How to Use This Handbook

This website is a current revision of the Purchasing Handbook for Oklahoma Counties.

This handbook revision has been prepared for use by county officers, their deputies, and other employees in their offices to aid them in performing their duties. It is intended as a guide for the responsibilities, duties and statutory mandates for their offices regarding county purchasing procedures. This handbook is not meant to be all-inclusive and complete, but it should include sufficient references and other sources to help users supplement the information that is provided.

Note: This handbook has been prepared solely as a guide and source of reference for use in day-to-day job activities. It is not intended to be, nor should it be, used as a supplement to, or a replacement for, the Oklahoma Statutes, opinions of the State Attorney General and/or policies and procedures issued by the appropriate state agencies (Office of the State Auditor and Inspector and others).

Every effort has been made to incorporate the latest statutes, opinions, and interpretations. In every instance where a statement in this handbook disagrees with an Attorney General opinion, an interpretation of the Oklahoma Statutes by a responsible state agency or a district attorney, and/or procedure or policy issued by an appropriate state agency, those opinions, interpretations, procedures, and policies will take precedence over this handbook.

Technology

Internet Document

This handbook is an internet document and can be accessed directly through the County Training Program (CTP) website under the “Handbooks” heading. The document can be downloaded onto computers, copied, or printed.

The printed copy will not have the interactive capabilities of the online document.

The interactive capability of the internet allows readers to link from one spot to another in the document. For example, the reader can click on a heading entry in the Table of Contents, and they will be linked directly to that heading in the handbook.

The statute references on the right-hand side of the pages are linked to the web. Readers can click on the statute references, and they will be linked directly to a complete version of that statute on the OSCN website.

Forms are shown in blue and clicking on that text will link readers to the actual form on the internet.

Readers can use the “search” feature on the webpage as an index to search for particular items they wish to reference. Readers can also page through the handbook just as they would a printed copy. The handbook appears on the screen exactly as it will appear when printed.

All other county officers’ handbooks are available on the CTP website.

Oklahoma Statutes and Other References

Statute references, Attorney General opinions, and other legal references that apply to material in the text of this handbook are printed in a column on the far right-hand side of the page in blue. Each reference is situated so that it appears at the beginning of the material to which it applies.

If readers click on one of these references while using the online version, they will be linked directly to that reference. In other words, if the reader clicks on a statute reference, they will be linked to the complete text of that statute.

Article references are from the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Statute (O.S.) references are from the Oklahoma Statutes.

This handbook is not intended to be a legal source to replace the Oklahoma Statutes. In many cases the statutes are paraphrased or interpreted in simpler language. For exact and complete statutory information, the reader should refer to the actual statute.

The Oklahoma Statutes can be accessed online through the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network (OSCN) website.

Procedures

This handbook includes some procedural information for accomplishing the duties of the county purchasing agent. Some procedures will vary from one county to another. This handbook is not meant to suggest procedures not mandated by Oklahoma Statute or other rulings.

Forms

Chapter Three, “Purchasing Forms,” in this handbook contains copies, descriptions, and instructions for the purchasing forms provided by the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector’s office.

Since many forms are available online, and because many counties now develop their own computerized forms, samples of some of the forms are not included in this handbook. Each time a form is mentioned, its source, such as the Office of the State Auditor and Inspector or other agency, is given. In some cases, a link (in blue) is provided to the form or to the appropriate agency to obtain a sample of the form or information about it.

Note: Since the SA&I website has been updated, their forms are only available for download. This means that the forms cannot be viewed in a web browser. Because of this, the forms that are linked in this handbook are linked to the SA&I “Publications & Forms” search bar. Simply type the SA&I form number listed in this handbook in the SA&I search bar and it will appear for download on the SA&I website.