Tarrant County purchasing staff told a county meeting that inventory gaps, contract negotiations and a set of proposed purchasing-policy updates are moving forward, and the group approved the revisions while retaining a $50,000 competitive-bid threshold.

The purchasing presenter outlined several active procurements and contract issues, including an award recommendation for election tasking and scheduling software, a GPS asset-tracker for elections that is on hold, and ongoing rate discussions with Brinks over inmate-communications commissions after Federal Communications Commission changes that took effect Jan. 1. The presenter said a replacement procurement for in-car laptops for sheriff's patrol cars is expected to be awarded in September and a court-scheduling tool recently went out for bid and is in evaluation. A body-camera quote from Axon is under review with the sheriff's office, and the county is soliciting bids to replace a nonrotating target system at the county firing range.

The presentation also covered staffing and inventory: the county received 10 responses to a request for jail-staffing firms and is scheduling evaluations. Purchasing reported more than 8,000 non-IT inventory items tracked countywide; when the inventory was reported on July 1 there were 811 missing items, the presenter said. Since that report the team located 34 vehicles but said about 124 remain unlocated, most of them law-enforcement vehicles assigned to the sheriff's office and constables. IT tracks more than 12,000 assets, of which about 480 were reported as not found and remain under review with Anthony Jackson's team.

“We do have it, but the fleet director wants to actually see it, put his hands on it,” the purchasing presenter said about verifying vehicles, adding that central garage inspection logs are being used to confirm assets.

The department described training and outreach measures: one buyer, Emily Salter, earned a CPPB certification and was promoted to senior contracts administrator; purchasing staff have run one-on-one trainings, P-card sessions and asset-inventory instruction in person and virtually; and training recordings are available in the county LMS. The presenter said purchasing will add a concise orientation sheet to new-employee materials and post guidance on the purchasing website and vendor-registration page to reduce unauthorized purchases by outside vendors and county employees.

Policy revisions proposed in the packet address reimbursement denials for purchases made without prior purchasing approval, clarify that persons other than the county purchasing agent may not obligate county funds, and change contract-renewal language to read that renewals are “subject to continued funding by the commissioners' court.” The presenter said the new renewal language is intended to make clear that renewals will still come before court.

House Bill 1173 and related Senate action will raise the state competitive-bid threshold from $50,000 to $100,000 effective Sept. 1, the presenter noted; purchasing staff explained that most contracts currently on the court agenda already exceed $100,000, but that raising the local threshold could reduce the number of court actions. The presenter warned that a change in the commissioners' meeting schedule to monthly sessions could lengthen bid timelines: an example estimate raised a typical bid cycle from roughly 12–18 weeks to about 14–21 weeks.

On unauthorized or “rogue” spending, the presenter said approvals will route through the county administrator and that disciplinary decisions for employees remain the responsibility of department heads. The meeting referenced a recent procurement-card incident in the fleet department involving repair purchases for utility carts; the fleet employee returned the procurement card and retraining occurred.

A motion to approve the purchasing policy and procedures revisions with a specific exception — to retain the competitive-bid threshold at $50,000 rather than adopt the new $100,000 statutory threshold — was made and seconded. The measure passed with three votes in favor and one abstention.

“Would you would you be able to get more contracts approved or executed if the threshold were $100,000?” a commissioner asked. The purchasing presenter replied, in part, “Yes. … Steady at 50 court actions a month,” and explained that certain sole-source repairs and service contracts can require repeated court actions at the lower threshold.

The county will forward the revised policy packet, with the committee's recommendation to keep the $50,000 threshold, to commissioners' court for final action. The presenter said the effective date for the procedural changes, if approved by the Board and commissioners' court, would be Sept. 3.

Details that were discussed but left for follow-up included obtaining a list of renewable contracts for commissioners' review, finalizing Brinks contract negotiations on armored-transport fees, and completing the inventory verification work with the fleet director and IT team.

The meeting concluded with the vote on the policy package and routine adjournment.