Some state contractors face loss of TXMAS contracts
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A firestorm erupted and the CPA received literally hundreds of e-mails and voice mails regarding the proposed contract cancellations. So many were received, in fact, that TXMAS Program Coordinator Richard San Jose sent out a follow-up e-mail to TXMAS contractors saying he was answering their inquiries as he received them, adding that "Due to the large volume I am dealing with, it may take many days for me to respond to you."
The depth of the backlash was unexpected, according to Pigott.
"Our focus by state law is to work on large state contracts," he said. Of the approximately 900 TXMAS contracts, Pigott said approximately 300 did not reach a quarter million dollars in sales last year in their contracts with the state.
"Based on our administrative focus and resources, we decided if a vendor didn't have a quarter million dollars in annual sales, it would not be appropriate to have a TXMAS contract." He pointed out that some of the vendors had annual sales of less than $10,000.
But because of the multitude of inquiries and complaints, Pigott said the CPA is now telling any TXMAS vendor who contacts the agency that they can keep their TXMAS contract if their annual sales were under the $250,000 threshold last year if they present a valid written sales plan to TXMAS administrators. A successful review of that plan by the CPA would lead to an extension of the vendor's TXMAS contract.
Pigott said the CPA will not dictate what is in each vendor's plan, hoping that would provide "motivation" for vendors to produce a plan and think about what it is they have to sell and why the government would be interested in buying their products or services. He said "carte blanche" approval the plans will not be given, but indicated that as long as vendors "try to put some effort into it" they will be considered. "We're not looking for Harvard-produced sales plans," he said.
With this new wrinkle in the proposed contract cancellations, Pigott said most of the vendors he has talked to have been "very enthusiastic about it."
There is no hard cutoff day for submitting sales plans, said the TPASS director, who also said CPA will likely wait at least 30 days before any contracts are canceled.
Pigott said the net effect of any TXMAS cancellations will likely be that the CPA will be increasing the number of term contracts, all of which are competitively bid.
The CPA official reminded that some TXMAS contracts were canceled last year, many of which had zero sales. But when that happened, rumors flew that CPA was attempting to do away with TXMAS contracts completely.
Asked if this recent action was an attempt to eliminate TXMAS contracts or even a first step toward that, Pigott responded, "Absolutely not. Ms. Combs supports TXMAS contracts. They save us money."
