General Services Commission v. Little-Tex Insulation Co.

Surely, when the State authorizes its various agencies to contract with private parties, it intends those contracts to be binding and enforceable. Otherwise, of course, there is no contract.1 Thus, by authorizing its agencies to enter into contracts, the State waives its immunity from both liability and suit for breach of contract claims.2 There is no other sensible way to read statutes permitting state agencies to contract. This reasoning is every bit as apt as it was in Kerrville State Hospital v. Fernandez and City of La Porte v. Barfield, where we concluded that sovereign immunity has…