Please review the information below regarding Contract Processing:
ONLY AUTHORIZED SIGNATORIES MAY APPROVE AND EXECUTE CONTRACTS ON BEHALF OF
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY.
A contract is any agreement or other negotiable document covering a relationship and/or the mutual exchange of promises. Such document may interchangeably be called a Contract, an Agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding, a Letter of Agreement, or similar terminology. All contracts must be processed through the Office of the General Counsel ("OGC") and Dr. Jason McConnell, President, and Dr. Debra Moyers, Executive Vice President for Finance are the only authorized signatories at the University.
There are various types of agreements/contracts that the University enters into with 3 rd parties. Some of these include service agreements, business associate agreements, collaborative agreements, continuing education agreements, consulting agreements, licensing agreements, material transfer agreements, memorandum of understanding, research agreements, vendor agreements, and independent contractor agreements. A signature is not necessarily required to make a document a "contract."
Utilizing a template, created by LMU and approved through the OGC, is the quickest method to obtain an executed contract. Templates are not to be edited by any department except the Office of the General Counsel. These are available to employees on MyLMU. Departments wishing to request a template should email contracts@LMUnet.edu and outline the specific requirements for the template. Please allow a minimum of four (4) weeks for all requests including document creation and contract processing.
Contracts that need to be terminated prior to their termination or expiration date must be handled through the Office of the General Counsel.
Event Requests are not contracts nor does approval of the Event Request approve a 3 rd party agreement. Events Requests must be approved by Facilities Management, Risk Management, Campus Police and Security, or potential other departments prior to a 3 rd party agreement or contract being approved. (These may include a food truck, coffee cart, performer, speaker, art/sport/activity, etc.) More often than not, a contract will be associated with an event request. Once you have completed the event request through the appropriate person(s), any contracts associated with an event should be provided to the OGC for reviewing and processing.
It is the department's responsibility to ensure all information is included in the contract. Please do not provide an incomplete contract or a contract containing track changes for processing. An incomplete contract is an invalid contract, and providing such to the OGC will only delay processing. A complete contract includes date(s), names, times, conditions, terms, financial considerations, insurance, etc., all indicated within the contract. If it is an addendum, amendment, or renewal, the original contract(s) must be included. The contract must have gone through departmental review and approval prior to the originator providing the document to contracts@LMUnet.edu. Any deficiency in these areas will result in a delay in processing the contract, and it will be returned to the originator for completion.
Once the document is received by contracts@LMUnet.edu , it is reviewed by the OGC employee responsible for processing contracts and, if complete, placed in Adobe Sign for processing by the appropriate, authorized signatories. Once all appropriate signatories have reviewed, approved, and signed the contract, the executed version populates to the originator. All parties who have signed the document will receive a signed version of the contract.
If the contractor/other party has previously signed the agreement, the document is archived by OGC, and the originator is responsible for supplying a copy of the executed contract to the contractor. If the document is not signed by the contractor/other party, the originator is responsible for obtaining the contractor/other party's signature and providing a fully executed copy to contracts@LMUnet.edu.
Please contact the Office of General Counsel if you have any questions regarding this information or need assistance in preparing or submitting a contract.
If you have any further questions or concerns please contact General Counsel at contracts@LMUnet.edu.
