purchasing

State Print Services

Beginning in 2017, the Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division took over management of the State Print Shop Web Portal from the former Council for Competitive Government (which was dissolved by the 85th Legislature.)

State approved print shops are operated by:

  • Texas Correctional Industries
  • Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
  • Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
  • Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
  • Texas Workforce Commission (TWC)
  • University of Texas (UT)
  • University of North Texas (UNT)

have contracted with the Comptroller's office to provide a competitive procurement option to state agencies requiring printing services. These interagency contracts eliminate the need for individual interagency agreement contracts for printing services.

The State Print Shop Web Portal is a universal online job request form that enables agencies to submit a job request once and receive responses from all the state and TCI print shops.

  • For print projects expected to cost $2,500 or more, submit a request for bid to the state print shops through the Comptroller-maintained web form.
  • Print Services jobs less than $2,500 may be sourced directly from any of the contracted state print shops or by soliciting bids through the web form.
  • For bids due on or after Sept. 1, 2017, State print shops should respond with a bid due within the requested time frame and the purchasing agency is required to tabulate these bids using the SPD Print Bid Tabulation Template to identify the lowest bid that meets the specifications. Note that when TCI bids on a print job and is not the low bidder, statute requires than TCI be given a final opportunity to negotiate on price. The purchasing agency is not required to provide other bids to TCI during negotiation. Upon award, the completed bid tabulation noting the successful bidder should be sent to all state print shops and the Statewide Procurement Division with the email subject line Print Bid Tabulation for Requisition No. XXX.
  • If state print shops do not provide a bid, agencies may seek a commercial vendor following standard state agency purchasing rules. Effective Sept. 1, 2017, the state does not contract with a prequalified pool of commercial print shops that agencies are required to use.

For information on this procurement process and associated purchasing requirements please reference pages 22-24 of the Texas Procurement and Contract Management Guide (PDF) and the State Print Shop FAQ (Doc).

Statewide Procurement Outreach Team
(512) 463-3034, option 1