.8M
UC Santa Cruz  $1.6M $6.1M
TOTAL $86,444,554.00 $195,115,457.00

Supporting UC sourced contracts removes the need to competitively bid products/services over the $100k threshold.