The 2024-2025 Fiscal Year Requisition Deadlines Memo has been released.

Departments are reminded of the need to adhere to the published procurement deadlines. Goods and services must be received and/or rendered by Monday, June 30th. Departments must aggressively track their FY25 purchasing transactions and perform timely follow-up with suppliers. Departments must take into consideration the supplier’s quoted delivery times when submitting orders for processing. It is the department's responsibility to include the mandatory delivery deadline in the internal memo section of the requisition.

With the release last year of Standards for Completion of Annual Inventory, LSU Property Management is requiring completion of training by anyone that will use the Inventory Scanning Application, regardless of having been trained previously.*

Training sessions have already been completed at LSUA & LSUE, and LSUAG training will occur as noted below.

*All LSUS users who received the training delivered on-site in June 2024 are current and are not required to be re-trained this year. Contact Katie Baten (katie.baten@lsus.edu) if you have not received training.

Below are the remaining training sessions. Employees must register in advance.

LSU’s Procurement Policies & Procedures provides guidelines for university procurements that govern all Workday campuses. Please take a moment to review the Procurement Code policies and procedures, as there may be changes or new updates that are relevant to you. 

The Procurement A-Z index also provides departmental guidance regarding how to make purchases by commodity.

Departments should begin assessing open purchase orders (POs) to determine if purchases/contracts are complete. Once all goods/services lines have been fully received and fully invoiced in Workday, the PO should auto-close once the invoice is fully paid. 

Mass Close Requests are processed routinely to bulk close punch-out catalog POs that have been fully paid. 

If the order was canceled in its entirety or partially received (item(s) cancelled or returned), an email request (including the PO#) to cancel/close the PO should be sent by the department to purchase@lsu.edu or their respective campus purchasing office.

Notes:

• “Credit Memos/Supplier Invoice Adjustments” do not guarantee the supplier will not reship or replace items and therefore is not accepted as supplier documentation to support closure requests.
• For Professional, Specialty and Consulting Services Contracts or Construction POs: Contact the PO Buyer-of-Record directly regarding closure/liquidation since additional steps may be required.

Prior to submitting requests to cancellation/closure, departments are reminded to check for pending transactions related to the PO. Workday will not allow PO cancellation/closure until pending transactions are processed. Below are a few tips to check for pending transactions:

1. Run Find Receipts report with filters for your company (campus) and status (draft) to see list of draft POs which must be submitted or canceled before PO cancellation/closure can occur.
2. Run Find Supplier Invoices by Worktag report with filters for your worktag (program, project, gift, or grant) and invoice status (approved and in progress) and payment status (unpaid) to see list of POs with pending supplier invoices which must be approved and paid before PO cancellation/closure can occur.
3. Run the Supplier Retention Balances report to see the list of construction POs still holding retainage which must first be cleared before PO cancellation/closure can occur.

PO cancellation/closure requests are processed within Procurement’s normal turnaround times (7-10 business days). Plan accordingly.

We are seeing an increased number of supplier applications where the individual is a current or former employee, or the entity is owned, partially or fully, by a current employee. Pursuant to the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics (R.S. 42:1101), Procurement is responsible for ensuring the following provisions are not violated:

• Post Employment (R.S. 42:1121): Prohibits a former public employee from providing services on a contractual basis to their former state agency for a period of two years following termination of their public employment. This includes legal entities in which the former public servant is an officer, director, trustee, partner or employee.
• Prohibited Contractual Arrangements (R.S. 42:1113): Prohibits public servants and their family members from bidding on or entering into any contract, subcontract, or other transaction that is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.

Additionally, we help to identify potential ineligible active employees contributing to or former employees who have retired and/or are currently receiving monthly retirement benefits from Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL). Pursuant to LSU HRM Guidance, individuals interested in employment through a university contract, must be reviewed by LSU HRM/Benefits to determine eligibility for hire.

Departments are encouraged to ask for potential conflicts prior to instructing anyone to register as a supplier and before goods/services are rendered. Failure to address these issues upfront may result in nonpayment by LSU.

Departments are reminded of the 3-5 business day turnaround needed for supplier application processing, which starts when the supplier successfully submits the application. Upon submission the supplier receives (2) two email confirmations: one to confirm submission of the application and the second to confirm approval or denial once the application has been processed. Delays in processing are typically due to missing or inaccurate information. If additional information is needed, the supplier will receive an email and has (3) three days to respond with the requested information.

Departments are encouraged to request the approval confirmation from supplier as proof the step was completed. Suppliers should be available in Workday within 24 hours of the approval email. Use the Workday Find Supplier by Tax ID report to locate the supplier by name, Tax ID or date before reaching out for an update.

If, after the turnaround time has passed, attempts to locate the supplier in Workday are unsuccessful, you should reach out to the Supplier Help Desk at suppliers@lsu.edu for an update. Time spent providing statuses for approved suppliers takes away from other pressing needs.

The PUR-CR form is used to gather information about the contractor/supplier, such as their relationship to LSU and its employees. It also identifies contract deliverables, payment milestones, and contract manager information. This form is required for all Professional, Specialty, and Consulting Service (PSC) requisitions not subject to competition.

The form has been separated into two (2) parts: one part is completed by the contractor/supplier through Adobe Sign, and the other part is completed by the requisitioner as a Workday questionnaire for PSC requisitions.

The contractor/supplier should only be prompted to complete the PUR-CR form after they have registered as an LSU supplier to ensure eligibility. Sending both forms simultaneously has caused confusion for suppliers, and the PUR-CR form is not accepted in lieu of the supplier application.

• LSU Procurement values your input in managing our contracted suppliers. We’ve developed a supplier scorecard to highlight performance strengths and areas for improvement, which will be shared during annual reviews.
• LSU Procurement will collect response data for each supplier via Qualtrics surveys. Links will be emailed to campus users/stakeholders and posted on the LSU Procurement website. Data collection will occur from April to mid-June.  

Within the last year, multiple LSU master contract/Workday B2B catalog suppliers have rebranded with new names/logos:

Kudos to you! LSU departments have maintained $158,681.68 in their budgets for Fiscal Year 2025 (7/1/2024 – 2/28/2025) by promptly receiving and paying invoices.

Approximately $101,007.27 was lost by not paying within the prompt payment/early payment discount timeframe.

Departments are reminded that LSU master contract and Workday B2B catalog suppliers offer prompt payment terms and early payment discounts:

The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) is a global system for classifying products and services. Suppliers use these codes to classify their offerings, while procurement teams use them to categorize products and services for procurement opportunities.

In a 2015 memo, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) noted that existing codes like the Product and Service Code and Federal Supply Codes generalized purchases. Starting in Fiscal Year 2014, the DOC began using the United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC) to classify purchases into refined categories. This allows the DOC to identify sourcing categories, analyze spending, and leverage price and volume discounts.

UNSPSC commodity codes are structured as a four-level hierarchy (Segment, Family, Class, and Commodity) and coded as an eight (8) digit number.

LSU Procurement is working with multiple departments to test and develop training/job aid materials with an anticipated release of functionality in Workday at the start of FY26. Additional information will be provided via Procurement Updates, Business Manager’s Meeting, email, etc.

The Workday Procurement FAQ webpage on our website is a great resource for those frequently asked questions by departments. This page is continuously updated as new questions or issues arise.

Visit our FAQs page to view the list of questions and answers on topics such as:

• Canceling/Closing Purchase Orders
• Deleting or Copying Requisitions
• Finding and Changing Purchase Orders
• Requesting New Ship-To Addresses
• Ship-To Address Errors
• Procurement Job Aids

Purchase order receipts are no longer required for subawards. As a reminder, a receipt is required for all purchase orders with the following exceptions:

• Catalog purchases (punch-out/supplier website orders) if the goods line has a spend category that is not trackable and a unit cost less than $1,000. Also, catalog purchases where the supplier is America to Go.
• Non-catalog purchases if the service line has a spend category of Subrecipient Payments - Grants and Contracts (SC0084) and a grant worktag.

Receipts can be created by the Requisition Requester or users with the Accountant–Department role.

Supplier invoices should not be attached to the receipt and instead emailed to aptravel@lsu.edu.

While receipts may not always be required, POs with fully received and paid lines can automatically close alleviating the need to submit close requests.

• Submit requisitions only when ready to proceed with the purchase, including all final attachments. Draft or unfinished specifications will not be accepted, as they create confusion and lead to mistakes.
• If the supplier invoices less than the purchase order amount, no change order is needed. Departments should create a receipt indicating the line item is fully received before invoice processing. Workday will automatically liquidate the remaining encumbrance and close the purchase order once the invoice is fully paid.

Are you new to LSU or recently appointed to a purchasing role? Looking for a refresher on LSU procurement policies and procedures? The 2nd round of our training schedule starts soon. Join us in our virtual instructor-led training sessions.