Deaombw 20, 1967 

Ronorable Yayland 0. Holt 

District Attorney 

Opinion No. ‘U-172 

Scurry CounW CiWthourr, 

Snyd or, Tqrr 

Ma ~Whether a county commleslone~e 

oourt which desires to purahro oquijmmnt for general 

USI by the county, requiring 

,the expenditure df $2,000.00 

br more to. be paid out of yurr 

rent funds, must advertise by 

neuepaper publicatioil ( or 

porting) notice of its lntcntlon to take aompetltlve bids 

under the pro,ylBionrr ‘of Section 2, Artlalo 2368a, VerDee Mr. Bolt: 

aonir Civil. Sfatufcu, and 

related question.. 

., 

In a r#amt lifter, tb thir 6ftlcr you: roquest’bd’ our ” 

0 to the abovo ‘reieronced matterr. we quote 

“Tha mambirn ,o? tho Commi6rion~rr Court of 

Bouwf County have objected to tho rouuirement 

o? advertirlng fw bida in making puraharor of’ 

equipment for tho um oi tho ,County whore tho 

purch@ro priao of rruah oquipniont is euch thrt 

thi trlrlrrg of compotitlv0 bldr ,I8 neceerary. 

Thoy agroa that whom the price Is $2000.00 or 

mobo th8 takiag 0s campotitlvo ‘bids Is requlrod 

but thegr do not agree that whore the equifniont 

is purahared with ourrent tinds advertising by 

‘publlmhing or ,poetin~, as required by Sec. 2 of 

Art. 2368a, Vornon”jnkuotated Texaa Statutes, 

18 nmm5mary, an0 tn k It 18 exempt under tK 

‘prooir%onr o? $00. 5 ‘of euch,Articlo 2368a; ;ho 

County Auditor h&r announced hle intention to 

rrfu80 to approve any claim agalnet tho,County 

for l qulmont puFaharod unleea all tho provieloni 

OS ml? Sec. 2 u’a ocmplied with. 
I 

gon. U~~lan0 0. Bdlt, pa8 2 (W-172). 

"I will approalate your maw8H.n8 the folk 

lowlcrtng quortionsr 

"1. Where the purchase price of .oQuIpmont 

for $onoral u8e by tho County I8 )2,000.00 or 

mm, th8reby~ rrquirln2 the t&king oi competitWe bide, I8 it nece88sry to advertioe by, 

publllhln2 (or posting) giving notice of intention of the taking of ouch bldr?' 

. 

"2. Whore thoro I8 a trade-in lnvol~8dr 

door the term, fpuraha80 prlco,l.,man the fill 

prlae quotrd or bid io2i the equipment to br 

.purahrrd, or doss It mean such full priae lore 

tha rrraMt ollowod for tho trbdo-la?” ‘. 3, 

moei portlone or Irtiole 236&, Vornonlo Civil'Statutos, 

whlqh are applioablo to your first quortlon re!d U'followei ,' 

"8ec. 2. IJo aountg, acti* throu@ it8 

Coaml8rionrr8~Court, . , .rhall horo&itOr emko 

uy qontrbot or.llln( for O* rogulring thr oxq@ltwo ,OP wont ot Two Thourand Dollar 

'pt ,: 2iO00.00) or norr~out of any fund or finds gf 

MJ* . ,dqanty or 8ubdlvIrlon of mj muntjr 

arortln(~er impbring an obll2atIofi or lisbillty 

o f a ny na tur ,e or ohawotmr up o n l uoh county or, 

anj eubditiirlon of mmh aounty, '. . .wlthout 

rim mubmltting m&oh propord~contr~~~t to oompetltlvo bide. Notloo of the tine and place 

whrn bnd rhrro muah oontrrotr ohall bo let 

ehrll bo publlrhod li euoh oounty (if oonoemlni 

a oorinty contract or oontrrotr tar ouoh rubalvl8lor1 OS wch oauntg). . .onor e weak for 

two (2) oon8ooutlvo mekr prior to the tlmo 8ot 

,for letting ou’oh oontrrat, thr date of the fi$rt 

publlcctlon to bo at’lrrrt fourtom (lb) Idryr, 

prior to tho dbtr mt for letting rrld oontraot; 

and uld oontrrot rhrll br lmt to the lowrrt 

reaponrlblo biddrr. .If thoao lr no nrwrpaprr publirhad In euih'oountg, the notlao of 

tho letting of euoh oontrrot by ruoh oountg 

ohall be glvrn by owrlng notlar therrof to bo, 

ported at the County Court Houw door To? fourtorn (14) dry8 prior to tho time of letting ,' 

euoh oontraot, . . , 

" 

. . . 
Bon. Wayland Q. Holt, pago 3 (M-172) 

,. 

"Any and all such contract8 or~agreements 

hereafter made by. any county,. . .ln this state, 

- without complying with tho terms of this Section, 

shall bir void and shall net be enforceable. In 

inny court of this state, and tho performme or 

samo and the paymo'$t of any money thereundar may 

,be onJoined by any property taxpaying citizen of 

SUCh COulity. . . 

,ic 

. . B 

‘bee. 5. The noflc8 required in Seetion'i 

2.. ,8hall not. be appllcable,to expendlture.8 

payable out of durrentnfunds or bond funds, as 

above deaaribod, . . . 

Section 2 of Article 2368a provlde~ that in certain 

8Ili8r~enOy~ 8itU&tiOll8 ,thc COWlli88iOn8l’8 COUl’t does~ not have to 

" tioatply with tho provlsIonr of the rootion. :. “,, 

S&?t$On 2, Artlo~le 2368a, has bien am'ended 8evel?al 

.timo6 ulnae Its orlglnal eriaatmant in 1931. m,oifeot of 

there aBend~ntS,in8Of& IS it iS.SOliVa& to thr:zq~eStiOn hero, 

1nvolviJd is,,,$h@t, 48 ori@ally onaotod,,,tho section applied only 

to ~contradt~s ?or th& c,ottstructlon of public buildinga or .tho probecutlop apd, c?mpletlon of any public 'work requlrl~g ane?ipendl,ture 

ih l XOO#S ‘bi 42,000.00. Wh8r0a8, tho provision8 of~the~soction now 

apply to; all l xpendlturos of county funds ,in an amount of $2,000,O0 

Or m&o." 'rhat portion of Section 5 of Artlclo 2368a,~~uoted above, 

has not beon amended, in 8ny important respect since its driginal 

snactm8nt'in 1931 and was in fiat ra-enactad along w1t.h certain 

amendmanta to Soctlon 5 and Section 6 of Art$clo 2368a, which are 

not pertinent to tho instant quostlon by Senate Bill, lp5, Ads 

52nd Leglrlature,~~Regular Serrl~n,~ 1951, Ch. 164, SEC. 1. Sectlbn 

3 Pi shbt8 Bill ios,rObd~8 &S rOllOWB: 

%o* 3. The m faot that the Attorney CMneral 

of Texas har held that Ssbtlonr 3 and 6 ot 8ald 

Chapter 163 we~o impll8dly ropralod br Chaptn 

173, pagO 238, hot8 of thr 30th,kglSlature, 1947, 

Atid q\uStiOnS hbV0 aX'l8en a8 to tho Validity Of 

contraeta and.warrantr oi aountl48 and oItle8 

thereunder, oreaten an emargonoy and an lmporatlve 

pubtia nro~88ity that the Constitutional Rule 

reqUi;rlng bill8 t0 bo read .on (rhrO0 SWeral dqV8 

in l & ROUSo t0 bo 8U8~~68d; Sn& S&&d Rule 18 

hqrbbp SUspMdedr and thI8 Act Shall becomo Of? 

foot.Ive lmmodIately from and aftor Its pa88ag0, 

and it 18 so l na o ta d.î 

-826- 
eon. Wayland (I. Halt, page 4(M’-172) ” 

Chapter 17 

3 

, pegs,238 (aotuslly page 283), Acts of the 50th Leglelature, 19 7, referred to In the,above quotation from Senate Bill 

105, was the first amend,mento ’ Section’ 2. of’ Article 2368a. Those 

portlone of Seotion 2, which aFe relevant to this’queetion, and 

which have been”prevlouely quoted herein, have not been materlally 

altered sin&e the passage of Senate,Bill 105, referred to above. 

Section 3 of Senate Blll,l05.expreeses the clear legislative lntect that Section 5 of Article 2366a should be operative subsequent 

to the enactment of Senatd Bill ‘105, even though ,aectlon ‘5’, Article 

2368a, was lmplledly repealed by the 1947 amendment to Section 2, 

Article 2368a. It le thus clear that the provlalone of Section 2 

of Article 236h which require the giving of notice of Intention 

to take competitive bide by newspaper ~dvertlsement (or,postlng) 

are not applicable to county expenditures for the purchase of 

e’qulpment for general we by the county payable out of current 

funds, .even if the expenditure Is $2,000.00 or more. 

In anrwir to your second question, it 1s our opinion 

that when a county denirea to make a contract under the.competltlve 

biddlng requlremente of Section 2 of Article 2368a the’blds must 

‘. be atat*d in temar of the grourr ,price of the equipment to be purchaeed W$thout conrlderiag any “trade-in”. This Is no,t to say 

that a coreniarlonerr oour.t in the exercise of, Its. qund, .dlscretlon 

‘. c&at require In the ,bid speciflcatlon~, t’hat ti~~detis’muet. submit, 

as a ,paPt off tk)elr, bid ,the eum’ OS money .whlch, ithey will, al&or the 

bounty for a deri&nated ‘tzade-in” as credit on, the “bid amount 0, 

We do not believe that it can be eald aa a matter ‘of. law that a 

oanmls6~oners coiart, bar abused lte discretion if It Includes such 

a ~peclfloatlon in a bid proporal,’ and took the response of the 

‘bidders to thir, rpeo$fioatlon Into irccount in,determlning which 

bidder W&I the “lomrt oeeponsible bidder V 

SUMMARY 

The provisions of Seotion 2 oi Article 

23680, which require the giving of notice of 

intention to take oompetitive ,bide by newepaper advertlrement (or porting), are not applionble to county l x p endltior. urrr the ‘purchase of equlpment~for general me by the 

county whlchlue payable out oi current fundr, 

even if the l pendlture 11 $2,000.00 or more. 

When a county desires t,o make a contractr 

under the competltlve bidding requirements of 

Siotion 2 of Article 2368a, the bid8 mu& be 

-827- 
. : 

I. 

Ron. Vayland 0. Walt, p8ge 5 (M-172) 

. 

l t8ted in term of the, grore price ol the .equipment to be purohrud rlth6ut oonaldertng any 

“tr8de -In”. Beuever, in the exerciw of It8 

8cnmd diecretlim, a ooaiuimieners court may i 

l gmoify In itr bid p~oporrl thbt bidder8 ehll 

include In their bid the cum of money which 

thav will allow for a “trnde-in” na c+edle 

on the bid amount, Gd a conr8li~lOn4ril Court 

may ognrlder the rerrponae of bidder8 to this 

mphfficntlon in determlnlng un l@iah bidder is 

the ‘love& reeponelble sdder . 

Y&Se very truly, 

Prepared by Leuir ,B. mmy, !fr . 

Asslotant Attorney Generrl 

APPROVED: 

O?rnon cm=. ,. 

.