While the passage of the LA GRAD Act granted the University autonomies like the authority to increase tuition, the new authority of independent purchasing power has left many skeptical of the University’s position as a public institution.
These changes in purchasing power apply to the University’s procurement code, or the method by which it purchases the goods it needs to run, from pencils and paper to computers and transit systems.
Chief Procurement Officer Marie Frank said the red tape involved with the current procurement code is irrational.
Rather than being able to look for the best deal, “we had to think, ‘How can we purchase this within the confines of an antiquated law?'” she said.
With the help of the GRAD Act, Frank said the University can behave as business and industry do by making purchases based on the best deal rather than restricting criteria in the procurement code.
Under the GRAD Act, universities fall into three separate categories that determine their authority to act independently. The levels reached are judged by the improvement each university displays, comprising basic, intermediate and high-level autonomies.
Frank explained one of the most effective powers will be the ability to purchase through cooperative purchasing organizations, or CPOs, which are national groups that use large institutions as clients in order to sign discounted deals with production companies.
“We’ve never had the opportunity to enter one of these as a higher education institution,” she said. “We’re now able to find ways to do business in a way that is better for process.”
Renee Baker, Louisiana state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, shared Landry’s concerns.
“Obviously we understand that the bid should go to the lowest bidder, but when you start getting involved with cooperatives, there’s a possibility that the [bidding] process will be circumvented,” she argued.
Baker traced her discord with the bill to the function of higher education institutions.
“I don’t think that universities should have absolute authority to not abide by the procurement code, which is the concern that I had going into the process with the GRAD Act,” she explained. “[The universities] didn’t want to have to adhere to the guidelines in the procurement