October 2023

• News and updates
• Upcoming training

Procurement professionals and agency leaders,

In this newsletter, we are unveiling the upcoming PeopleSoft modifications necessitated by Executive Order 2023-04, LOFT Recommendations and OK AG Opinion 2023-04. In the process of creating a way to capture more meaningful and intuitive statutory exemptions, we are also making other alterations to better reflect how sole source contracts as well as contract releases are submitted and tracked. The modifications you see below will be reflected on the ePro Requisition screen, PO screen, Approval Pages and PDF Output.

Any and all input or feedback on these changes is encouraged and appreciated. There will be a Procurement Information Memorandum as well as detailed training released prior to the roll-out of these changes.

Warm regards,

Amanda L. Otis, Esq.
State Purchasing Director
Office of Management and Enterprise Service

Present state of PeopleSoft screen.

The pictured area above will be replaced by three check boxes (or flags). The first will be labeled Sole Source and, when checked, will obligate the user to select the Sole Source Type from the accompanying drop-down box. This box will contain only five types of sole source as specified by the recently updated Procurement Information Memorandum (PIM) for Sole Source Acquisitions. 

The second will be labeled Statutory Exemptions. Similar to the first, when checked it will obligate the user to select the specific statutory exemption in the related drop-down box. The drop-down box will contain 192 individual exemptions that are organized by which agency can use them. You can view the proposed drop-down list here. Some exemptions, such as Interagency contracts, Pay For Success Contracts, and Regulated Utilities, can be utilized by all agencies. Other exemptions that are assigned to specific agencies for specific purposes will be organized by the agency’s three-digit code. Selecting the statutory exemption box will additionally require the user to enter a free-form text explanation of how the purchase falls within the scope of the selected exemption.

The final box will be labeled Contract Release. This will be utilized for orders from statewide contracts as well as releases off of an agency’s own contract. When selected, this will force the user to pull the relevant contract into the Contract ID box under Contract Information. The user cannot Save or Submit until a Valid Contract ID# is entered.

Once properly completed, the requisition will route for approval. When the purchase is over the agency’s threshold, both the sole source and statutory exemptions will route to OMES Central Purchasing for approval. All IT purchases will still route to the CIO for approval regardless of dollar value.

Future state of the PeopleSoft screen.

Sample mock-up of the corresponding Approval page.

Nov. 30 – What’s New in CP (leadership).

Dec. 14 – Ethics (TBD).

Step-by-step video(s) and user manuals available in Workday@OK Learning for agency CPOs using PeopleSoft strategic sourcing for solicitations.

Course title: OMES | CPO - eProcurement Training for State Agencies; Using PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing for Solicitations.