ORS 291.047: Public contract approval by Attorney General; exemptions; rules.

(1) The Attorney General shall approve for legal sufficiency all personal services contracts, all architectural and engineering services contracts and all information technology contracts calling for payment in excess of $75,000 entered into by a state agency before any such contract becomes binding on the State of Oregon and before any service may be performed or payment may be made under the contract. (2) The Attorney General shall approve for legal sufficiency all public contracts not subject to subsection (1) of this section that are entered into by a state agency and that provide for payment in excess of $100,000 before any such contract becomes binding on the State of Oregon and before any service may be performed or payment may be made under the contract. (3) The Attorney General shall impose by rule requirements necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. The rules must include, but are not limited to, a requirement that state agencies submit to the Attorney General procurement and other contract documents for review of the anticipated contract before the state agency publicly advertises a procurement of goods or services if the anticipated contract is reasonably expected to require review for legal sufficiency. A state agency may request that the Attorney General assist the agency in developing requests for proposals, invitations to bid and requests for qualifications or information that are suitable to the needs of the agency. (4) The Attorney General may exempt by rule classes of contracts from the requirements of this section if the Attorney General determines that legal review of individual contracts within the class will not materially reduce the degree of risk that state agencies assume under the contracts. (5) The Attorney General may, by rule, set forth a process to exempt contracts or classes of contracts from the requirements of this section if: (a) The contract is substantially composed of forms, terms or conditions that the Attorney General has preapproved; or (b) Circumstances exist that create a substantial risk of loss, damage, interruption of services or threat to public health or safety and that require prompt execution of a contract to deal with the risk. (6) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the Attorney General may authorize services to be performed under a contract described in subsection (1) or (2) of this section before approval for legal sufficiency if the Attorney General determines that the authorization will not result in undue risk to this state. An authorization under this subsection must be limited to specific classes of contracts or to contracts for specific agency programs. The Attorney General may condition an authorization on a finding by the Director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, or a designee of the director, the State Chief Information Officer, or a designee of the State Chief Information Officer, or by any other agency with a role in approving such contracts that the contract administration practices of the requesting agency are adequate to manage the proposed contract and that the mission of the agency will be significantly impaired without such authorization. [1997 c.869 §2; 1999 c.264 §1; 2015 c.807 §44]