Purchasing Policy Requirements

The City's updated purchasing policy for use by all City departments and purchasing officers is located here. The policy has been updated to reflect state laws regarding Historically Underutilized Businesses, recent City Council changes regarding expenditures requiring Council approval, and the City's local bidders policy.

The City of Kyle wishes to have local companies compete for contracts for goods, services and construction projects because the local bidder offers the best combination of price and additional economic development opportunities for the city, including the employment of local residents.

Purchasing Policy Thresholds
Purchase Amount	Phone/Fax Quotes	Written Quotes	Sealed Competitive Bids	Online Notice	Published in Newspaper	Purchase Order	Council Approval
$1 - $2,999	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
$3,000 - $14,999	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
$15,000 - $49,999	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
>$50,000	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

City of Kyle purchasing requirements include:

Any purchase between $3,000 and $50,000 will require staff to reach out to at least two Historically Underutilized Businesses in Hays County for quotes.
Purchases between $3,000 and $14,999 require a minimum of three written quotes, a purchase order and may be approved by department heads.
Purchases between $14,999 and $49,999 require a minimum of three written quotes, a purchase order and may be approved by the city manager.
Purchases totaling $50,000 and above are to be reviewed and approved by City Council.
The City Manager has purchasing authority for purchases under $50,000.

View the purchasing policy, manual, and amendments.

Purchasing Policy Update (August 15th, 2023)

The purchasing policy was reviewed and updated at the regular City Council meeting on August 15th, 2023. That review included the city’s current policy, the city’s current policy regarding the city manager’s purchasing threshold, city manager purchasing thresholds of our comparison cities, purchasing volume analysis, and options regarding possible changes to the city manager’s purchasing threshold.

Council voted 7-0 to direct the city manager to bring back an amendment to the city’s purchasing policy to increase the city manager’s purchasing authority to $50,000. • Council also included a provision for the city manager to provide quarterly reports regarding purchasing activity under this policy. Staff requested to remove the requirement for online notice for purchases between $15,000 and $50,000 to align with state law.

Learn more about updates to the policy.