Contracting Initiatives

DIR conducts procurements for cooperative contracts (CC), shared technology services (STS), telecommunication (T)s, and internal (I) DIR purchases.

NOTE: If you have questions about any of the procurements listed here, you may only contact the point of contact shown for the particular procurement. Failure to abide by this requirement may affect your eligibility for award.

DIR runs procurements in the following high-level phases:

1. Planning – this includes solicitation drafting and may include pre-solicitation notices, requests for information, and requests for comment, and market research.
2. Posting – When the procurement drafting has been completed and approved, the procurement moves to the posting phase. Procurements listed here are active and interested parties may download the procurement materials at the links provided below. Questions received during this phase are logged and addressed via addendum to the RFO so that all interested parties receive answers simultaneously. DIR posts all open-market solicitations to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts’ (CPA’s) Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD). It is a good idea to bookmark the ESBD page. To search for DIR postings, you may search by Agency Number – DIR is #313.
3. Evaluation – The evaluation phase indicates that the procurement has closed and no further responses will be accepted. In this phase, DIR is evaluating responses that pass administrative review and working to establish the competitive range. In order to expedite this process, DIR asks that responding parties refrain from asking for status updates. When evaluations have been completed, DIR will notify all Respondents regarding their evaluation status.
4. Negotiations/Award – Upon completion of evaluations, if DIR determines that negotiations are necessary, the procurement will move into the negotiation phase. Respondents that ranked in the competitive range will be contacted and asked to provide any materials necessary to move to contract award. During this phase, it is DIR’s intent to eliminate any exceptions taken by Respondents in negotiations and to achieve an agreement that is advantageous to DIR Customers. DIR works quickly and efficiently with Respondents during negotiations in order to achieve contract award. The procurement will remain in the negotiations phase until all Respondents in the competitive range have received awards or have received a cease to negotiate notification
5. Closing – Once DIR has completed all viable awards, the procurement moves into the Closing phase. The list of awarded contracts is posted to the Electronic State Business Daily, and Successful Respondents will establish websites for the new contracts. DIR will offer Respondents not receiving an award the opportunity to participate in a procurement debrief in order to learn about the process and identify areas for improvement. Debriefs are only available during the closing phase.