Texas Bid Forms in 2026: Form 1295, CIQ, Verifications and Affidavits

About a third of the Texas bid packets in our form-list sample name the Conflict of Interest Questionnaire, and nearly a third name Form 1295. Contractors coming from another state can mistake those pages for a whole new licensing process. Once you know which facts belong where, the routine entries on each take minutes.

PorchRocket’s Bid Control data (October 2026) puts the figures at 34.2% for the CIQ and 31.9% for Form 1295, among 295 Texas packets with extracted form lists. A listed form is not necessarily due with the bid: Form 1295 often comes from the selected contractor at contracting.

I would sort these pages by deadline before filling in a single name. Bid Control by PorchRocket helps with that repeat work: Bid Builder carries your company information into the forms and walks you through the buyer’s requirements. The owner still needs to review the facts behind every disclosure. A saved address is reusable; a statement about a family relationship needs a fresh look.

Texas forms at a glance: who files, when and where

Most Texas disclosures go to the buying agency, while Form 1295 requires an online certificate first and a signed copy delivered afterward.

Label each page with its deadline. In this table, “with bid” means the buyer requests the page in your response, even if the statute sets a later contracting deadline. Raise conflicting instructions before questions close. TEC means Texas Ethics Commission.

Form	Who asks or receives it	When to prepare or submit	Notarized?	Where to file
Form 1295, Certificate of Interested Parties	Covered Texas local entities and state agencies	At submission of signed contract under Section 2252.908; check buyer instructions	No, current form uses an unsworn declaration	Create through TEC; send signed certificate to buyer
CIQ, Conflict of Interest Questionnaire	Local governmental entities	When Chapter 176 triggers apply; also follow bid return instructions	Official CIQ has no notary block	Local records administrator or designated filing office
Israel-boycott verification	Covered public buyers	With bid if requested; required contract statement when law applies	No statutory notary requirement	Buyer, usually in certification or contract pages
Energy-boycott verification	Covered public buyers	With bid if requested; required contract statement when law applies	No statutory notary requirement	Buyer
Firearm-entity verification	Covered public buyers	With bid if requested; required contract statement when law applies	No statutory notary requirement	Buyer
Felony-conviction notification	School districts	Advance notice before contracting; bid form if requested	Section 44.034 does not require one	School district
HUB/VetHUB subcontracting plan	State agencies, including applicable university solicitations	With response when required	Current Comptroller form uses signed affirmations	Procuring agency
Non-collusion affidavit	Buyer whose packet includes it	Usually with bid, as instructed	Yes if the supplied affidavit requires it	Buyer
IRS Form W-9	Buyer’s vendor or payment office	Vendor setup, bid or award stage as requested	No	Requester, not the IRS

The same 295-packet sample listed non-collusion forms in 11.5%, W-9 forms in 9.5%, and Israel-boycott and felony-conviction forms in 5.1% each. These counts describe extracted lists, not statewide legal applicability. An agency can collect a W-9 through vendor registration without naming it in the bid’s return list.

For the rest of the envelope, use the page-by-page bid package checklist. For choosing buyers and finding their notices, use the Texas government contracts guide.

Who must file Form 1295 in Texas?

Covered businesses file Form 1295 when a contract needs governing-body action, reaches $1 million, or involves services requiring lobbyist registration, unless an exception applies.

The Certificate of Interested Parties discloses people or entities behind the business and certain intermediaries involved in the contract. The legal starting point is Government Code Section 2252.908. Its definition of a business entity expressly includes a sole proprietorship. A small company is not automatically excused.

Watch the governing-body trigger. A roofer bidding well below $1 million can still need Form 1295 if council or school-board action is required before signing. Ask purchasing who approves the award.

There are exceptions, including contracts with publicly traded businesses and their wholly owned subsidiaries. For a privately owned trade shop, I would ask purchasing whether the board must approve this particular award or whether staff can sign under authority already delegated to them, because a contract below $1 million can still require Form 1295 under the governing-body test.

Check the delivery stage too. The statute ties submission to the signed contract. A packet may include Form 1295 instructions for the eventual winner without asking every bidder to generate a certificate before selection.

Which owners and intermediaries go on it?

Start with your ownership records. Controlling interests include ownership above 10% and membership on a governing body with no more than 10 members. The officer test covers all officers when the business has four or fewer, or the four highest-paid officers when it has more, subject to the rule’s publicly held business exception. A paid outside representative can also be an intermediary when that person facilitates or negotiates the contract, communicates with the buyer on your behalf, and is not an employee of your company or its controlling entity. The TEC certificate instructions explain the fields and interest categories.

Look twice at “no interested parties.” You can have no relationship with anyone at city hall and still need to disclose your ownership stake. Form 1295 asks who controls the business; the CIQ asks about relationships with local officials.

I would keep an ownership worksheet with each person’s name and role, then check it before generating a certificate. If an outside adviser contacts the buyer for you, review the intermediary test. Paying someone to type fields is different from paying someone to negotiate with the agency.

Does a renewal or change order need another certificate?

Not every change does. Under TEC Rule 46.4, when no certificate was filed for the existing contract, a change triggers filing if the changed contract needs governing-body action or reaches $1 million. When a certificate was already filed, the triggers include changed interested-party information, governing-body action, or an increase of at least $1 million over the existing contract’s value.

Put renewals through that check. Do not blindly reuse last year’s certificate, and do not assume every routine extension requires a new one. Save the buyer’s answer beside the extension document so your office manager knows why a new filing was or was not prepared.

How to create, sign and submit Form 1295

Create Form 1295 in the Texas Ethics Commission application, print the numbered certificate, sign its declaration, and send it to the contracting agency.

Start at the official TEC Form 1295 filing page and login link. A blank PDF found through a general search will not produce the certificate number the agency needs. You need both the online record and the signed document. The current Form 1295 needs no notary. Its authorized signer makes an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury.

Before opening the application, put the buyer’s exact name and contract ID beside your company ownership worksheet. Ask purchasing for the identifier if the bid number and proposed contract number differ. Guessing creates a second round of work.

1. Create a business account. Select the business filer type, CERT-BUS. CERT-GOV belongs to the government office that acknowledges forms. Use a company-controlled email address; it becomes your filer ID.
2. Follow the account email to establish your password. If an account already exists, recover it before making another. Record who in your office maintains access.
3. Start a new certificate. Enter the contracting business’s full name and location. Choose the correct government entity and use the contract ID supplied by the buyer.
4. Describe the work plainly. “Roof replacement at the district maintenance building” tells the buyer more than “services.” Match the description to the contract you are signing.
5. Enter the interested parties and their interest categories. Review the ownership worksheet rather than copying an old certificate without checking it.
6. Finish the application’s submission steps and download the generated PDF. Verify that it carries the unique certification number and is not marked DRAFT.
7. Print the certificate and fill in the unsworn declaration. Have an authorized agent sign it. TEC also allows a digital signature; use the delivery format the buyer accepts.
8. Deliver the signed certificate to the agency’s named contact or upload location. Save the delivered copy and your receipt in the contract folder.

The TEC filing FAQ covers account recovery, draft certificates and accepted signatures. The agency has 30 days after receiving the disclosure to acknowledge it. Pending status means acknowledgment has not happened; it does not replace your obligation to deliver the signed copy.

The two records I would save

Keep the numbered, signed PDF with its delivery receipt. Purchasing may need the certificate number or proof of when it arrived. A login screenshot shows neither.

I would name the saved file with the agency, contract ID and certificate number, then place the unsigned download in a separate working folder so the office manager assembling the contract can tell which certificate the owner signed without comparing several nearly identical PDFs. Keep the receipt beside it.

What if the name or contract number is wrong?

Once submitted in the application, a certificate cannot simply be edited. TEC directs filers to create a corrected certificate. If the original has already been acknowledged, the replacement description should identify the certificate it supersedes, following the FAQ’s instructions. Send the signed replacement to the buyer and identify which file should be used.

Generate corrections through TEC. Editing the downloaded PDF leaves the online record unchanged, so the buyer could receive a page that disagrees with the certificate it must acknowledge.

Bid Builder helps prepare the repeat company fields and walk through the required form. The official TEC generation and acknowledgment process still matters. A filled form in your company file is preparation; the numbered certificate and delivery record belong to this contract.

When does a vendor need the Texas CIQ form?

A vendor files the CIQ when a local-government business relationship overlaps with specified income, gifts or family relationships under Chapter 176.

The Conflict of Interest Questionnaire concerns relationships with local government officers. It is different from disclosing the owners of your business. A company can need both forms for one contract, and the answers will not be interchangeable.

The official CIQ and its instructions identify the main triggers. One is an employment or business relationship through which the officer or a covered family member receives more than $2,500 in taxable income from the vendor, excluding investment income. Another is covered gifts totaling more than $100. Those tests use the preceding 12 months described in Section 176.003. A covered family relationship is a separate trigger, without a dollar minimum.

The gift exclusions include political contributions and food accepted as a guest. Read the statutory definitions before counting a gift or deciding which relatives are covered; “family member” and “family relationship” have different definitions in Chapter 176.

Ask the owner about these relationships. The estimator measuring pavement may not know that an officer’s family member works for the company. Whoever signs needs those facts before checking “No.”

The deadline can start before bid day

Under Local Government Code Section 176.006, the filing deadline is the seventh business day after the later of the relevant contracting activity or awareness of the disclosable facts. Contracting activity includes starting discussions or submitting a bid or other writing about a potential contract. Changed information also requires an update within seven business days of awareness.

This is why I would review the CIQ when deciding to pursue the job. Waiting for the final price can put the disclosure behind its own clock. Mark a separate deadline if the relationship is already known and contracting discussions have started.

File with the local records administrator or the office the entity designates. Uploading a CIQ somewhere in a vendor profile is not a reason to assume the right office received it. Confirm the required destination, especially if the bid instructions and disclosure instructions name different contacts.

CIQ versus CIS

CIQ is the vendor questionnaire. CIS is the Local Government Officer Conflicts Disclosure Statement. Section 176.003 sets a 5 p.m. deadline for the officer’s CIS. The vendor follows Section 176.006 and the local filing office’s instructions.

The ordinary vendor CIQ has a signature and date, with no notary block. A contractor should not fill in the officer’s CIS just because both documents appear in a downloaded folder. Check the form title before writing.

Some buyers request a CIQ from every bidder; others request it only when a relationship triggers disclosure. Follow the return instructions. If you have no reportable relationship, ask how the buyer wants that documented instead of filling the officer-name field with a guess.

Carry forward the vendor name. Review the relationship answers again, especially when the buyer has a new purchasing officer or your company has hired someone related to a local official since its last bid, because the facts behind an earlier “No” may have changed even though the form has not.

House Bill 89 and the Chapter 2271 Israel verification

Chapter 2271 requires covered companies to verify that they do not boycott Israel and will not do so during the contract term.

Buyers still use “House Bill 89 verification” as a form title. The current citation is Government Code Sections 2271.001 and 2271.002, not the original Chapter 2270 number. The law applies to covered companies with 10 or more full-time employees and contracts worth $100,000 or more paid wholly or partly from the buyer’s public funds. Sole proprietorships are excluded from the company definition.

The statement belongs in the contract when the law applies. A buyer can collect its verification page with the bid, so inspect the return instructions. There is no separate TEC account for this form, and Chapter 2271 does not require a notary.

An office assistant can enter the company name. The authorized signer needs to read the entire verification, including the promise about conduct during the contract. A signature approves more than the information typed into the blanks.

Where the form offers a non-applicability choice, use it when the facts support it. Signing an unqualified verification makes the stated promise even if your company falls below the employee threshold. On a combined certification page, check which other promises the same signature covers.

The common mistake is treating “HB 89” as a universal Texas vendor registration. It is a contract verification with defined coverage. Resolve an incorrect checkbox or missing exemption option with purchasing before signing the page.

Energy-company boycott verification: use Chapter 2276

The energy-boycott contract verification is in Government Code Chapter 2276 in 2026, following its renumbering from Chapter 2274 in September 2023.

A search for “Texas energy company boycott verification 2274” can therefore lead to an older document. Chapter 2276 carries the current requirement: a covered company verifies that it does not boycott energy companies and will not during the contract term. The chapter uses the 10-full-time-employee and $100,000 tests and excludes sole proprietorships.

There was also a 2026 court challenge. In its June 3 letter on the SB 13 injunction, the Attorney General’s Public Finance Division reported that the Fifth Circuit stayed the injunction pending appeal on May 29 and that the division would resume enforcement. That was a temporary appellate order, not a final ruling on the law. If your packet references the earlier suspension, ask purchasing for its current instruction.

This page goes to the buyer, at the stage required by its solicitation or contract. The statute does not require notarization. Section 2276.002(c) contains an exception tied to a government’s financial duties; that is an agency determination, not a box an ordinary trade contractor should claim on its own.

For an electrical shop, the form title can be misleading. The question is not whether you install solar equipment or buy a particular brand of generator. Read the defined conduct referenced by the statute and the verification you are being asked to make. If company policy creates a concern, resolve that wording before the owner signs.

If a packet still cites the old chapter, ask purchasing whether it will issue a corrected page. Keep the written answer beside the form for whoever assembles the response.

Firearm-entity verification under Chapter 2274

Covered companies verify under Chapter 2274 that they have no discriminatory firearm-industry policy and will not discriminate during the contract term.

Government Code Section 2274.002 uses at least 10 full-time employees and a contract value of at least $100,000, paid wholly or partly from public funds. The definition of company excludes sole proprietorships. The chapter addresses discrimination against firearm entities or firearm trade associations, with defined exclusions for certain lawful or ordinary business decisions.

This is separate from the energy verification even if the packet puts both on one sheet. It also differs from a jobsite weapons policy. A paving contractor should read the company’s business-policy statement being certified rather than answering based on where employees may carry a firearm.

The statute contains exceptions for a buyer using a sole-source provider or receiving no bids from a company able to give the verification. Those decisions belong to the agency. They are not a contractor’s substitute for a truthful signature.

Return the buyer’s verification where instructed. Chapter 2274 does not itself call for notarization. If the agency has packaged the statement inside a notarized affidavit, account for that separate execution instruction.

A non-applicability box beside the Israel statement may not cover the firearm statement farther down. Check each statement against its signature or initials line. The guide to bid signatures and notary pages explains how to review combined pages.

Small-company exemptions and the $100,000 test

For the three verification chapters, a covered company must meet both the 10-full-time-employee threshold and the $100,000 public-contract threshold before the requirement applies.

Exactly 10 and exactly $100,000 meet those tests. Fewer than 10 full-time employees or a value below $100,000 falls outside these provisions. That does not erase other forms in the packet.

These are illustrative filing decisions, assuming an ordinary goods-or-services contract and no special statutory exception:

Business and proposed contract	Israel, energy and firearm verification coverage	Next paperwork step
HVAC LLC, 8 full-time employees, $184,650 contract	Employee threshold is not met	Use the buyer’s non-applicability procedure
Janitorial corporation, 14 full-time employees, $96,420 contract	Value threshold is not met	Document the contract value used
Roofing LLC, 10 full-time employees, $100,000 contract	Both thresholds are met	Review and provide the applicable verifications
Sole proprietor, 12 full-time employees, $207,800 contract	Sole proprietorship is excluded from these company definitions	Identify legal structure accurately
One-owner LLC, 12 full-time employees, $207,800 contract	One owner does not make an LLC a sole proprietorship	Evaluate as the contracting LLC

Count the company’s full-time employees, not just the crew assigned to the job. A branch sending four technicians does not become a four-employee company. If a parent or affiliate complicates the definition, put that question to the buyer with your legal structure stated plainly.

Use the contract value, not the monthly invoice. For example, $8,740 of cleaning each month for 12 months is $104,880, above the $100,000 threshold. Ask purchasing how it values a contract with unclear options or caps.

I would save the basis for non-applicability, including the date of the employee count and the contract value used. That gives the next person reviewing the packet something better than an unexplained “N/A.” Revisit it if the award scope changes.

Most small contractors should use the buyer’s exemption choice or a written clarification. Crossing out a paragraph and hoping purchasing agrees is a poor way to settle a question before bid opening.

Felony-conviction notification for Texas school contracts

Education Code Section 44.034 requires advance notice when a school contractor, or an owner or operator of its business, has a felony conviction.

The notice must include a general description of the conduct behind the conviction. A district can terminate a contract for failure to give the required notice or for misrepresenting the conduct. The section excludes publicly held corporations. It does not provide the under-10-employee or under-$100,000 exclusions used by the verification laws. Read Education Code Section 44.034 before assuming a small school job is exempt.

Use the district’s felony-conviction notification form if one is supplied. Follow its bid deadline, while recognizing that the statute requires advance notice before entering the contract. There is no statewide notary requirement in Section 44.034; inspect any affidavit language the district adds.

This disclosure concerns the person contracting or the business’s owners or operators. It should not be mistaken for satisfying every separate requirement about employees working on a campus. A roofing superintendent’s site-access paperwork and the company’s owner disclosure can be different tasks.

Send this page to the owner. A privately owned roofing corporation does not qualify for the publicly held corporation exception just because its name ends in “Inc.”

If disclosure is needed, answer what the form asks and use its attachment procedure. Avoid an unsigned explanation tucked behind unrelated reference sheets. Label the attachment with the solicitation number and the form it supports so purchasing can connect the two.

Owners moving into district work can use the school district bidding guide for the wider buying process.

The Texas HUB subcontracting plan changed in 2026

State solicitations requiring a subcontracting plan now use the Comptroller’s VetHUB procedures, with revised rules effective May 12, 2026 and a current form revised June 2026.

In our records, 26.3% of 118 Texas packets that address HUB rules required a HUB subcontracting plan. The sample is concentrated in state agencies and universities and spans more than the new 2026 procedures.

Government Code Sections 2161.251 and 2161.252 set the $100,000 expected-value threshold for state-agency subcontracting review. When the agency identifies probable subcontracting opportunities and requires a plan, the response must contain one to be responsive. “Responsive” means the bid meets the required submission terms.

What changed after 2025?

The Comptroller’s current VetHUB FAQ describes May 2026 rules replacing emergency rules effective December 2, 2025. The program now centers on qualifying service-disabled-veteran ownership. Old assumptions about certification based on race or sex should not be carried into a new plan.

The current procedures use self-performance or good-faith subcontracting efforts. For ordinary subcontracting outreach, the FAQ calls for notifying two certified VetHUBs for each opportunity; the old trade-association notification requirement was discontinued. Retire the old outreach checklist.

How to handle the current form

Open the Comptroller’s State of Texas Subcontracting Plan, revision 6/26, alongside the solicitation. Its self-performing route uses the respondent information, declaration and signed affirmation on the first two pages. The subcontracting route calls for identifying opportunities and documenting the applicable good-faith process. The supplied form has signature affirmations, not notary blocks.

Start with the estimate. A cleaning company using its own day porters but hiring a separate floor-refinishing crew has outside work to disclose. Sending the agency one invoice does not make the job self-performed. The form includes contracted workers in its subcontractor definition.

For the ordinary outreach route, give each notified firm at least seven business days to respond, excluding weekends and state holidays. Set that response date early enough to finish your plan before the agency’s bid deadline. Attach the notices and responses as the form requires. The form also provides a mentor-protégé route for a qualifying portion of work; use that only when the required relationship exists.

Here is how I would organize the supporting material:

• One worksheet matching subcontracted scopes to the estimate, such as striping, irrigation repair or overnight floor refinishing.
• A record of the certified firms considered for each scope and the date the directory was reviewed.
• The exact notice sent, with enough job information for a subcontractor to price its portion.
• Responses and selection information filed under the same scope name used in the plan.

“I am not HUB-certified” is not a reason to omit a required plan. Neither is “we do all the work.” The form has a route for self-performance, and that route still requires submission.

I would skip a state solicitation if the required outreach cannot be done honestly within the remaining time and the agency offers no acceptable solution. A plan assembled from backdated notices is not a shortcut worth taking. Ask the agency’s coordinator for clarification or a courtesy review early enough to act on the answer.

After award, keep the approved plan in the job file where the person scheduling crews can find it, because replacing a subcontractor or bringing outside labor onto a job you promised to self-perform requires agency approval of the plan change before you make that move. The signed form says so.

Non-collusion affidavits and the notary block

A non-collusion affidavit certifies independent bidding, and the buyer’s supplied form determines whether your authorized signer must appear before a notary.

This page concerns bid conduct: agreements about pricing, keeping competitors from bidding, or other prohibited coordination. Do not treat it as another company-information sheet. The signer needs to understand what the estimate team did and what the affidavit says.

For a specific Texas example, Taylor County’s Expo Center Chiller Replacement packet, RFP 2025-501, includes Attachment O-2, a non-collusion affidavit with an oath and notary block. Its adjoining non-collusion declaration references Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 15.01. This is a historical packet example, not an open solicitation or a statewide form mandate.

Use the affidavit supplied with your current bid. Enter the company’s name and the authorized signer’s capacity. Leave the notary’s certificate fields for the notary, and arrange the required signing procedure before the final upload. Then inspect the scan: the seal, date and signature need to be readable.

Compare the entire affidavit with the current packet before signing. Two counties can use similar headings but different sworn statements. An old signed page does not satisfy a new statement merely because the company name matches.

The mistake I would watch for is a company stamp where the form asks for the individual’s signature. A typed business name does not tell the buyer which authorized person made the sworn statement. Similarly, a signature on the main bid page does not necessarily sign an attached affidavit.

When an addendum replaces the affidavit, send the new page to the signer with the bid number and signing deadline, and mark the old file as superseded so the person merging the response cannot accidentally put yesterday’s sworn statement back into the packet. Open the final PDF before sending.

IRS Form W-9 and the company name problem

Form W-9 gives the buyer your taxpayer name and identification number; it goes to the requester and does not need a notary.

The IRS Form W-9 and instructions direct a sole proprietor to put the individual’s tax-return name on line 1 and the trade name on line 2. A disregarded entity generally uses its owner’s name on line 1 and the disregarded entity’s name on line 2. The taxpayer identification number must match the correct name.

The truck-door name is not enough. A disregarded LLC can be the bidder while its owner belongs on W-9 line 1. Do not change the W-9 just to make every page look identical. Have your tax preparer resolve any doubt about the correct taxpayer.

A W-9 can be requested during vendor setup or with the response. Follow the agency’s delivery instructions, including any separate payment-office upload. The form is not filed with the IRS by the contractor as part of bidding.

I would keep an approved W-9 in the company file and replace it when the underlying information changes. Store the tax classification beside it. That prevents a new office assistant from guessing between the LLC and sole-proprietor boxes on a Friday afternoon.

Bid Builder’s Bid Passport is designed for this repeat information: your W-9 and company records are on hand for the next packet. Review the saved copy when your entity or address changes.

Send taxpayer information through the buyer’s designated channel. Avoid placing a W-9 in a broadly shared plan-holders folder or attaching it to a general question that purchasing may circulate to every bidder. Label the file so the payment office can identify the vendor without opening unrelated bid attachments.

A filled-in example for a Temple HVAC company

An eight-employee HVAC LLC bidding $184,650 can fall outside the three verification laws while still needing Form 1295 for a governing-body-approved contract.

For this illustration, Cedar Loop Mechanical LLC is an eight-person Temple HVAC company bidding an RTU replacement for a Texas school district. Its two owners hold 70% and 30%. It has eight full-time employees, no reportable CIQ relationship and no felony conviction requiring notice. The district’s assumed packet requires certain certifications with the bid and Form 1295 from the selected contractor before contract execution.

The work is priced at $184,650. Both owners exceed the Form 1295 ownership threshold. The company misses the employee threshold for the Israel, energy and firearm verifications even though the contract exceeds $100,000. The school board’s required action supplies a separate Form 1295 trigger.

Page or field	Entry or decision in this illustration	What to verify before sending
Bidder name	Cedar Loop Mechanical LLC	Same contracting entity throughout the packet
Form 1295 description	RTU replacement at district maintenance building	Buyer’s exact contract ID and entity name
Form 1295 interested parties	Both owners, identified by their legal names	Any additional officer or intermediary disclosure
CIQ	No reportable relationship, documented as buyer instructs	Owner reviewed relationships with this district
Three verification forms	Employee-threshold non-applicability	Buyer accepts its stated exemption procedure
Felony notice	No reportable conviction under assumed facts	Owners or operators reviewed the statement
Subcontracting plan	Follow this district’s packet	Do not impose a state-agency HSP automatically
W-9	Company tax preparer’s approved name and classification	Taxpayer name and number match

I would organize the work on a planning calendar like this. These are recommended preparation days, not statutory deadlines:

Workday	Owner or office task	Result to save
Day 1	Identify required return pages and contract-stage pages	Form list with each destination and due date
Day 2	Review ownership, relationships and employee count	Approved facts for the disclosures
Day 3	Submit any questions about non-applicability or old form language	Written question and buyer’s response
Day 4	Fill required pages and arrange any notary signing	Signed documents ready for packet assembly
Before submission	Compare final forms with current addenda	Final bid copies and submission receipt
If selected	Generate and deliver required Form 1295 with contracting documents	Numbered signed certificate and delivery record

The employee exemption saves this company from making three inapplicable statutory verifications. It does not erase the school’s return checklist. If the district supplies a single certifications page with a small-company option, the owner selects that option and signs the page as instructed.

Now change one fact: the LLC has 12 full-time employees at contracting. The three verification decisions need a fresh review. The bid value and ownership have not changed, but the old employee-count answer no longer fits. This is the reason I would date the company worksheet instead of calling it permanent.

What to do with old forms, missing pages and conflicting instructions

Resolve a Texas form conflict with the named purchasing contact before submission, and save the written answer beside the page it addresses.

Old language survives in bid packets. The historical Taylor County chiller packet, for example, asks for a notarized Form 1295 even though the current statute uses an unsworn declaration. That is a reason to ask a focused question, not to assume the current buyer wants the old execution method or will accept your silent correction.

The cited statutory histories show no 2025 change to these Form 1295, CIQ or verification thresholds. The subcontracting plan changed in 2026, and the energy-verification litigation also needs attention. A new packet cover date does not prove every attachment is current.

Here is sample wording for a clarification request. Replace the bracketed details; do not send a general demand for legal advice:

Subject: [Solicitation number], clarification of verification page [number]

Our bidder is [legal name], an LLC with [number] full-time employees. Page [number] requires the Chapter 2271 verification but has no non-applicability choice. Please confirm how a company below the employee threshold should return this page. Should we use an agency exemption form or provide a signed explanation with the response?

Use the solicitation’s designated question channel. If the buyer issues an addendum, check that the revised page reaches the person assembling your bid. A reply sitting only in the owner’s phone does not help the office manager working from yesterday’s downloads.

If a required form is discovered missing after submission, tell purchasing promptly. Acceptance after opening is not assured. Form 1295 has a specific contract-stage rule: Section 2252.908(f-1), added in 2023, makes an entered contract voidable for a missing disclosure only after written notice and failure to file by the tenth business day after receipt. That provision does not give you permission to ignore a bid’s return checklist. The guide to non-responsive bids explains why some defects can stop evaluation even when your number is low.

I would finish by opening each signed file, not just looking at filenames. Check the solicitation number, whether the page is the current version, and whether the signature survived the PDF merge. Then save exactly what was sent. That copy is the starting point if the buyer asks about a missing page.

Texas forms in Bid Builder

Bid Builder reduces repeat typing and guides the form-by-form work, while Bid Team handles the paperwork with owners who want that work off their plate.

For an owner who still reviews and submits bids, I would start with Bid Builder for Texas public bids. Bid Board handles finding the work and keeping bid papers and addenda together. Builder adds the packet preparation that a Texas forms problem calls for.

Here is what that means on the pages covered here:

• Your company file, the Bid Passport, holds the W-9, licenses and other repeat records, so each packet does not start with an empty folder.
• Bid Builder fills repeat company information and takes you step by step through the forms the buyer wants. You review the ownership facts and the statements you are signing.
• Bid papers and addenda sit with the opportunity, so a replacement verification page can be checked against the packet you are preparing.
• You can text a bid expert when a form’s instruction or signature block stops you. That gives you help framing a precise question for the buyer when clarification is needed.
• We open your first two bid-site accounts for you. The TEC certificate still follows its own official filing process.
• With Bid Team’s done-with-you paperwork help, Rafael’s team plans each bid with you and handles the forms, addenda and notary-page coordination on agreed dates. You make the final call on your number, you sign and you send.

The first packet is the slow one. On the next bid, your W-9 and portal access are already in place. Spend that time reviewing the ownership or relationship facts that changed and getting the contract-specific pages signed.

Start your next Texas packet with a company file you can use again.