Purchasing Thresholds

All thresholds represent total City-wide spend, not just each department or unit.

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Purchases Under Ch. 252 LGC 

• $.01-$3,000: No required process (city-wide per fiscal year).
• $3,000.01-$50,000: HUB check required and RFQt (city-wide per fiscal year).
• $50,000+: Competitive process required (city-wide per fiscal year).

Purchases Under Ch. 2254 GC 

• RFQual process required regardless of amount. 

Exempt Procurements

• Exempt procurements do not have to follow a competitive process but do need to follow the procedures included in the Purchasing AR.

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COOPERATIVE PROCUREMENTS

a. Chapter 271 of the Texas Local Government Code allows the City to acquire goods or services via a cooperative purchasing program (such as the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) or the Texas Association of School Board’s BuyBoard) and provides that a procurement made through a cooperative satisfies competitive procurement requirements.

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‍You can find contracts from the cooperatives the City of Fort Worth is a member of on Pavilion

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b. Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code allows the City to execute an Inter-Local Agreement with another Texas governmental entity in order to allow the entities to “piggyback” on each other’s competitively procured agreements and provides that a procurement via such a piggyback satisfies competitive procurement requirements. When using this method to procure goods and/or services, there must also be an executed contract between the City and the Vendor.

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SUMMARY OF THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS

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All Procurements begin with a requisition.

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Submitting a requisition for all purchases allows city management to have the assurance that funds are available for the Purchase.

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You can use Pavilion for Cooperative or Inter-Local Purchase Requisition for Purchases.

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How Pavilion Helps

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Pavilion is a free resource available to the City of Fort Worth that makes it easy to find vendors and contracts that were awarded through cooperatives that the city is a member of.

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You can access Pavilion's How to Guide here!

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Cooperative or Inter-Local Purchase Requisition for Purchases over $3,000

(Co-op Req)

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(A) For purchases through a Cooperative (“Co-op”) Agreement or through an Inter-Local Agreement (“Inter-Local”), the Department must submit a Co-op Requisition.

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(B) A Co-op Requisition must contain the following:

(1) a description of the goods and/or services to be purchased, including the quantity;

(2) whether the purchase is a one-time purchase or an ongoing purchase; and

(3) the name of a Co-op or city with the Inter-Local Agreement if known.

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(C) The Co-op Requisition must be for the amount of the Purchase. Purchasing can reduce the amount of the requisition if the Department shows that the funds are needed to pay for current ongoing expenses that are the subject of the procurement.

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(D) Upon receiving the Co-op Requisition, the Purchasing Division shall:

(1) Search for the requested item/service on available and approved Co-ops;

(2) If the item is available from the Cooperative Agreement, the Purchasing Division shall verify the quote submitted by the department to ensure that it meets Cooperative purchasing.

(3) The Co-op Requisition does not apply to:

IT procurements for IT hardware, software and consultants to implement the IT hardware and software; and

ii. Fleet procurements that are managed by the Financial Management Services Purchasing Team dedicated to fleet procurements.

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(E) For a Purchase through an Inter-Local Agreement, the Purchasing Division shall:

(1) Search for the requested item/service on various city and county websites which the city is able to use the agreements through an Inter-Local Agreement.

(2) If Purchasing is able to find an agreement, the Purchasing Division shall obtain a copy of the bid document and the contract the governmental entity has with the Supplier to ensure that the city is able to piggyback on the agreement and that it is not expired.

(3) If the Procurement will exceed $100,000, the Purchasing Division shall place an M&C on the City Council’s agenda in order for Council to consider the proposed purchase.

(4) Purchasing will work with the City Attorney’s Office to determine the legal instrument to be used for the procurement.

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(F) All-new cooperative and Inter-Local purchases require an end-user agreement signed by the City and the Supplier.

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(H) For Purchases from TXMAS or SMARTBUY, the Department shall send the PeopleSoft PO to their Buyer so that Purchasing can create a PO in the TXMAS or SMARTBUY Co-op. Failing to follow this procedure could result in the City being ineligible to use TXMAS or SMARTBUY.

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(I) The Co-op Purchase Requisition will be canceled as follows:

(1) If the purchase is a one-time purchase or the first-time purchase, an ongoing expense under $100,000 that is being paid out of the Department’s current budget, the requisition will be canceled/reduced once the Department submits a new contract release requisition; or

(2) If the purchase is for an ongoing expense over $100,000 that is being paid out of the Department’s current operating budget, the Co-op Requisition will be canceled/reduced after Purchasing drafts the M&C so that Council can consider the purchase of the goods/services.

(3) If the purchase is for an ongoing expense under 100,000 that is being paid out of the Department’s current operating budget, the Co-op Requisition will be canceled after Purchasing approves the PSK.

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