Government contracting getting more competitive
by Mary Scott Nabers
CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
. . . continued from page one
Other agencies in the top 10 regarding dollar amounts for contracting include: Employee Retirement System (ERS), $4.093 billion; the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), $1.807 billion; the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), $1.451 billion; the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), $1.298 billion; the Texas Lottery Commission, $990.1 million; The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, $526.2 million; and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), $457.5 million.
TxDOT and DADS also were among the top three agencies in the number of contracts per agency. DADS topped that category with 5,286 contracts and TxDOT had 2,357. DSHS is the final of the top three contracting agencies with 2,329 contracts for FY 2008.
State agencies contract for just about everything - from computer software and hardware to professional services such as architecture and landscaping.
For example, the Texas Attorney General's Office paid $183,061 for hardware and software maintenance in FY 2008 and the State Comptroller's Office paid more than $1 million for a dozen different consulting contracts and almost $900,000 for computer furniture and equipment.
The ERS spent almost $120,000 for building security services while the Texas Facilities Commission issued contracts for $12 million for construction of a new district office for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Bryan. The Texas Department of Information Services issued a contract in excess of $1.6 million for Internet services.
Lease of laptops and personal computers for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission resulted in two contracts valued at a total of more than $11 million for one company. The University of Texas at El Paso paid one contractor more than $100,000 for cleaning services and paid another $77,000 for printing services.
At Texas A&M University, construction contracts alone totaled more than $332 million, but there were other contracting opportunities as well. A roof replacement contract totaled $23,500 and a contract for painting and corrosion repair for the Central Utility Plant totaled $125,000.
TDCJ, which is responsible for offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities that contract with TDCJ, issued a $438,000 contract to repair and replace the fire alarm system at one of its facilities, paid more than $1.75 million to renovate a kitchen, $200,000 for pager services, $1.1 million for on-site food service and $192,000 for polygraph services.
Another major state agency, the Texas Department of Public Safety, paid $50,000 for aircraft maintenance, $136,000 for printed envelopes and $83,000 for bulk trash pickup.
TxDOT, in addition to its more than $7.7 billion in construction projects, also had many contracts for lesser amounts, such as street sweeping, debris removal and roadside mowing. One company was issued a $663,000 contract for toner cartridges and a public broadcasting contract totaled $100,000.
The public sector will have billions more to spend with private sector vendors in the next couple of years because of the federal economic stimulus funding. Considering this, it is easy to understand why thousands of new government contractors are eager to enter this market space.
