A. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce shall expend so much as appropriated to the Minority Business Development Program Fund as may be necessary to accomplish contractual responsibilities for job creation and enhancement and business creation and expansion of Oklahoma minority-owned businesses. The Department may contract with organizations which support minority businesses for these purposes only after:

1. An applicant organization has submitted an approved business plan;

2. An applicant organization has demonstrated through education and experience capabilities of offering management tools and technical assistance to minority-owned businesses;

3. An applicant organization has demonstrated that it can provide financial capacity and responsibility to manage a program to aid minority-owned businesses in the manner set out herein;

4. A panel of peer reviewers has received applications and recommended such applications for contracting;

5. The Department has given due consideration to those applicants that demonstrate an ability to attract matching funding from other governmental or private or charitable organizations;

6. The Department has given due consideration to those applicants that demonstrate an ability to aid minority-owned businesses located in communities with a population of less than ten thousand (10,000); and

7. The Department has developed, adopted and published additional criteria, upon receipt of advice and comment from qualified peer reviewers.

B. Any contract entered into pursuant to this section shall require quarterly reports of activities and expenditures upon forms prescribed by the Department. Said quarterly reports shall be reviewed by Oklahoma Futures. The Department or Oklahoma Futures may disallow expenditures and withhold funds accordingly, if reports reflect failure to comply with approved applications. All contractors shall submit annual audits as required by the Department of Commerce which may be paid from allocated, appropriated funds. The Department may utilize an amount not to exceed twenty percent (20%) of appropriated funds for administration of the minority-owned business program.

C. Contracts entered into by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce for the purpose of implementing the Minority Business Development Program shall be exempt from the requirements of the Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act.

Added by Laws 1992, c. 259, § 2, emerg. eff. May 22, 1992.