Alternative Project Delivery - Texas Water Development Board

Legal Review of Alternative Delivery Methods
which is generally the competitive bidding based upon plans and specifications; or the
"open market" purchase procedure; or "competitive sealed proposals method."
Municipalities
1. Charter
In Texas, there are two types of municipalities; those established under the general law
and those that are established by "home-rule" charter. Under the Texas Constitution,
cities with at least 5,000 citizens may become a “home-rule” city by adopting a city
charter. xxvii A city’s charter may specify the manner in which contracts for public
works must be advertised and awarded. For example, the charter for the City of
Brownsville, Texas, requires that all contracts in excess of $1,000 be let on sealed
competitive bids after ten days advertising in a newspaper, but the charter does allow
the governing body of the city to allow the proposals to be submitted for doing the
work.
“upon alternative or different plans and methods, or for different materials or
upon proposals and specifications of different bids and may select and adopt such
bids and let the work to or purchase the supplies in question from the bidder
whose bid is in the opinion of the [governing body] most advantageous to the
City.” xxviii
2. State Law
State law requires cities to advertise and award any contract that requires the
expenditure of more than $15,000 in the manner specified by chapter 252 of the Local
Government Code, unless the process conflicts with a city charter requirement, in
which event the city charter controls unless the city governing body elects to have
chapter 252 supercede the city charter. xxix Chapter 252 requires a city to award the
contract using the sealed competitive bid or sealed competitive proposal process. xxx
Certain exemptions from the process are allowed, such as procurement of professional
services, but the exemptions do not include alternative procurement methods such as
design/build. xxxi Chapter 252 requires that the notice of the contract be advertised and
specifies the process for awarding the contract and other related matters.
Water Districts
There are many different types of public entities established under the authority of
article 16, section 59 of the Texas Constitution. Some are created by a special act of
the Legislature and some are created by state agencies or commissioners courts under
the general law. The names of such entities vary, such as the Guadalupe-Blanco River
Authority, Laguna Madre Water District, or East Medina County Special Utility
District. However, for purposes of this memorandum, these entities will be generally
referred to as “water districts".
The procurement process for water districts may be specified in the act creating the
water district or in the chapter of the Water Code under which the water district was
established. In order to establish a general standard among water districts, the
Legislature adopted chapter 49 of the Water Code, which applies “to the extent that
Legal Review R. W. Beck 5