As you may be aware, additional “reciprocal” tariffs were scheduled to go into place April 9, 2025, on some products coming from overseas. President Trump has announced a 90-day pause on those reciprocal tariffs, along with an increase to tariffs on Chinese exports. On April 11, the Trump administration announced reciprocal tariffs will exclude consumer electronics from most countries but retain a tariff on electronics from China. The tariff situation is in flux, and it cannot be predicted when or if the situation will stabilize.

LSU Procurement is actively exploring ways to mitigate the financial impact of these tariffs. The most effective and actionable step for the LSU community is to prioritize the use of strategically sourced agreements with LSU Master Contract suppliers.

We have established collaborative, long-term relationships with these suppliers, and they are essential to our procurement strategy. By consolidating our spending, we enhance the value of these partnerships and ensure continuity during this period of instability.

LSU’s Master Contracts webpage outlines LSU system-wide contracts, including those for Workday punch-out catalogs/supplier websites. Note: Tariffs may still apply to master contract items but may be at a lesser cost than if sourced from a non-contracted supplier directly.

As we navigate the fluidity of our current state, in partnership with LSU General Counsel, we have put together the guidance below of things to consider.

New Procurements

If you cannot utilize one of our strategic partners, consider the following:

• Suspending/delaying “non-essential” purchases.
• Assessing the impact of the potential cost changes.
• Ensuring tariff/duty costs are factored into price evaluations. Special attention should be paid to non-competitive purchases that are close to the competitive threshold, as tariff costs could cause the purchase to exceed the threshold, thus requiring competition.

Existing Contracts & Purchase Orders

Departments should conduct an analysis of all open purchase orders by dollar value and commodity, origin and ready date. Contact Procurement to invoke cancellation/termination should items no longer be needed.

LSU Procurement remains committed to helping you and your department with all purchasing needs. If you have any questions, please email purchase@lsu.edu.

Mass scheduled cancellation/close processes are necessary in order to help keep Workday data current and the system operating efficiently.

The safeguarding of university property is vital to maintaining a productive and efficient environment for students, faculty, and staff. In the event of the theft of any university property, action must be taken immediately as outlined below.

1. Report to Law Enforcement: Notify the appropriate law enforcement agency to make a formal report and initiate the investigation process (LSUPD for incidents occurring on campus).
2. Inform LSU Property Management: After reporting to law enforcement, immediately notify LSU Property Management by emailing property@lsu.edu. Property Management will provide instructions on next steps.

Timely reporting helps us protect LSU's assets, recover stolen items, and take necessary steps to prevent future incidents. Thank you for your diligence in helping to safeguard university resources.

A Contract assignment is when one party transfers their contract rights and duties to another party. At LSU, this often happens when a company is sold or merged. Other reasons include:

• Bankruptcy or insolvency
• Change in service providers
• Financial transactions
• Legal requirements
   

LSU Procurement sets the rules for contracts that need assignment or other changes due to a company name or tax ID change. These changes have legal effects and require quick action and official documents to protect the University's interests.

Suppliers must notify the University in writing (on company letterhead or by email) about any buyouts, acquisitions, or mergers. LSU Procurement will then take the necessary actions. Until approved, the original supplier remains responsible for the contract and receives any payments.

Suppliers cannot transfer their contract rights, obligations, or payments to another party without LSU Procurement's written approval.

Departments can assist in this process by forwarding notices received to LSU Procurement at suppliers@lsu.edu. The Supplier Support Team will handle the contract assignment process and notify the department, Procurement buyer and supplier once the process is complete. Note: A new purchase order may be required; thus, invoice processing must be halted during this process.

• Staples - New contract with prompt payment terms (B2B catalog coming in FY26)
• Airgas - Renewed and renegotiated with prompt payment terms added
• SHI International - Renewed and renegotiated

As a reminder, LSU Procurement is asking for your input in managing our contracted suppliers through completing supplier performance surveys. This allows your voice to be heard, to highlight any problem areas you have experienced with a supplier, or to commend them for a job well done. There is a separate survey for each supplier holding a master contract with the university. You are invited to complete the survey(s) for any suppliers with which you have made purchases. The feedback will be shared with the suppliers during their annual business reviews.

Survey responses will be collected through mid-June. Links to the supplier surveys were sent out via email in April and are also accessible through our website.

Kudos to you! LSU departments have retained $210,482.24 in their budgets for Fiscal Year 2025 YTD (7/1/2024 – 4/30/2025) by promptly receiving and paying invoices.

Approximately $121,540.39 was lost by not paying within the prompt payment/early payment discount timeframe.

Departments are reminded to review deliveries and approve/process LSU master contract and Workday B2B catalog supplier invoices timely.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, LSU Procurement is working to implement United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) Commodity Code functionality in Workday at the start of the new fiscal year (FY26). This is a standardized classification system for goods and services, as published by the United Nations Development Program. The classification structure is broken down into four (4) levels with each item listed in the UNSPSC code having a unique 8-digit commodity code, as shown below. This will allow for better spend tracking and visibility across the entire LSU system.

Example:

Commodity codes will work in conjunction with spend categories to more accurately categorize and describe what is being purchased by LSU end users. In addition to the spend category, each line item (good or service) on a requisition will also now have an 8-digit UNSPSC Commodity Code. 

For most orders created from a Punch-out (B2B) Catalog Requisition, the UNSPSC code will be automatically populated on the requisition. The UNSPSC Commodity Code for line items (goods or services) created as a Non-Catalog Requisition must be manually selected by the end user when creating the requisition.

LSU Procurement and ITS are creating a lookup tool/report in Workday that will allow end users to search for the commodity code that is most appropriate for the good/service they are purchasing. This lookup tool will also provide a suggested spend category(ies) for each commodity code.

The link provided above to LSU Procurement training material “Categorizing Spend: An Introduction to United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) Commodity Codes and How They are Used” will provide additional information on the UNSPSC Commodity Code structure, benefits of using commodity codes, instructions for assigning commodity codes on a requisition, and preliminary details on the Workday commodity code lookup tool/report.

LSU Procurement continues to work with multiple departments to test and develop training/job aid materials as we approach the release of this functionality. Additional information will be provided via Procurement Newsletters, Business Manager’s Meeting, etc.

• Don't use "Office of Accounting Services" as the "Ship-To" address. Even though Workday allows it, you should list the actual delivery location or where services are rendered for auditing purposes. The Requisition Sourcing Buyer won't correct the address, and any requisitions with the accounting services address will be returned to you.

• Draft receipts can cause issues with reconciliation and closing purchase orders. Workday now prompts initiators to edit an existing draft receipt instead of creating a new one. Users should either edit and submit the draft receipt or cancel it and start over. Workday will remind you to submit or cancel draft receipts if they remain in draft status for more than 2 days. Draft receipts older than 90 days will be automatically canceled by Procurement.