5 State Tech Purchases on Cooperative Contracts Total $2M

State agencies have made millions of dollars in purchases off cooperative contracts from the Department of Information Resources (DIR) this fiscal year.

DIR cooperative contracts are meant to reduce time, effort and resources required for IT procurement while still ensuring they get competitive pricing and quality services. They aren’t just a convenience but a state mandate that these 700-800 vetted contracts are used as a first option.

According to the Comptroller of Public Accounts’ Electronic State Business Daily, purchases in the “Award, No Solicitation” category this fiscal year include:

• $693,341 by the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) to Sequel Data Systems for Pure Storage Maintenance
• $627,371 by the Health and Human Services Commission to Carahsoft Technology for Docusign Platform Edition Software
• $284,561 by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to Dell Marketing for laptops and docks
• $212,460 by the Texas Department of Transportation to HiEd Inc., for Adobe licenses
• $191,282 by TRS to Kambrian Corp. for LinkedIn Learning

For context, state agencies are required to use DIR contracts for IT-related services and commodities costing up to $10 million, while institutes of higher ed have more flexibility.

For vendors wanting opportunities to sell to the state via contract, here are a few tips from past event coverage:

• Check DIR’s schedule of solicitation opportunities page
• Attend pre-bid conferences
• Sign up for the comptroller’s Centralized Master Bidders List
• Partner with large government contractors to access opportunities
• Network at conferences and events that CIOs and purchasing agents attend