Our IT contractor is wanting us to switch from Nitel to Suddenlink. I got the contract, made only the changes required by the Constitution...venue, term, signature through Commissioners The response received was "contract is what it is...sign or forget".

Are any of you working with this vendor? How did you make it legal?

Perhaps if you informed the My-Way-Or-the-Highway Corporation that, sadly, you will be forced into the position of advising the commissioners court in an open meeting, perhaps with the media present, that your polite requests to amend the contract to comply with state law have been rejected, and the company insists that the county execute a contract that is unlawful in more than one regard, requiring you to advise them against executing the contract, there might be movement on the issue. Or not. Sometimes even IT doesn't get what they want.

Oh, who am I kidding? IT always gets what they want. But I would make clear that the contract, as inflexibly offered, is unlawful.

I would be interested in a TDCAA training session for CA's on contract issues such as this and how to handle these issues when they arise. Would anyone else find such a session helpful?

Yes! I've had too many encounters with vendors and county officials wondering why we can't sign on for a multiyear, venue-waiving, indemnifying, no-termination, no-funding out clause agreements.

The good news is...I'll be able to submit the contract Monday. Finally got high enough on the food chain to get them to agree to what I needed. AND....DPS is talking to me about their contract.

Those Brumley & Rike sessions and papers DO work!!!

One way that might work with your IT and County people on the vendor who refuses to change the contract to make it subject to Texas Law is this:
If the vendor is a horse's rump about this tiny thing,can't we just imagine how he will be during implementation. You might even imply that to the vendor. Often the vendor does not want to engage their legal department which slows the sale down into the next quarter and the lying weasel salesman has to wait on his quarterly bonus. But normally standing your ground works if the county people can develop a modest spine. Yes, Brumley and I have whole presentations on this stuff and one might make the spring 2013 cut for Civil.