NIGP 85034: Cotton Staple, Bales and Batts

NIGP 85034 Cotton Staple, Bales And Batts is an Item code covering raw and processed cotton materials—ginned cotton, cotton batting, fiberfill, and cotton waste—that state and local governments procure for institutional and operational use. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is the dominant buyer under this code, soliciting cotton and cotton-derived materials for offender and employee clothing, institutional furnishings, and facility operations across multiple correctional institutions. Recent activity shows TDCJ issuing successive RFQs and RFBs for individual cotton product lines (ginned cotton, cotton batting, fiberfill batting) and mixed textile commodity bundles that include cotton staple alongside synthetic fibers and piece goods. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Statewide Procurement Division has also issued competitive IFBs bundling cotton batting and fiberfill with broader textile categories for statewide institutional use, with detailed ASTM and AATCC testing specifications and firm fixed pricing required through May 31, 2030 with four renewal options.

All recent opportunities originate in Texas. TDCJ solicitations issued in August and June 2026 (IW261352 for cotton, IW251541 for cotton batting, IW259789 for ginned cotton, and IW252451 for fiberfill batting) required electronic submission through the TDCJ Procurement Portal with response deadlines between June 3 and September 1, 2026. The Texas Comptroller's June 2026 IFB 304T-26-850A2 specified 39 line items with expected quantities ranging from 3,000 to 16,000,000 units depending on product type, delivery to TDCJ facilities in Gatesville, Huntsville, Lamesa, Abilene, and Dayton, and mandatory certified laboratory testing reports from domestic U.S.-based labs dated no earlier than 12 months prior to posting. All pricing submissions required incorporation of a 1.5% Texas SmartBuy administrative fee, and contractors must carry commercial general liability insurance of $500,000 per occurrence.