Good Government

State treasurer attacked for awarding contract to lowest bidder

April 27, 2026

Ray Carter

Oklahoma State Treasurer Todd Russ is facing criticism from an online publication for voting to award a state contract to the lowest bidder.

As a member of the Invest in Oklahoma Board, which was created by the Oklahoma Legislature, Russ was among those who voted on Feb. 17 to award a contract to 311 Capital Management LLC to provide investment advisory services. Russ was one of five members of the board who voted to award the contract to 311 Capital, along with Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, and two individuals appointed by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate.

An online publication, Oklahoma Watch, recently suggested Russ’ actions were tainted because the treasurer’s office hired a lobbying firm, The 1907 Group, to represent it at the Oklahoma Legislature this year. That lobbying firm also counted the parent company of 311 Capital Management among its clients.

Oklahoma Watch claimed this was “raising more questions about whether the treasurer’s compressed selection process was fair and transparent.”

However, Oklahoma Watch did not identify any individuals or entities who were questioning the legality or transparency of the process. Nor did Oklahoma Watch quote any individual who questioned the validity of the end result. Oklahoma Watch did not deny that 311 Capital Management submitted the lowest bid, and Oklahoma Watch did not suggest that there were any flaws with 311 Capital’s bid.

Contract lobbyists routinely represent multiple entities each year.

The treasurer’s office chose to hire a contract lobbyist after determining the cost was roughly half the amount required to hire a full-time employee within the agency to handle those duties, and the agency’s lobbying contract with 311 Capital dealt with issues unrelated to the Invest in Oklahoma Board.

Furthermore, when Russ’s office put out a request for proposal (RFP) for the Invest in Oklahoma contract on Nov. 21, 2025, the only company to submit a bid was 311 Capital. Rather than simply award the contract to 311 Capital at that time, Russ took a second stab on Jan. 8. Three companies responded to the subsequent request: 311 Capital, MEMCO, and GCM Grosvernor. The 311 Capital bid was the lowest bid submitted.

Russ noted his efforts to increase competition contradict claims that the process was designed to benefit a company that was the initial sole bidder.

“My office conducted two separate RFPs for the Invest in Oklahoma financial advisor contract specifically to provide the highest level of transparency, ensure a fair and competitive selection process, and deliver the best possible services to Oklahoma taxpayers at the lowest price,” Russ said. “To infer that our professional relationship with The 1907 Group is somehow inappropriate simply because the firm also represents other clients is a textbook example of poor, speculative journalism. Using a public platform to manufacture doubt instead of reporting all the facts is not journalism—it’s an attempt to create suspicion where none exists.”

There was a notable difference in the fee structure proposed by 311 Capital compared to the other two companies that vied for the contract.

MEMCO would have charged a minimum fee of $875,000 per year, while GCM Grosvenor would have charged a quarterly fee of $75,000, or $300,000 per year.

The bid submitted by 311 Capital stated, “311 will not charge the Treasurer any fees, but will negotiate reasonable and customary fee arrangements with the fund managers …”

The Invest in Oklahoma program was created by lawmakers to encourage state pensions to invest up to 5 percent of their assets in Oklahoma-based funds.

But under the proposal submitted by 311 Capital Management, the company receives no direct financial gain from the Invest in Oklahoma Board’s contract. Rather than receive payment from the Invest in Oklahoma board or the treasurer’s office, 311 Capital’s future payment is tied to its ability to convince state pensions to use its services with the pensions paying fees to the company.

Under 311 Capital Management’s contract, 311 Capital must separately convince the boards of the various state pensions to use 311 Capital’s services to invest in Oklahoma entities before receiving any payment. For that to happen, 311 Capital must get additional approval from the boards of directors of those state pension systems. While Russ sits on some state pension system boards, he is only one of 15 members on each of those boards, and a majority of pension board members would have to separately approve any contract with 311 Capital.