The Oklahoma Bar Journal October 2026

authority or inadequate oversight creates risks of over-delegation, reduced transparency, and cir cumvention of bidding thresholds. Those risks are mitigated by clearly defining the agent’s authority by ordinance or policy and requiring regular oversight and audit controls. Cooperative and interlocal agreements. Municipalities may form or participate in purchasing cooperatives or interlocal cooper ative agreements to obtain better pricing or contract terms, but they must still comply with the act. 12 A municipality may rely on an existing competitively awarded con tract through a valid cooperative or

piggybacking agreement, rather than conducting its own bid, which can reduce administrative burden and improve pricing. The municipality must still confirm that the original contract was lawfully awarded and that its use complies with the act, municipal finance laws, and any applicable federal requirements. Prequalification of bidders. A municipality may require bidders to prequalify to assess bidder respon sibility, so long as the requirement is clearly disclosed and uniformly announced in the bid notice. This process can help speed up the pro cess of bidding and determining which bid to accept.

such as for routine maintenance, emergency repairs, or smaller proj ects. 9 Professional services, includ ing architects and engineers, are exempt from the bidding process. 10 BIDDING PROCESS Pre-Bid Stage Purchasing agents. Complying with the requirements of the Public Competitive Bidding Act can be tedious and, at times, confusing. To address this, municipalities may appoint a purchasing agent to make purchases necessary to carry out public contracts. 11 A purchasing agent can central ize procurement and promote com pliance and efficiency, but unclear

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL