Oklahoma’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) has launched MyOK Staffing and Services portal, a platform designed to increase competition, transparency, and accountability in how state agencies hire contractors.
Previously, when a state agency needed temporary staffing or project support, it had to manually contact multiple suppliers, often through a series of emails. Today, agencies can just post the opportunity in the MyOK portal, which automatically notifies all eligible suppliers, resulting in a more consistent process, faster responses and more competition.
“Agencies can now actually see the competition that’s out there,” says Glenda Caudle, IT category manager at OMES. “By centralizing the process, agencies can better evaluate available options, document competition and make informed, value-driven decisions for the state.”
To date, 67 state agencies and 366 suppliers are registered through MyOK. Since the platform launched, the typical posting for IT staffing has received nine candidate submissions. One software application developer posting for the Teachers’ Retirement System of Oklahoma attracted 326 candidate submissions from 132 suppliers, demonstrating the level of marketplace participation agencies can now engage with through the portal.
The new platform, built by Concourse, supports five of Oklahoma’s statewide contracts: temporary IT staffing services, deliverables-based IT services, temporary non-IT staffing services, non-IT consulting services and well-plugging services.
When a state agency posts an opportunity on MyOK, it fills out several fields, including the scope of the work, the required vendor qualifications, the location and schedule, and the response deadline. Agencies can also set an internal budgeted rate range. Suppliers can’t see the range, which encourages them to submit a competitive offer based on value rather than anchoring to a disclosed price.
Once an opportunity has been posted, any eligible supplier can submit clarifying questions to the agency through the platform. That supplier gets notified by email when the agency responds, and every eligible supplier can see the Q&A exchange on the platform, giving everyone access to the same information. Agency staff can review submissions, compare qualifications, and select the winning submission—all in the same place.
“Oklahoma is leading the nation in its commitment to transparency and greater competition, and the new MyOK portal is the latest example,” says Thomas Smyth, CEO of Concourse. “When more suppliers compete for the state’s business, state agencies get better quality at a lower cost to taxpayers.”
Interested parties can register as a state bidder at https://oklahoma.gov/omes/
About the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services provides financial, property, purchasing, human resources and information technology services to all state agencies, and assists the Governor’s Office with budgetary policy matters. Its mission: Provide excellent service, expert guidance and continuous improvement in support of its partners’ goals. For more information, visit oklahoma.gov/omes.
About Concourse
Concourse builds software exclusively for the public sector. We’ve partnered with more than 100 organizations, ranging from state IT departments to city clerk offices, from school districts to airports. We tailor our software to the way each agency works, rather than asking them to conform to an off-the-shelf platform. Learn more at concoursetech.com.