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OMES says new Celonis tools and RAC audits flag improper exemptions, improve procurement transparency
Summary
OMES told the appropriations committee it has deployed Celonis process‑mining and a new Risk Assessment and Compliance function to flag improper procurement exemptions and monitor contract pricing in near real time.
OMES officials told the committee that they have implemented Celonis process‑mining and created a Risk Assessment and Compliance (RAC) function to monitor procurement activity in near real time, flag exempt transactions and test statewide contract pricing.
Deputy director Jerry Moore described Celonis as an audit‑flagging platform that notifies procurement staff when a purchase appears to use an improper exemption or when a sole‑source purchase deviates from statewide pricing. Moore said the tool helped identify pricing anomalies and enabled OMES to call vendors and seek explanations.
Moore gave a large‑scale retrospective figure during testimony: "I think we audited $7,200,000,000 worth of transactions and identified $194,000,000 worth of inappropriate use of exemptions that was looking in arrears. Now it's flagging and stopping those things in real time," he said.
The agency also said it tightened PeopleSoft coding for exemptions so that an attempt to misuse an exemption generates a system flag; if staff clear a miscoding, the transaction proceeds, but repeated attempts trigger human review. OMES staff said that LOFT (the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency) directed creation of the RAC function and that RAC currently lacks a dedicated funding source, prompting a budget ask.
Why this matters: central purchasing and correct exemption use affect statewide contracting savings and vendor fees that are returned to the state. OMES argued that Celonis and RAC reduce lost revenue from incorrect contract usage and provide greater oversight of sole‑source or exempt purchases.
Ending: OMES asked the committee to weigh funding RAC and continuing Celonis operations as part of its broader procurement transparency and efficiency agenda.
