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Texas Statutes (Last Updated: January 4, 2014) |
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GOVERNMENT CODE |
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Title 10. GENERAL GOVERNMENT |
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Subtitle D. STATE PURCHASING AND GENERAL SERVICES |
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Chapter 2162. STATE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVE GOVERNMENT |
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Subchapter C. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES |
Sec. 2162.102. SELECTION OF SERVICE PROVIDER THROUGH COMPETITION
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(a) The council shall identify commercially available services being performed by state agencies and study the services to determine if they may be better provided by selecting the service providers through competition with other state agency providers of the services or private commercial sources.
(b) If the council determines that a service identified under Subsection (a) may be better provided by selecting the service provider through competition, the council shall require the state agency providing the service to engage in any process, including competitive bidding, developed by the council to select a service provider through competition with other state agency providers of the service or private commercial sources.
(c) In performing its duties under this chapter, the council may:
(1) require a state agency to conduct a hearing, study, review, or cost estimate, including an agency in-house cost estimate or a management study, concerning any aspect of a service identified under Subsection (a);
(2) develop and require state agencies to use methods to accurately and fairly estimate and account for the cost of providing a service identified under Subsection (a);
(3) require that a service identified under Subsection (a) be submitted to competitive bidding or another process that creates competition with private commercial sources;
(4) prescribe, after consulting affected state agencies, the specifications and conditions of purchase procedures that must be followed by the comptroller and a state agency or a private commercial source engaged in competitive bidding to provide a service identified under Subsection (a);
(5) award a contract to a state agency providing the service, another state agency, a private commercial source, or a combination of those entities, if the bidder presents the best and most reasonable bid, which is not necessarily the lowest bid; and
(6) determine the terms of a contract for service or interagency contract to provide a service identified under Subsection (a).
(d) To the extent the council determines is feasible, a local government may voluntarily participate in a contract awarded by the council or a state agency under this chapter. A local government that purchases a good or a service under a contract awarded under this chapter is considered to have satisfied any state law requiring the local government to follow a competitive purchasing procedure for the purchase.