Bids & Exclusive Acquisitions

Check out the Purchasing Process Flowchart to see how purchasing and contract services work depending on the details of each contract type. 

Bidding in a Competitive Market

The marketplace for acquiring goods and services at UT is required to be competitive to ensure fairness for all vendors who want to do business with the university as a state institution. Emphasis is placed on working with historically underutilized (HUB) and minority-owned businesses. Competitive bidding is part of the way we obtain vendors for goods and services. Total amount of contract determines how vendors are selected.

NOTE: Sourcing competitive vendors for highly specialized research needs can often be a non-starter. In such cases, the process for Exclusive Acquisition (single source vendor selection) will need to be followed -this creates an additional step in the overall process, fyi. 

Contracts Less Than $15,000 Require No Bids.

Though soliciting bids is not required at this contract level, seeking competitive bids and proactively including HUB and Minority-Owned businesses in the vendor selection process is encouraged. PIs have discretion to choose any vendor they want, though vendors may be subject to additional requirements

Contracts $15,000 - $50,000 Require 3 INFORMAL BIDS.

Informal bids are written, usually emailed, bids sent from vendors to department/unit POC who is arranging the contract request. The bids need to be exact, apples-to-apples comparisons. Once the bids are received and selected, they are required to be sent to the UT Purchasing Office, where they will select the bid that seems the best value. If the Purchasing Office believes additional bids are needed, they will notify and communicate with the requestor about the additional bids.

PI/Contract POCs who have clearance to submit contracts directly to the BCO can create a requisition document (PB3) in FRMS PointPlus and email the bids to their MPLABS team in the Purchasing Office to complete the bid requirement for the $15K-$50K contract.

All other contract POCs can submit the required bids via the CoLA online Purchase Request form if in advance of the contract request, or include the bids as attachments in the CoLA Contract Submission form. 

To find out more about choosing vendors, check out the next section on sourcing state-approved vendors.

For Sole Source / Exclusive Acquisition Requests, check out the Exclusive Acquisitions section on this page, or to learn more about UT policy on sole-source/EAJ requests, head here. 

Contracts $50,000+ REQUIRE FORMAL BIDDING PROCESS.

When a contract cost is expected to be $50,000 or more, and price and delivery are the only factors to weigh, an Invitation To Bid (ITB) is the method of solicitation. When best value is the main criteria, a Request For Proposal (RFP) is solicited from known vendors, and posted publicly as well. 

• An ITB is normally used when the procured good or service lends itself to a precise set of specifications, such as manufacturer part numbers, size, weight, number of classes, etc.
• ITB opportunities are sent to known suppliers who provide the good or service and publicly posted on the Formal Bid Opportunities website so that any supplier may submit a response.
• Terms and conditions that govern the contract are contained within the ITB. Suppliers can note exceptions to certain terms and conditions; however, the university may disqualify a supplier for not accepting the terms.
• Request For Information (RFI), and the Request For Qualifications (RFQ) are used to gather information about the goods/services needed, and about the vendors submitting bids.

 

ITB Contracts $50,000+ aren't typical in research administration because the majority of contracts in this price range tend to be either part of a plan to extend funds to an authorized subrecipient (a different process handled by Office of Sponsored Projects), or a specific vendor/consultant has been pre-selected (often named in the award's executed agreement) due to the complicated, highly specialized or unique circumstances related to the vendor, product, and/or service needed. In such cases, PI may need to work with the HUB & Small Business Office to create a HUB Subcontracting Plan. 

For full details about the process of obtaining a $50K+ business contract, head to HBP 7.5.5.

As a public/state institution, a competitive bidding process is key toward fairness in awarding contracts. The University of Texas at Austin is also a top-tier research university, with a Carnegie classification of 'R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity.' Often, when PIs and researchers need to arrange for ancillary (secondary) goods and services, they are so highly specialized and/or rare that it becomes difficult to solicit bids from a variety of venders and contractors. 

This is why the university has a process for requests that involve Sole-Source or Exclusive Acquisition goods and services. Exclusive acquisition is not a way to get around bidding requirements, and should not be used as such. If there is a legitimate reason why seeking additional vendors is problematic, an Exclusive Acquisition Justification (EAJ) needs to be created and routed for approval in order to move forward with purchasing (and contracting) needs. 

EAJs are required for contracts with a total value of $15,000 or more --INCLUDING for Independent Contractors! 
The EAJ's purpose is to:

• Identify the unique features of the particular product or service.
• Explain the need for the unique features of the product or service.
• Explain why other products/suppliers are not acceptable.
   

If you know an Exclusive Acquisition Justification (EAJ) is going to be needed, get this step done in advance of submitting the request for contract, that way, the entire process doesn't get held up while waiting on approval. 

EAJ forms have to submitted to and approved by the university's Purchasing team in advance of the contract request. The Purchasing team has to determine if the EAJ meets all the requirements to satisfy sole-source selection. If the justification and/or preferred vendor don't meet the requirements, or the type of EAJ request doesn't match what's outlined, the Purchasing team will follow up and/or access the State of Texas vendor database to make recommendations.

Note: Exclusive Acquisition Justification is not needed for independent contractors.

Below are the 4 allowable types of Exclusive Acquisition.
Select the one that best matches the request; only one type can be selected per request.

Types of Exclusive Acquisitions

Type	Description	Form/Process
PROPRIETARY	When goods/services only available through single source. Purchasing Office establishes selection meets best value criteria. Some examples include: Equipment maintenance or repair parts from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Pharmaceuticals or chemical reagents that are only available through one supplier, Software or software maintenance that is only available through one software supplier.	Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Software or software maintenance
BEST VALUE	When it's in best interest of university to use particular product/service, but more than one source is available. Purchasing Office establishes selection meets best-value criteria. Some examples include: Specific reagents used in long-term experiments. For continuity of research, a lab would need to continue using the same products for the duration of the experiment. Compatibility with existing equipment.  A laboratory is purchasing a new component from a supplier to add to an existing piece of equipment to enhance its quality/performance. A contract or grant specifically names a supplier, product, or service that is required for the university to use.	Exclusive Acquisition Justification Form
EMERGENCY PURCHASE	If a situation arises in which routine compliance with procurement practice is impractical and not in the university’s best interest, an emergency purchase may be warranted to prevent a hazard to life, health, safety, welfare, or property, or to avoid undue additional cost to the university. Emergency purchases of goods or services are performed to restore a system to its original intended functionality and must not exceed the scope or duration of the emergency. Purchasing Office will establish selection meets best value criteria.  Note:  In cases where Purchasing Office management is not available to provide second approval signature on exclusive acquisition form, Purchasing Office Buyer may proceed with approval and issuance of PO. Manager’s signature must be obtained afterward.	Exclusive Acquisition Justification Form
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES	Contract award is based on negotiation with most qualified provider. When a professional service is required and no pre-qualification has been established, a contract award must be justified as an exclusive acquisition to establish selection meets best-value criteria. Professional service providers are normally licensed or certified and the scope of their services include: accounting architecture landscape architecture land surveying medicine optometry professional engineering real estate appraising professional nursing A provider of professional services may not be selected on the basis of competitive bids, but rather on basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications to perform the service and for a fair and reasonable price.	Exclusive Acquisition Justification Form

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