Any Texas state-supported senior college or university may perform research

— It is TxDOT’s policy that research projects be open to competition among all Texas state-supported senior colleges, universities, and research agencies, referred to collectively in this manual as Universities, that have an interest and expertise in a specific project.

The Research and Technology Implementation Division

- maintains a list of Texas state-supported universities who have named research liaisons, and sends requests for proposals (RFPs) and other program announcements to those liaisons. Joint projects, in which two or more universities pool expertise on a single project, are encouraged.

Other Texas state and local agencies

— Texas state and local agencies may conduct projects for which they have expertise, if the expertise is not otherwise available at a Texas state-supported university.

Federal agencies

— Federal agencies such as USGS may conduct research projects for TxDOT.

Private firms and other private entities

— Private sources are rarely requested to conduct research projects for TxDOT. The Texas Legislature provided for the development of the cooperative programs between TxDOT and Texas state-supported Universities. The intent was to develop a program that would benefit the State of Texas as a whole through the strengthening of both TxDOT and the participating Universities. Therefore, it has been TxDOT policy to honor the intent of the Legislature and restrict the majority of the program to our state-supported University partners.