Contracts and Purchasing

TEA’s Contracts and Purchasing Division (CPD) is responsible for the procurement of goods and services that support the educational, research, and business initiatives of TEA. CPD is the central purchasing and contracting authority for TEA and is the central repository for all contracts created and monitored by TEA, as well as all contracts to which TEA is a signatory. TEA has delegated purchasing authority from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) for one-time purchases of goods of $50,000 or less and for services valued at $100,000 or less. Purchases above the thresholds are subject to review by the CPA Statewide Procurement Division.

TEA currently has over 400 contracts valued at approximately $1 billion with annual expenditures estimated at $250 million.

Jump to section:

• Contract Monitoring
• Current Contracts
• Vendor Information
• Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs)
• Limited Contact Policy
• Preventing Fraud, Abuse, and Waste
• Purchasing

Contract Monitoring

Texas Government Code 2261.256 requires TEA to develop purchasing accountability and risk management procedures to assess the risk of fraud, abuse, or waste in the contractor selection process, in contract provisions, and in the payment and reimbursement rates and methods TEA offers vendors for contracted goods and services.

All TEA contracts are monitored for compliance, and contracts meeting specific criteria receive enhanced monitoring. Contract monitoring activities are conducted in a variety of ways, but must be objective and address contract complexity, value, and risk. Additional information on TEA contract monitoring and enhanced monitoring is available in the TEA Contract Management Handbook.

TEA posts contracts for the purchase of goods and services from private vendors on its Current Contracts page.  As required by Texas Government Code 2261.253, the Contracts and Purchasing Division submits reports on contracts requiring enhanced monitoring to the commissioner of education or his designee.

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Current Contracts

Texas Government Code Sections 2054.126 (d)(4) and 2261.253 require each state agency to post specific procurement information on its website.  This page contains information about current contracts generally valued between $15,000 and $50,000.  Information regarding contracts valued at over $50,000 may be found on the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Contracts Database.  Members of the public are welcome to review these step-by-step instructions to locate and download copies of TEA contracts uploaded to the LBB database.

List of Current Contracts

To view recently executed contracts, please refer to TEA's list of Current Contracts. TEA will update the list of current contracts each month unless there are no changes since the previous posting. 

Reports on Interagency Contracts

TEA has compiled a Report on Interagency Contracts for Fiscal Year 2022 in compliance with General Appropriations Act, Article IX, Section 17.12, 87th Legislature.

Current Contracts Contact Info

You may email TEAContracts@tea.texas.gov with any questions about TEA's current contracts. 

To obtain a copy of a contract, please follow the process to submit a Public Information Act request.

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Vendor Information

Contract Opportunities

TEA posts contracting opportunities to the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD) on the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts website, as required by statute.

Centralized Master Bidders List

TEA encourages vendors and service providers to register for the Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL), a master database maintained by the CPA. State purchasers use the CMBL to develop a mailing list for vendors to receive contracting opportunities based on the products or services they can provide to the State of Texas.

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Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs)

What is a HUB?

A HUB is a business owned by a woman, minority or service-disabled veteran that is certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts to increase its participation in state procurement. The HUB program aims to ensure that HUBs receive a fair share of state business. Visit our Historically Underutilized Business Program page for more information.

What does TEA's HUB Office do?

TEA is committed to assisting Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) by providing equal opportunities to compete for all procurement opportunities at the agency. 

TEA's HUB Office within the Contracts and Purchasing Division (CPD) leads TEA's efforts to promote procurement opportunities for HUBs in alignment with state law and public policy.

TEA purchases goods and services from HUB vendors whenever possible. Additionally, TEA encourages prime contractors to use HUBs as partners and subcontractors whenever possible by identifying potential subcontracting opportunities within TEA solicitations.

The HUB Office sets annual HUB goals, identifies opportunities for HUBs to bid as prime vendors or subcontractors, monitors compliance with HUB laws, and facilitates the development of mentor-protégé relationships between agency prime vendors and HUB subcontractors.

HUB Office staff also attend events and activities, including pre-bid conferences and other forums to educate the public about HUB goals and compliance.

HUB Contact Information

For more information, please contact the TEA HUB Office @ HUBOffice@tea.texas.gov.

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Limited Contact Policy

Communication and information shared by industry representatives is a vital resource for public procurement professionals. However, to maintain fair and fully competitive procurement opportunities for all vendors and to avoid any appearance of impropriety, vendor communication with program staff must cease once the development of a competitive solicitation begins. Any communication between a vendor and TEA must be limited to communication with the CPD staff. Potential vendors who fail to comply with the TEA limited contact policy will be disqualified from award consideration.

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Preventing Fraud, Abuse, and Waste

Texas Government Code 2261.256 requires all state agencies to adopt policies and procedures to comply with purchasing accountability and risk analysis procedures. TEA has adopted procedures for assessing the risk of fraud, abuse, or waste in the contractor selection process, contract provisions, and the payment and reimbursement rates and methods for the different types of good and services for which TEA contracts.

All TEA contracts are monitored based on established criteria to set clear levels of purchasing accountability. Employee roles and responsibilities are designed to ensure TEA has effective internal controls for the procurement and contracting process.

Purchasing accountability, risk analysis, monitoring and enhanced monitoring information is included in the TEA Contract Management Handbook and is available on the Contract Monitoring page.

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Purchasing

TEA purchases a wide variety of goods and services including, but not limited to, the following:

• IT services
• Hearing officers, mediators, and court reporters
• Student assessments
• Educator assessments
• Translation services
• Evaluation services
• Freight transportation (textbooks)
• Electronic and hard copy instructional materials
• Braille, large print, audio, and digitally recorded textbooks
• Office supplies

CPD is also responsible for the purchasing of standard offices supplies, furniture, equipment, meeting rooms, subscriptions, and one-time personal services contracts under $10,000.

All agency procurements over $25,000 are posted electronically to the Electronic State Business Daily (outside source).

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