Section 10.254 - Available Sanctions(a) The available sanctions, in order of increasing severity, are: (2) prohibition from participating in a specified agreement, whether the agreement was previously awarded or to be awarded or whether funds under the agreement have been paid or are to be paid;(3) a limit on the contract amount or amount of funds that may be awarded or paid to the entity for a period of not more than 60 months; or(4) debarment of the entity for a period of not more than 60 months.(b) Relating to an engineering, architectural, or surveying service contract, the executive director may remove a person's or a firm's precertification provided under § 9.33 of this title (relating to Precertification), and prohibit the person or firm from reapplying for precertification for the period set by the executive director, if a ground for removal of precertification under § 10.101 of this chapter (relating to Required Conduct) exists.(c) Before imposing a sanction, the executive director will consider the following factors: (1) the seriousness and willfulness of the act or omission;(2) whether the entity has committed similar acts or omissions and if so, when those acts or omissions were committed;(3) whether the entity, or a third party on behalf of the entity, has fully compensated the department for any damages suffered by the department as a result of the entity's acts or omissions; and(4) any mitigating factors.(d) For the purposes of subsection (c)(4) of this section, the following are mitigating factors: (1) the entity's adoption and enforcement of an internal ethics and compliance program that satisfies the requirements of § 10.51 of this chapter (relating to Internal Ethics and Compliance Program);(2) the entity's cooperation with the department in the investigation of ethical violations, including the provision of a full and complete account of the entity's involvement; or(3) the entity's disassociation from individuals and firms that have been involved in the ethical violation.(e) The removal a person's or a firm's precertification under subsection (b) of this section does not prevent that person or firm from participating in agreements with the department in a capacity that does not require precertification unless the executive director imposes a suspension under § 10.253(b) of this subchapter (relating to Notice of Sanction; Suspension).(f) If an entity commits multiple violations arising out of separate occurrences, the executive director may impose multiple sanctions.43 Tex. Admin. Code § 10.254
The provisions of this §10.254 adopted to be effective January 6, 2011, 35 TexReg 11951; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 43, Number 37, September 14, 2018, TexReg 6003, eff. 9/19/2018