August 18, 1961

Honorable H. R. Nleman, Jr. OpinionNo. WW-1120 Executive Director State Building Commission Re: Authority of the State State Office Building Building Commission to Austin 1, Texas obtain servicesand enter Into contracts with other State Dear Mr. Nieman: Agencies.

You have requestedan opinion as to the legal authority of the State Building Commission to obtain servicesand enter into contracts with other State Agencies or Departments of State Government regardless of the approval of any other State Agency.

The factualbackground of this request is as follows: The Comptroller of Public Accounts returned a State of Texas PurchaseVoucher submitted to it by the State Building Commission,and requested that such purchase vouch,er

be approvedby the Board of Control. The payee under this purchase voucher was the Texas Highway Department, and the services rendered to the State Building Commissionby the Texas Highway Department were for soil testing and analyses for the State Building Commission in the Capitol Area Expansion Plan Program and for copies of logs and tabulationdata pertinent thereto. to $435.00. The charges for such servicesamounted

These serviceswere renderedby the Texas Highway Departmentpursuant to a contractpreviously entered intoby and between the State Building Commission and the Texas Highway Department. The purchase voucher containedupon it, as authority for such contract and the payment for the services rendered,a reference to Section ,$I of Senate Bill 134, Acts 54th Legislature,Regular Session, suchbill being codified as Article 678i1,

Vernon's Civil Statutes.
Section 5 of Article 678~1, Vernon's Civil Statutesprovlces that:

'TheCommission is authorized to take any action and enter into s contracts necessary3 providxr theHonorableK.R. Nieman, Jr.,page 2 @W-1120)

Statutes, obtalnlng of sitesm Q,R planning,

&&puning dIlgconstructionof the building a --

memorlalsprovided for by Section 51-b, Article III of the Constitution,and the Commission la also authorized to take any action R@# enter Into any gontra;;: tii;btain sites which it deem% nece ry order to provide for the orderly future development of the State Bulldlng Program which is contemplatedby this Act, Insofar as appropriations permit.

.~~omtnisslon M call
w &he +eias Hlahway DeDartmentto & aDDroDrlate testsand analyses of the naturalmaterials at the site -- of each bulldlnu constructeq to insure that foundations of’siid buildings will be adeqtate for the life of the buildings. added) (Emphasis

Section 8 of Article 678~1,Vernon’s Civil provides that:
?he Commlssion shallhave the authority to call on any DeDartment of State Government& assist14 &R carrvu out the duties of the Commission. And particularly, It shall be the duty of the Board of Control to do and perform such acts and functions In connectionwith this Act as the Commissionmay direct; and to that end any portion of the money appropriated to the Commissionmay be allocatedby the Commission to the Board of Control and expendedby it under the direction of the Commission in carrying out the provisions of this Act." (Emphasisadded)
The above quotedprovisions of Article 678m would constitute sufficient authority for the State Building Commission to obtain the services of and enter into contracts with other state a encies. In Attorney General’s OpinionNo. W-349 (1958),this office held, In passing upon the validity of a proposed contract between the State Bullding Commission and the Texas State Historical Survey Committee in which the Texas State Historical Survey CommIttee was to provide certain. I

HonorableH. R. Nleman, Jr., page 3 (W-1120)

services for the State Building Commission, that there was authority for such contractunder the provisions of Article 678~.

The provisions set forth in Article 678111 do not designate as a requirement that such contractsbe approvedby the Board of Control. Consequently,we are of the opinion that contractspursuant to Article 678~
are not required to be approvedby the Board of Control.

SUMMARY
Contracts entered into by the State Building Commlsslonwith other State Agenciespursuant to the p,rovlsions

of Article 678111 do not require the approval of the Board of Control.

Yours very truly,

WILL WILSON AttorneyGeneral of Texas

PB:lgb

APPROVED:

OPINION COMMITTEE W. V. Geppert, Chairman
Elmer McVey MorganNesbitt Bob Eric Shannon ThomasBurrus
REiVIEWl3DFORTHEAT'I0RNFXGENERAL BY: Howard W. May8