1. Legal Research, Online Resources and GSA

2. OMES Website We learned this morning how to find the Central Purchasing Act and the Central Purchasing Rules on the Central Purchasing website.

3. Open the Central Purchasing Act, hold down the “CTRL” button on the keyboard while typing the letter “f” and the Oklahoma Statutes box pops up on the screen. OMES Website

4. Type the word “termination” in the “Find” box and choose “Next.” OMES Website

5. It brings up every instance of the word “termination.” In this case, though, it did not bring up the terms under which you can terminate the contract. OMES Website

6. Try the same process with the Central Purchasing Rules. In this case, if you go through the document, it locates a whole section on Contract Termination. OMES Website

7. Not all purchasing laws are in those two documents. Another great resource is the Oklahoma State Courts Network. OSCN.NET

8. This can be a fun tool to use, but let’s do serious research first. Choose the “Legal Research” tab. OSCN.NET

9. A page comes up with Oklahoma Statutes, session laws, a link to the Administrative Rules (Secretary of State’s website), the Constitution and the attorney general’s opinions. OSCN.NET

10. To research a Statute, choose the “Oklahoma Statutes Citationized” link. OSCN.NET

11. A page appears with titles and links to all State Statutes. If you don’t know where your answer resides, select the “Search” link at the top of the page. OSCN.NET

12. You know from your online classes there is a chief information officer, so that might be a good search term if you were looking for IT laws. OSCN.NET

13. The search finds every instance of that term in the Statutes. They mostly appear in Title 62, so that might be the best place to look. It also shows “superseded” versions of the law.

14. Sometimes, you may need the big three areas (Constitution, Statutes & AG’s Opinions) to answer one question. An example would be “How are the Courts exempt from the Central Purchasing Act?” Under the Constitution it states, Article 4 - Distribution of Powers Section Article 4 section 1 - Departments of government - Separation and distinction Cite as: O.S. §, __ __ § 1. Departments of government - Separation and distinction. The powers of the government of the State of Oklahoma shall be divided into three separate departments: The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial; and except as provided in this Constitution, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of government shall be separate and distinct, and neither shall exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others. OSCN.NET

15. But under the Central Purchasing Act it states: “Title 74. State Government Chapter 4 - Office of Management and Enterprise Services The Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act Section 85.2 – Definitions 34. "State agency" includes any office, officer, bureau, board, counsel, court, commission, institution, unit, division, body or house of the executive or judicial branches of the state government, whether elected or appointed, excluding only political subdivisions of the state;” Understand – this definition was worded by Legislature, who cannot exercise power over the Courts. OSCN.NET

16. Maybe this question has been asked before. Let’s look at the AG’s Opinions: “Question Submitted by: The Honorable Jeff McMahan, State Auditor and Inspector 2003 OK AG 34 Decided: 08/04/2003 Oklahoma Attorney General Opinions Cite as: 2003 OK AG 34, __ __ ¶0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following question: “Are purchases made from the Court Fund governed by the Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act (74 O.S. 2001 & Supp.2002, §§ 85.1 - 85.44C), the county purchasing procedures (19 O.S. 2001 & Supp.2002, §§ 1500 -1507), or some other source?”74 O.S. 2001 & Supp.2002, §§ 85.119 O.S. 2001 & Supp.2002, §§ 1500 OSCN.NET

17. AG’s Opinions (continued): Short part of the answer is: “¶11 The Legislature and the Oklahoma Supreme Court have crafted a separate and distinct set of guidelines to be followed when purchases are made from the Court Fund. See 20 O.S. Supp.2002, § 1304(A); Cook, 557 P.2d at 877; Hopper, 867 P.2d at 1257. This body of law is specific in nature and clearly includes the matter in controversy, i.e. what law governs purchases from the Court Fund. Southwestern Bell, 618 P.2d at 919. Furthermore, the Legislature and the Oklahoma Supreme Court established different rules and procedures for purchases than those found in the Act. See 20 O.S. 2001, § 1304(D); 20 O.S. 2001, ch. 18, app. 1. Therefore, 20 O.S. 2001, § 1304(D) and the Supreme Court Rules found at 20 O.S. 2001, ch. 18, app. 1, apply to purchases made from the Court Fund rather than the Act.”20 O.S. Supp.2002, § 1304557 P.2d at 877867 P.2d at 125720 O.S. 2001, § 130420 O.S. 2001, § 1304 You will notice this agrees with the “Distribution of Powers” in the Constitution. OSCN.NET

18. There are more fun things you can do with this website. For example, if you were married in Oklahoma and have forgotten your anniversary date, select “Court Dockets.” OSCN.NET

19. Choose Oklahoma County from the drop down box and select the “Search Dockets” link. OSCN.NET

20. Enter the County. Enter a name and choose “Go.” OSCN.NET

21. Up pops a list of cases with the searched name. This is a handy site to look up contractors. OSCN.NET

22. There is more – go back to the “Legal Research” tab and you will also see US Code (where the regulations for use of federal funds reside). My favorite searchable area is one from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. Select the link. OSCN.NET

23. You will get the “Legal Information Institute” main page with a titled list of the Code. OSCN.NET

24. You can scroll until you find what you want. We want “Title 41-Public Contracts.” OSCN.NET

25. This is the Federal Procurement Policy. OSCN.NET

26. There is a new House of Representatives site that is user friendly. It can be found at: http://uscodebeta.house.gov/. US CODE BETA

27. Working with federal grants may have a whole different set of contracting rules. Your receiving dept. must give you a copy of the full grant with the procurement provisions. You can try looking for it in the “Archived” section of the “Search” area in Grants.Gov, but they are limited. FEDERAL GRANTS

28. The Central Purchasing Awarded Solicitations: https://www.ok.gov/dcs/solicit/app/solicitationSearch.php?status=awarded The National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) Library: http://www.nigp.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx?Site=NIGP&webcode=reslibsearch Contact the buyers at Central Purchasing. Contact a buyer from another agency that buys similar products/services. Other areas to find copies of specifications and solicitations: General Research

29. Or you can always try Google! General Research

30. The GSA home page (gsa.gov) has a lot of useful links including Regulations and an eLibrary. If you want to buy from GSA and you are not one of the two agencies with specific statutory expanded authority, you would select “GSA Advantage.” GSA

31. When you get to the Advantage page, select “State & Local”. Those are the general contracts the federal government allows all state and local entities to use. GSA

32. There are Oklahoma restrictions on the use of these contracts (see PIM 2000-2) and federal restrictions that will be stated for the use of each Purchasing Program. Additionally, these programs change with frequency, so be sure your contract is still open to states. GSA

33. The quickest way to disprove a Sole Source would be to look at the GSA contracts. Especially if the division said the federal government required them to use a specific item. (That means it is probably on GSA and maybe from several vendors or at a lesser price.) Note the two icons in the product boxes match two of the icons listed for use by State & Local entities. GSA

34. The “See All” area of contractors gives a list: This one failed the “Sole Source” test. GSA

35. Questions This publication is issued by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services as authorized by Title 62, Section 34. Copies have not been printed but are available through the agency website. This work is licensed under a Creative Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.