SciQuest of Cary wins UNC 'eprocurement' contract

SciQuest, a Cary technology company that allows businesses and universities to order supplies and services online, has signed a major new client: the University of North Carolina.

The UNC system’s general administration will use SciQuest’s technology to help reduce costs as part of a broader effort to bolster its fiscal health.

To reduce its budget, the system also has been cutting hundreds of administrative jobs.

“From Day One of my tenure, we’ve been working on multiple fronts to operate our entire university more efficiently and effectively,” said UNC president Erskine Bowles, in a prepared statement. “SciQuest has a proven track record of enabling cost savings.”

The UNC contract, which could be worth “a couple million bucks over several years,” isn’t SciQuest’s biggest deal, but has the potential to be in the top five, said CEO Stephen Wiehe. The total value will depend on how much UNC uses SciQuest’s technology and whether all schools in the 16-campus system sign on.

But it’s an important victory for the local company to finally sign up this state’s university system.

“We’ve been very successful with schools outside of North Carolina, but this is a point of pride for us,” Wiehe said. SciQuest has had a contract with East Carolina University since 2005, and also has deals with state systems in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee.

UNC officials couldn’t be reached for further comment on Wednesday.

SciQuest was founded in 1995 and now employs more than 160 people. Last year, the company helped universities, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations, and other customers process about $5.6 billion worth of transactions. That includes buying products such as computers, office supplies, lab equipment and more.

The pace of new contracts slowed considerably late last year and early this year as the economy tanked, Wiehe said. But business is rebounding in the fourth quarter as the economy recovers and contracts that had been delayed get signed.

“There’s still some uncertainty, some concern about the economy, but money is getting freed up,” Wiehe said.