(a) Before the department contracts with or provides grant funding to an agency, organization, or individual to provide direct services to persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, the department shall make reasonable efforts to notify all potential service providers of the availability and purpose of the contract or grant.
(b) The notice shall include a request that all interested service providers submit within a specified period a contract or grant proposal for the department’s consideration. The notice must also clearly state the criteria that the department will consider in determining which applicant will be awarded the contract or grant.

Terms Used In Texas Human Resources Code 81.016

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Population: means the population shown by the most recent federal decennial census. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(c) The department shall review all proposals submitted under this section and shall award the contract or grant to the applicant that the department determines is best able to provide the needed services. The department may not award contracts or grants to a former employee of the department’s Office for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services within two years after the person‘s employment with that office ceased.
(d) To ensure an equitable distribution of contract or grant funds, the department shall develop a formula, based on population and region, to allocate those funds among the agencies, organizations, or individuals that are awarded the contracts or grants.
(e) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section.