Review of statutory exemptions granted to Oklahoma Higher Education entities.

              INTERIM STUDY REPORT
Higher Education Committee
Rep. Todd Thomsen, Chairman
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Interim Study 11-019, Rep. Jason Murphy and Rep. Corey Holland combined with 11-007
and 11-015, Rep. Mark McCullough
October 11, 2011
Review of statutory exemptions granted to Oklahoma Higher Education entities
Rep. Jason Murphy and Rep. Corey Holland
Oklahoma House of Representatives
• Discussed reasons for the study including floor debate from 2010 session regarding
whether higher education was exempted from requirements other agencies had to adhere
to.
• Higher education was exempt from several central purchasing requirements and may be
losing the benefit of combining purchasing power. Fifty-two percent of state spending is
exempt from the Central Purchasing Act because of higher education exemption.
• Higher education is not exempt from Open Books and was not included at first as an
oversight. Higher education has since been added and administrators did not object.
Higher education also is not exempt from the shared-services arrangement with the
Office of State Finance for payroll processing.
• The state has limited shared information technology services and could save money by
removing duplicated services and administration. Oklahoma spends $40 million each
year that comparable states do not spend. The state could establish a statewide optical
backbone using OneNet to establish the network.
• Constitutional provisions do not guarantee exemptions to regulations and modernization
requirements.
• The state should work with higher education to create a purchasing catalog that allows
higher education entities to order from statewide contracts.
• A single authority, probably the state auditor, should do performance audits.
See presentation a
Alex Pettit, chief information officer
State of Oklahoma
Alex.pettit@osf.ok.gov
• Discussed the state’s information technology systems.
• There are 36 networks all with different levels of security and no statewide compliance
model.
• The state would save $1 million a year if it consolidated to one carrier network.
• Discussed timelines and goals such as infrastructure standardization and consolidation,
statewide support contracts and compliance monitoring tools and a statewide security
operations center and standardized security infrastructures.
See presentation b
Scott Schlotthauer, state purchasing director
Department of Central Services
Scott_Schlotthauer@dcs.state.ok.us