Governor Kevin Stitt issued Executive Order 2023-04 today calling for enhanced oversight of state agencies and reinforcing central purchasing oversight. Governor Stitt’s executive order also instructs all state agencies within his administration to review implementation of and improve compliance with the Central Purchasing Act.

"My administration is committed to transparency and accountability with taxpayer dollars," said Governor Stitt. "This executive order will enhance oversight of state agencies by reinforcing full compliance with the Central Purchasing Act which does not allow for continued use of COVID emergency provisions to bypass the normal RFP process. The bottom line is that I want all agencies in my administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and deliver the best services for Oklahomans."

As part of the state’s efforts to effectively respond to the COVID-19 health crisis in 2020, pursuant to the governor’s powers under the Oklahoma Constitution and the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act, certain provisions of the CPA were waived if those purchases were necessary to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Now that the pandemic is over, agencies can no longer use this waiver as an exemption to the CPA and the executive order ensures that Oklahoma state agencies are no longer using these emergency provisions to bypass the RFP process.

The executive order can be read in full here.