If a county is going to clean an industrial site that TECQ says they have to remediate and the cost will be approx. $50,000, is that a service that must be bid or can anyone think of a way to exempt it from the bid requirements(professional services?) Does it matter if the county(holding the property in trust for other taxing entities) convinces the other entities to pay for their share of the clean-up and the counties portion then is less than $25,000 but the entire project would still cost 50G., with the county being the contracting entity with the remediator?
Any Help? Thanks

You could make the argument that the county's own expenditure is the touchstone for application of the County Purchasing Act's requirement to bid the project. However, the statute's language may fairly be read to go the other direction. It provides that, "Before a county may purchase one or more items under a contract that will require an expenditure exceeding $25,000, the commissioners court must" comply with the bidding or alternative purchasing procedures of the CPA or chapter 271. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code sec. 262.023(a) (emphasis added). Experience and litigation teach that the safer course is to bid when in doubt. A caveat is appropriate here, though. Some of the services necessary to accomplish the cleanup may necessitate the involvement of engineers. Trying to get around using an engineer may net you a nasty letter from the Board of Professional Engineers about violation of the Engineering Practice Act (ch. 1001, Occupations Code). Those practitioners, of course, must be selected under the Professional Services Procurement Act (ch. 2254, Gov't Code), regardless of the amount of the contract.

Thanks Scott, I'll take a look at that angle and see what I can come up with....I just feel this is one of those potentially costly situations that I don't want to leave to the discretion of a low bidder!

Scott,
If potential groundwater contamination etc. is an issue what do you think about using (a) (2) as well....item necessary to protect public health etc? or a combination of both? the more I think about this, the more I am beginning to justify it in my mind without the necessity of a bid.

If there's potential groundwater contamination involved, I think the public health & safety angle may well be applicable.