SECTION 20.112. Fees

(a) A government agency may recover the direct cost of providing the public access only by charging a fee for downloading procurement notices and bid or proposal solicitation packages posted on the ESBD. For state agencies, these fees may not exceed the state agency's published rate for open records requests.

(b) The comptroller and other state agencies may not charge a fee designed to recover the cost of preparing and gathering the information that is published in the ESBD. These costs are considered part of a procuring agency's responsibility to publicly inform potential bidders or respondents of its procurement contract opportunities.

(c) A non-governmental entity may use information posted in the ESBD in providing a service that is more than only the downloading of information from the business daily, including a service by which appropriate bidders or respondents are matched with information that is relevant to those bidders or respondents, and may charge a lawful fee that the entity considers appropriate for the service.

Source Note: The provisions of this §20.112 adopted to be effective January 24, 2017, 42 TexReg 229