Purchasing Legislation

Important Purchasing Legislation Update

The 77th session of the Texas Legislature passed the following legislation.

• The threshold for competitive bids raised to $25,000
• The competitive bid threshold for all Texas cities raised from $15,000 to $25,000

Electronic Receipt of Bids

Cities may now receive formal bids in an electronic format. By legislation, each government's ruling body must adopt rules to ensure bids and proposals' identification, security, and confidentiality. By its very nature, this will be phased in depending upon each governmental entity.

Inter-local Agreements

Cities may now enter into Interlocal agreements with government entities in ANY state.

Reverse Auctions

Texas government entities can procure goods/services by utilizing the Reverse Auction method on the Internet.

Design Build

Texas cities will be allowed to use alternative project delivery methods for specific projects, such as construction, rehabilitation, alteration, or repair of a facility. This includes design-build, construction manager, or job-order contracting.

Best Value

Contract awards may now be made based on either the lowest responsible bidder or the bidder who provides goods/services at the best value for the municipality. By law, best value takes into consideration the following factors:

• Bidder's past relationship with the municipality
• The extent to which the bidder's goods/services meet the municipality's needs
• Impact on the ability of the municipality to comply with laws/rules relating to historically underutilized businesses
• Purchase price
• Quality of the bidder's goods/services
• Reputation of the bidder and the bidder's goods/services
• Total long-term cost to the municipality