Attorney General Opinion No. 84-201

The Turnpike Authority is exempt from the provisions of the Central Purchasing Act when acquiring liability insurance. The enabling statute for the Turnpike Authority provides that the Authority is required to carry liability insurance ... "in the same manner" as the Transportation Commission. The term "in the same manner" means the procedure or mode to be used in effectuating the statutorily prescribed acts. Using this analogy, "in the same manner" means that the procedure or mode in obtaining liability insurance for the Turnpike Authority will be the procedure or mode used in obtaining liability insurance for the Transportation Commission.

The Central Purchasing Act provides a specific exclusion of the Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation’s contractual services from the Act; thus, the procedure for obtaining "contractual services" by the Transportation Commission does not require compliance with the Central Purchasing Act. The acquisition of liability insurance referenced in the enabling statute for the Turnpike Authority is an acquisition of a "contractual service" as defined in the Central Purchasing Act.

A state agency that is not subject to the provisions of the Central Purchasing Act, may, unless acting pursuant to a contract with the state that specifies otherwise, make use of statewide contracts and the services of the Purchasing Division and the State Purchasing Director. The decision to use these services is in the discretion of the particular agency.  See 74 O.S. §§85.2 and 85.12.

• Introduction
• Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act
• Other Procurement-Related Statutes in Title 74
• Information Technology Procurement
• IT Procurement-Related Statutes in Title 62
• Pay for Success Act
• Oklahoma Correctional Industries Procurement-Related Statute
• OMES Procurement-Related Administrative Rules
• Procurement-Related Caselaw
• Procurement-Related Attorney General Opinions
• Procurement Information Memorandums