The Texas Building and Procurement Commission has provided to the Office of Rural Community Affairs written standard procedures for the implementation of Texas Government Code, Title 10, Subtitle D, Section 2151 et seq. The procedures include statutory requirements and those requirements established by rule of the commission as contained in TBPC Rule 1TAC 113.1 et seq. As a State of Texas employee involved in the procurement of goods and services, the purchaser has a great responsibility in upholding the procurement laws of the state and to serve the best interests of The Office of Rural Community Affairs. This responsibility requires a thorough working knowledge of the Texas Government Code and purchasing rules as well as the procedures in the Procurement Manual.

Staff responsible for purchasing must attend the Basic Public Purchasing Course provided by the Texas Building and Procurement Commission and be certified as a Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) or Certified Texas Purchaser (CTP).

TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE TITLE 10 SUBTITLE D SECTION 2155.003

No member of the Commission or any employee or appointee of the Commission shall be interested in, or in any manner connected with, any contract or bid for furnishing supplies, materials, services, and equipment of any kind to any agency of the State of Texas. Neither shall any member or employee or appointee, under penalty of dismissal, accept or receive from any person, firm, or corporation to whom any contract may be awarded, directly or indirectly, by rebate, gift, or otherwise, any money or other thing of value whatever, nor shall he receive any promise, obligation, or contract for future reward or compensation from any such party.

ORCA employees may not perform any of the following:
• Participate in work on a contract by taking action as an employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, giving advice, investigation or similar action knowing that the employee, or member of their immediate family has an actual or potential financial interest in the contract, including prospective employment;
• Solicit or accept anything of value from an actual or potential vendor;
• Be employed by, or agree to work for, a vendor or potential vendor;
• Knowingly disclose confidential information for personal gain; or
• Be employed at a pay classification of a A 17 or B 9, Step 1 or higher if the spouse of an officer, manager, or paid consultant of a Texas trade association of businesses that contracts with the state.

A vendor or potential vendor may not offer, give, or agree to give an employee anything of value and if such instance occurs, the employee must notify the Executive Director immediately.

ORCA purchasing staff are required to sign a Conflict of Interest form annually which is retained in personnel files.

ORCA does participate in the Procurement Card program. Internal Procedures are located on the agency's intranet.

All applicable reports required by the Texas Building and Procurement Commission and the Legislature are completed by the Purchaser.

Examples are:
Recycled Material Reports Due January 1st
HUB Reports Due March 15th and September 15th
State Use Exception Reports Due 15th of every Monthh
Procurement Plan Updates Due November 30

ORCA'S main Receptionist is responsible for ordering supplies from the TBPC Central Store. Staff requesting supplies from the Central Supply Store should notify the purchaser if the item is NOT available at the TBPC Central Supply store.

If the item is not available at the Central Supply Store, or a service is needed, staff must make a written request as soon as possible. A Purchase Request form must be completed with a written description including details of the item/service needed. Forms are located on the Intranet

Any purchase request up to $5000 must be approved by the Department Director. Any purchase request over $5,000 must be also approved by the Executive Director. In addition, any IT purchases must also be approved by the IT Team Lead.

Once approved, the Purchase Request Is routed to the Finance Department for processing.

The Purchase Request, regardless of cost, must be routed thru the Budget & Accounting Analyst for budget review. In the event the Budget & Accounting Analyst is out of the office the Finance Team Lead is authorized to act on the behalf of the Budget & Accounting Analyst. The final approval on the Purchase Request is that of the Director of Finance or the person acting on his behalf in his absence.

Once all approvals have been completed, the Purchase Request form should be returned to the Purchaser for processing.

The Purchaser will review the request and determine how to proceed with the procurement. The Purchaser will assign an automated Purchase Order number and will ensure that staff requesting the purchase is informed of the outcome and that proper purchasing procedures were followed.

QISV is a program that allows products and services associated with Automated Information Systems (AIS) computer or telecommunications to be purchased from vendors approved by the TBPC as a QISV. This includes everything from computers to printers, computer maintenance, telephone equipment and programming. (See Section 2.6 of the TBPC Procurement Manual for products and services included under this program.)

APPLICATIONS
Vendors may access information electronically regarding the QISV program at http://www.tbpc.state.tx.us or by calling (512) 463-5315. Refer to Section 2.6 of the TBPC manual.

In accordance with §2157.068, Texas Government Code, and 1 TAC Chapter 212, each state agency must purchase Information Technology (IT) commodity items through contracts established by the Department of Information Resources (DIR) unless the agency first obtains an exemption. The guidelines and instructions at the DIR website http://www.dir.state.tx.us/commodities/program describes the methodology used to classify items as IT commodities, instructions for purchasing IT commodity items, and the exemption process. ORCA follows these guidelines.

DIR’s IT Commodity Purchasing Program is one of several special purchasing programs authorized by Texas statute. It is administered in accordance with TBPC’s State of Texas Procurement Manual. The instructions contained in these guidelines are to be used by state agencies to purchase IT commodity items except when other special purchasing programs take precedence.

It is the responsibility of each state agency to verify whether or not the hardware, software, or technology service to be procured is on the DIR IT Commodity List, indicating that it must be purchased through a DIR contract.

ORCA makes a good faith effort to purchase and contract with HUB businesses to achieve the goals established for the agency in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Title 10, Subtitle D, Section 2161 and the Texas Building and Procurement Commission Rule 1TAC 111.11-111.28.

• Purchases of $5000.01 to $10,000. Agencies must obtain at least 3 informal bids, 2 of which must be obtained from TBPC certified HUBs; one from a minority-owned business and one from a woman-owned business (any ethnicity). The ethnicity/gender must be indicated on the bid tabulation sheet. Note: For purchases $5000 or less, agencies may supplement the list of bidders obtained from the Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) with additional non-CMBL bidders.
• Purchases from $10,000.01 to $25,000. Agencies must obtain a least three formal bids, two of which must be obtained from TBPC certified HUBs: one from a minority-owned Business and one from a woman-owned business (any ethnicity) and be indicated on the bid tabulation sheet or on the CMBL solicitation mailing sheets.
• Purchases over $25,000. Agencies must solicit bids or proposals from all eligible vendors on the CMBL serving the agency's geographic region.

NOTE: An agency may supplement the CMBL with TBPC certified HUBs at any time if it determines that supplementing the CMBL will increase the number of HUBs that submit bids.

Historically Underutilized Business Subcontracting Plan (HSP)
The ordering entity is required to identify subcontracting opportunities prior to the solicitation for all purchases over $100,000.

ORCA utilizes the Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) for purchases and services that the agency is not exempt from. The CMBL is available on the Internet at http://www.tbpc.state.tx.us/cmblhub.html.

(More information regarding the CMBL certification and exemptions are in Section 2.33 of the TBPC Procurement Manual )

In compliance with TBPC rules, the state may consider debarment actions of other government entities as possible indicators of vendor responsibility. Therefore, prior to awarding any contracts, state agencies and local government purchasing entities are required to check the list of vendors excluded from doing business at the federal level by utilizing the federal Excluded Persons List System (EPLS). No contract should be awarded to any person/entity found on the EPLS system.
NOTE: This requirement is mandatory for any procurement transaction regardless of funding stream.
In an effort to ensure adherence to these rules and laws that govern Texas’ procurement practices, TBPC identified GSA’s Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) to be the most effective searchable database to utilize. TBPC recommends that Purchasers conduct a search after bid tabulation. Because EPLS may update these databases more than one time in a 24 hour period, a final check of the EPLS must be made prior to any contract award so to not award contracts to any person or vendor whose name appears on the EPLS.

ORCA must document problems with any vendor's performance and explain why the goods or services were not satisfactory. Files for each entity will be retained in the procurement files as deemed necessary, and must include information regarding expenditures, correspondence, and any documentation relating to the vendors performance. Section 2.50 of the TBPC manual is followed when reporting a vendor.