(a) Acceptable methods. Bids for a contract under this subchapter may be submitted either manually or electronically.
(b) Manually submitted bids. For the purpose of manually submitting a bid, an acceptable proposal form is the form that is printed and given to the bidder by the department or a form printed by the bidder from EBS.
  (1) Delivery of Bid. The bidder shall place each completed proposal form in a sealed envelope marked to show its contents. When submitted by mail, this envelope shall be placed in another envelope which shall be sealed and addressed as indicated in the notice. Bids must be received on or before the hour and date set for the receipt and opening of bids and must be in the hands of the department letting official by that time.
  (2) Bid content. The bidder shall submit the bid in compliance with the following requirements.
    (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph and paragraph (3) of this subsection, the blank spaces for each item as required in the proposal form shall be filled in by writing in words in ink.
    (B) The bidder shall submit a unit price for each item for which a bid is requested (including a zero if appropriate), except in the case of a regular bid item that has an alternate bid item. In such case, prices must be submitted for the base bid or with the set of items of one or more of the alternates.
    (C) The bid shall be executed with ink in the complete and correct name of the bidder making the bid and be signed by the person or persons authorized to bind the bidder.
    (D) Except in the case of a regular bid item that has an alternate bid item, unit prices shall be stated in dollars and/or cents for each bid item listed in the proposal form.
  (3) Computer printouts.
    (A) For manually submitted bids, a bidder may, in lieu of writing in words in ink on the bid item sheet, submit an original computer printout sheet bearing the authorized signature for the bidder. The unit prices shown on acceptable printouts will be the official unit prices used to tabulate the official total bid amount and used in the contract if awarded by the commission.
    (B) Computer printouts are not acceptable on building contracts.
(c) Electronically submitted bids. In lieu of submitting a printed proposal form, the bidder may submit the bid electronically using EBS in accordance with this subsection.
  (1) Bids must be received by the electronic vault on or before the time and date set for the receipt and opening of bids.
  (2) For the submission or withdrawal of electronic bids, the bidder is responsible for obtaining its use of a computer system and access to the Internet.
  (3) The department is not responsible for a bidder being unable to submit or withdraw a bid due to the unavailability of the Internet.
  (4) The bid shall be in the correct name of the bidder making the bid.
(d) Bid guaranty. Except as provided in paragraph (4) of this subsection, a bidder must submit a bid guaranty with the bid for a contract that, on the date of the release of its advertisement, has an engineer's estimate of more than $25,000. The amount of the guaranty is equal to two percent of the estimate, rounded to the nearest $1,000, not to exceed $100,000.
  (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) or (4) of this subsection, the bid guaranty must be made payable to the order of the commission or department and in the form of a cashier's check, money order, or teller's check drawn by or on a state or national bank, savings and loan association, or a state or federally chartered credit union (collectively referred to as a "bank"). The check must be payable at or through the institution issuing the instrument, or must be drawn by a bank on a bank, or by a bank and payable at or through a bank. The form of the instrument must be identified on the instrument's face.
  (2) A bidder may submit a bid bond, in lieu of providing the guaranty required in paragraph (1) of this subsection. The bid bond shall be on the form specified by the department. A bid bond will only be accepted from a surety company authorized to execute a bond under and in accordance with state law. The bond must be dated on or before the date of the bid opening, bear the impressed seal of the surety company and the name of the bidder, and be signed by the bidder or bidders, in the case of a joint venture, and an authorized representative of the surety company. As an alternative for joint venture bidders, each of the bidders may submit a separate bid bond, completed as outlined in this paragraph. Powers of attorney must be attached to the bid bond. The bid bond amount required by the department must be within the surety company's authorized bonding limit.
  (3) The department will not accept as a bid guaranty:
    (A) personal checks or certified checks;
    (B) other types of money orders; or
    (C) checks or money orders more than 90 days old.
  (4) For bids submitted electronically under subsection (c) of this section, the bid guaranty must be an electronic bid bond must be made in the name or department issued vendor number of the bidder or if more than one, each bidder. For joint venture bidders, the bond must be made in the names or department issued vendor numbers of all joint venture bidder participants. The bond authorization code must be entered into the authorization code field contained in EBS. Only bond authorization codes from the companies listed in the most recent version of EBS are acceptable. Printed checks or bid bond forms are not acceptable as guaranties for electronic bids.

Source Note: The provisions of this §9.14 adopted to be effective November 23, 1994, 19 TexReg 8867; amended to be effective November 25, 1996, 21 TexReg 11627; amended to be effective December 12, 1999, 24 TexReg 10901; amended to be effective January 4, 2001, 25 TexReg 13007; amended to be effective October 21, 2001, 26 TexReg 8195; amended to be effective July 18, 2002, 27 TexReg 6345; amended to be effective December 11, 2008, 33 TexReg 10054; amended to be effective April 18, 2017, 42 TexReg 2008; amended to be effective April 20, 2023, 48 TexReg 1968