New agreement expands access to US public sector contracts

An agreement between the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and the Alliance for Innovation (AFI) aims to simplify cooperative purchasing for local governments by giving member agencies access to more than 500 competitively awarded contracts through a single interlocal agreement.

Powered by Civic Marketplace, the arrangement removes the need for multiple agreements while maintaining compliance with applicable procurement requirements.

The reciprocal agreement brings together the contract portfolios of NCTCOG’s TXShare programme and AFI, covering technology, infrastructure, public safety, water and utilities, and professional services. It also extends to the East Texas Council of Governments’ COGWORKS programme, broadening access for rural communities, school districts and special districts nationwide.

Todd Little, Executive Director of NCTCOG, said the agreement removes longstanding administrative barriers between cooperative purchasing programmes.

“For too long, local governments have had to choose between cooperative programs, navigating separate agreements, separate compliance processes, and separate relationships,” said Little. “This agreement tears that wall down.”

The initiative reflects a broader shift towards more connected procurement ecosystems, where agencies can identify and access existing contracts rather than duplicating procurement efforts.

Al Hleileh, Co-Founder and CEO of Civic Marketplace, said: “Cooperative purchasing has long been fragmented by geography, paperwork, and disconnected systems. By bringing AFI and TXShare together on a shared marketplace, we’re creating an ecosystem where agencies have greater choice, suppliers have greater reach, and communities get faster access to proven solutions.”

The announcement reinforces findings from the City Innovation Network’s recent whitepaper, Rethinking public procurement: How cities are building new pathways for innovation, which concludes that successful procurement increasingly depends on collaboration beyond individual jurisdictions. Rather than each agency conducting its own market discovery and procurement processes, cooperative purchasing, shared contract vehicles and collective market intelligence are emerging as practical mechanisms to reduce duplication and accelerate the adoption of proven solutions.

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