Digital procurement for Texas municipalities: using cooperative contracts on Civic Marketplace

Texas municipalities can buy from cooperative contracts online on Civic Marketplace, the procurement platform that hosts the TXShare Cooperative Contracts of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). Agencies pay nothing to buy through TXShare contracts.

The East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) also chose Civic Marketplace as the technology platform for COGWORKS, its cooperative purchasing program. Texas cities such as Denton and Brownsville have partnered with Civic Marketplace to share their own competitively awarded contracts.

We understand the real problem fora city or county buyer. Finding a contract that covers the purchase is only half of it. The other half is showing, in the file, that the Entity had the authority to use it and that the award was sound.

Why Texas law lets a city buy from a cooperative contract

Two Texas statutes do the work, and Civic Marketplace reproduces both on its Texas state statutes page.

Texas Government Code Chapter 791 is the Interlocal Cooperation Act. Section 791.025 lets a local government, including a council of governments, agree with another local government or with the state to purchase goods and services.

Subsection (c) then says that a local government that purchases goods and services under that section "satisfies the requirement of the local government to seek competitive bids for the purchase of the goods and services."

Texas Local Government Code Section271.102 covers cooperative purchasing programs directly. A local government mayparticipate in a cooperative purchasing program with another local governmentor with a local cooperative organization, in Texas or in another state.

Under subsection (c), a local government that purchases goods or services under these cooperative purchasing provisions satisfies any state law requiring it to seek competitive bids for the purchase.

In plain terms, a Texas city that buys through an eligible cooperative contract is not skipping competition. It relies on the competitive process the lead agency already ran. The statutes do not replace your own charter or grant conditions, so each purchase still needs its own checks.

How TXShare works on Civic Marketplace

TXShare is the cooperative purchasing program of NCTCOG. The TXShare program site states that its members have access to the Civic Marketplace platform to build a procurement profile and search the services and products TXShare has awarded.

TXShare membership is free and has no renewals. Joining takes three steps: an Entity executes an Interlocal Agreement (ILA), emails the signed copy to TXShare, and receives the fully executed agreement back by email. TXShare's typical turnaround for an executed ILA is one business day, and the Entity can begin using TXShare contracts as soon as the agreement is returned.

TXShare contracts are pursuant to Chapter 791 and 2 CFR 200, the federal Uniform Guidance. Buyers can also find Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) and local Suppliers.

Using the contracts costs the buyer nothing, and Suppliers pay a minimal fee to offset the cost of administering the program.

One agreement, a wider portfolio

NCTCOG/TXShare and the Alliance forInnovation (AFI) have signed a mutual reciprocity agreement. A member agency of either network can use the combined portfolio of hundreds of contracts from both networks, without another ILA. The contracts span technology, infrastructure, public safety, water and utilities, and professional services.

Before the agreement, cross-network use required a separate ILA with each lead agency, adding weeks or months to procurement timelines. With it, an Entity that already holds a TXShare membership has more competitively awarded contracts within reach.

Active membership in either network is enough. You find the contract, make the checks set out below, then contact the Supplier with the contract number to issue a purchase order.

A TXShare contract in use: Dallas Public Works

At the City of Dallas Public Works Department, the program manager tracked projects on paper until the department used a TXShare cooperative contract to hire Power QV, a project-tracking software company. After the switch, average contractor payment processing fell from 30days to 10 days.

COGWORKS and East Texas buyers

COGWORKS is the cooperative purchasing program of ETCOG, which serves a fourteen-county East Texas region. In April 2026, ETCOG picked Civic Marketplace to power COGWORKS. The award covers contract visibility and Supplier onboarding, among other support, at no cost to member agencies.

ETCOG set out to strengthen COGWORKS so that cooperative contracts are easier for Entities in East Texas to discover and use. "COGWORKS allows participants to benefit from collective buying power and shared procurement expertise through a program they know and trust," said David Cleveland, Executive Director of ETCOG.

Through ETCOG's existing TXShare membership, every COGWORKS participating agency gains access to the full AFI contract portfolio at no additional cost, with no additional ILA.

Texas cities that share their own contracts on Civic Marketplace

Cooperative contracts do not only come from councils of governments. Texas cities that have already run competitive solicitations can share the results with other public Entities.

• City of Denton: Denton partnered with Civic Marketplace and AFI to make more than 220 of its competitively awarded contracts available to Entities nationwide. Its categories run from fleet and facilities to public safety and utilities.
• City of Brownsville: Brownsville partnered with Civic Marketplace and AFI to make its competitively awarded cooperative contracts available on the platform to qualifying public Entities across the United States.

Denton Purchasing Manager Lori Hewell explains that cooperative contracts are competitively solicited and awarded in compliance with public sector procurement rules, "enabling agencies to 'piggyback' without issuing their own solicitations."

For a buyer in another Texas city, a contract that Denton or Brownsville has awarded can cover the need, with the solicitation work already done.

From sourcing need to award on Civic Marketplace

Civic Marketplace is also built around the steps a public buyer takes to source a purchase. The workflow runs in four steps:

1. Post your sourcing need. Share what you are buying and when you need it.

2. Invite Suppliers. Use the Supplier directory, or let the Civic Marketplace team help with outreach and follow-up.

3. Compare responses side by side. The Bake Off view shows quotes, attachments and Supplier information together, so you can ask questions and keep everything organized.

4. Award and export. Select the Supplier, then download the contract files.

The platform is free for agencies, with documentation and decisions included to keep the purchase audit-ready.

Civic Marketplace has also completed a SOC 2Type II examination, an independent audit conducted in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Trust Services Criteria.

Checks to make before you use any cooperative contract

A cooperative contract that is valid for the lead agency still has to fit your purchase. Civic Marketplace's model policy for use of cooperatives sets out when an agency should use a cooperative contract and what must be in place:

5. Competition. The contract was competitively solicited in a manner that meets your organization's standards.

6. Price and terms. Pricing and terms, including delivery schedules, are believed to be equal to or better than what your Entity could obtain on its own.

7. Local and diverse Suppliers. Use of the cooperative does not diminish opportunities for local or diverse Suppliers beyond what an in-house solicitation would entail.

8. Local authority. Your charter and code authorize participation in intergovernmental purchasing, subject to your council or board approval thresholds.

9. Federal funds. When federal funds pay, the purchase includes any clauses that 2 CFR 200 requires.

10. The file. All required documentation and approvals are complete.

Before issuing a purchase order under a cooperative contract, the model policy has the requesting department complete a due diligence checklist and file it in the official procurement record. It covers the solicitation method, contract validity (the term is active and your Entity is named as an eligible participant), price reasonableness, Supplier performance, socio-economic goals, legal review and funding.