System Offices Procurement

Purchasing Basics

In general, System Offices departments have been delegated authority to make purchases of goods and/or services costing less than $10,000.00, such as equipment, supplies, and services. This dollar delegation allows departments to expedite the purchase of goods and/or services without having to process the request through the the Procurement Office. All purchases over $10,000.00 are to be forwarded to the Procurement Office for processing.

Important things to remember:

  • In addition to System procurement policies and regulations, the Procurement Guidelines addresses the procurement process for the System Offices.
  • Freight or shipping cost must be included in the delegated dollar limitation.
  • Purchases many not be divided into small lot purchases to meet dollar delegation.
  • For purchases exceeding the $10,000.00 delegation, departments are to send a requisition to the Procurement Office for processing.
  • Exceptions to the departmental purchasing authority (departments are not allow to purchase over a set dollar amounts) include: Certain IT equipment and software,  contracted services, and consulting services.  Refer to the Procurement Guidelines booklet linked above.
  • System Offices departments are strongly encouraged to purchase goods and/or services from Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs).
  • State agencies are required to utilize the goods and services of TIBH whenever possible. Reasons for not using TIBH include delivery, quality and/or location. Documentation must be included when TIBH goods and services do not meet department needs.
  • Funds must be encumbered and approved prior to the purchase of the goods/services.

Making IT Purchases

It is highly recommended and in your best interest to consult the System Offices Information Technology Services (ITS) team for any technology-related purchase prior to placing an order within your delegated dollar limit. This would apply to any type of IT purchase, whether it be hardware, software, outsourcing, telecommunications or related goods/services. ITS will advise you about compliance with state laws, System Policies and other IT security and information resource requirements, BCP/DRP contingencies, security breach notification, data storage and transfer requirements, availability of resources needed for initialization, on-going support and upgrades, compatibility with the existing IT infrastructure, reduction of duplicative applications, availability of existing bulk licenses, project management, and possible hidden or additional goods/services required or associated with the purchase. ITS can also provide information about known defects or reliability issues associated with many products.

Sole Source & Emergency Purchases

Generally, purchases are made on a competitive basis. However, there may be just cause to request a Sole Source. A sole source situation occurs when an equivalent product is not available from any other vendor. If this situation does arise, a memo of justification must accompany the requisition. The memo must answer the following two questions:

1. What are the unique features and why are they needed? 2. Why are competing products not be satisfactory?

Emergency purchases are defined as “a purchase of goods and/or services so badly needed that the department or institution will suffer financial or operational loss unless those goods and/or services are procured immediately.” When an emergency purchase is made, the department should submit a requisition to the Office of HUB & Procurement Programs and include a letter of justification that includes the following:

1. The reasons for the emergency, explaining what the emergency was and/or what caused the emergency situation. 2. The financial or operational loss that would have occurred if the goods and/or services were not procured immediately. 3. Why the needs were not or could not be anticipated so that the items could have been purchased through regular procurement procedures.

Commodity Codes

The State of Texas adopted the National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) Commodity Codes on December 27, 2000. Commodity Codes are used to identify goods and/or service, to search for items on term contract, to find vendors, and to report dollar expenditures to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB). The NIGP Commodity Book is available in two forms:

1. List of Classes and Items 2. Alphabetical Index

Term Contracts

The State of Texas establishes term contracts by commodity codes as a supply source for State agencies. Contracts are based on estimated quantities and may be ordered as needed regardless of funds. No bidding is required if a term contract is utilized, regardless of dollar amount. Term contracts are setup by the State of Texas to offer goods or services to state agencies at discounted prices.

Ordering from the State’s term contracts is easy once the commodity code has been determined. To determine the commodity code, visit the State of Texas Commodity Code link in this section. The following steps are designed to aid in searching and ordering from the State’s contracts:

  1. Determine the commodity code for the needed items.
  2. Visit the Term Contracts page at: http://www.window.state.tx.us/procurement//cat_page/
  3. If the first three numbers of the commodity code appear on the term contract page, then the needed items could be contracted. The contracts are setup numerically according to the first three digits of the commodity code.
  4. Click on the link of the desired commodity.
  5. Scroll through the page until you find the needed items.
  6. Record the 11 digit number. Example: 010-30-01020-0, 302/304 Stainless Steel Banding.
  7. Contact the Procurement Office for further processing instructions.

Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL)

The State of Texas maintains a Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) to assist state agencies in finding vendors to fulfill their procurement needs. The CMBL also helps state agencies find HUBs and other vendors. To search the CMBL, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to the Texas Procurement and Support Services web page –http://www.window.state.tx.us/procurement//cmbl/cmblhub.html
  2. Scroll Down and click on “Search the CMBL”.
  3. Scroll Down and enter the first three numbers of the commodity codes in the “Class Code” field and the second two number of the commodity codes (see above list) in the “item” field.
  4. Scroll Down and click on “Submit Search”.
  5. On the “Select Field For Detail Search” page, check the “Ethnicity” box and “Gender” box by clicking the box (you will see a check mark).
  6. Click on “Go”.
  7. View the results of your search on the “Results for CMBL plus HUBs Search” page. To get the complete information for a vendor, click on the vendor’s company name.
  8. HUB vendors are identified by the following initials: BL/M, BL/F, AI/M, AI/F, AS/M, AS/F, WO/F, HI/M, and HI/F.
  9. Repeat steps 4 thru 8 for each vendor search.

Other State, System, Group and Coop Contracts

No bidding is required regardless of funding or dollar amount if the A&M System contract is utilized.

System Offices Procurement & HUB Links