OHCA Policies and Rules

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317:10-1-22. Conflicts of interest

[Revised 09-12-22]

(a) Types of conflicts of interest. Three (3) types of conflict-of-interest forms may be used for OHCA to clear conflicts related to procurement.

(1) General conflicts of interest. OHCA requires all employees or officers to sign general conflict-of-interest forms annually.

(2) Contract-specific conflicts of interest. OHCA requires specific employees or officers, as described within this subsection, to sign a contract-specific conflict-of-interest form related to a specific contract when deemed appropriate to meet any applicable federal or state law or regulation and to avoid impropriety or the appearance of impropriety in connection with the procurement process or the administration of the specific contract. The contract-specific conflict-of-interest form will inform the employee or officer of rights and responsibilities related of role as related to a specific contract, including any potential restrictions on future employment or other business connections with the contractor or with OHCA, and will record any conflicts that pre-date the signing of the form or that arise at any point in time thereafter until the contract is terminated.

(3) Evaluator-specific conflicts of interest. OHCA requires employees or officers of any agency or department of the State to sign an evaluator-specific conflict-of-interest form, whenever the employee or officer is appointed, selected, or approved as a bid evaluator or performs any duty of a bid evaluator for a specific contract. The evaluator-specific conflict-of-interest form will inform the employee or officer of rights and responsibilities related to the role of bid evaluator, including any potential restrictions on future employment or other business connection with the contractor or with OHCA, and will record any conflicts that pre-date the signing of the form or that arise at any point in time thereafter until the evaluation is complete and closed. If a bid evaluator is removed from the bid evaluation for any reason, including potential conflict of interest, a substitute bid evaluator with similar expertise will be added to the bid evaluation after signing an evaluator-specific conflict-of-interest form.

(b) Forms meet or exceed legal standards. All conflict-of-interest forms shall meet or exceed the applicable legal standards controlling the type of contract and/or type of employee or officer involvement in procurement or administration of a contract, including but not limited to 74 O.S. ' 85.42(A), 74 O.S. ' 590, and 41 U.S.C. 423.

(c) Identification of conflicts of interest. OHCA will identify conflicts of interest, plan any accommodation, and manage any employee disciplinary action.

(1) The OHCA contracting officer will identify all employee or officer positions required to sign a specific conflict-of-interest form or an evaluator-specific conflict-of-interest form. For any solicitation for health plan or managed care services, the contracting officer will identify, at minimum, all employees or officers engaged in enrollment activities, when those employees or officers are internally titled manager or above, and all employees and officers engaged as bid evaluators.

(2) OHCA's Human Resources (HR) Department will obtain conflict-of-interest forms:

(A) For general conflict-of-interest forms, from each employee or officer at the time of hiring and annually thereafter.

(B) For contract-specific conflict-of-interest forms, from each employee or officer in an identified position prior to the employee's or officer's participation in contract- or solicitation-specific activities.

(C) For evaluator-specific conflict-of-interest forms, from each employee or officer identified as an evaluator prior to the employee's or officer's participation in evaluation-specific activities.

(3) OHCA HR and OHCA's Legal Department will review the executed conflict-of-interest forms.

(4) If a potential conflict is identified, a conflict plan will be presented to the employee or officer. The conflict plan will include, at minimum, guidelines that the employee or officer must follow to avoid an actual conflict.

(5) The employee or officer will determine if the conflict plan can be accommodated and respond accordingly.

(6) If the accommodation does not resolve the issue, then the employee or officer will face disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

(d) Employee/officer responsibilities. Each employee or officer has a responsibility to notify OHCA HR within one (1) business day of becoming aware of a potential conflict, regardless of whether the employee or officer previously executed a conflict-of-interest form. Upon notification, OHCA HR will take appropriate action to identify the potential conflict in writing, either as part of the existing conflict-of-interest form or as a new conflict-of-interest form; develop a conflict plan; and present the conflict plan to the employee or officer.

Disclaimer. The OHCA rules found on this Web site are unofficial. The official rules are published by the Oklahoma Secretary of State Office of Administrative Rules as Title 317 of the Oklahoma Administrative Code. To order an official copy of these rules, contact the Office of Administrative Rules at (405) 521-4911.