Jim Wells County awards GrantWorks grant-writing contract for Colonial Fund application, allows price negotiation

Jim Wells County Commissioners Court voted Dec. 4, 2025, to award the county's 2026 Colonial Fund grant-writing contract to GrantWorks, after the scoring committee recommended the sole submission. The court approved the award as amended to allow staff to negotiate administrative fees and present any amended cost analysis for final approval before the contract is signed.

The item was introduced under agenda item 4 as a request to open sealed proposals for grant pre-application, application and implementation services for the county's Colonial Fund construction grant program administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Speaker 1 told the court the county had received a single proposal from GrantWorks and read the pricing structure listed in the submission, which included three fee brackets tied to grant size as stated on the record.

During discussion, court counsel (Speaker 8) advised that the court could vote to award the contract "subject to final negotiation of the compensation for the applicant," which preserves the court's ability to negotiate a lower administrative fee before signing. Speaker 7 moved to amend the award to permit negotiation of administrative costs; the amendment was seconded and, after brief discussion that a refusal to negotiate would leave the original price in place, the court voted in favor and the motion carried.

Speaker 1 emphasized the contract would not be signed until there was certainty about the final compensation and staff had provided any amended cost analysis. The court also noted the application deadline for the grant program and the urgency that prompted expedited handling: the grant pre-application was due Jan. 8, 2026.

What happens next: staff may negotiate administrative costs with GrantWorks and return any amended cost analysis to the court for formal approval and signature. The scoring committee's recommendation and the court's amended award were the only formal actions taken on the grant-writing RFP at this session.