§ 114.012.Exclusive Remedy

Texas has two systems for contract claims against the state. This section keeps a claimant from using both.

A claim to which this chapter applies may not be brought under Chapter 2260 of the Government Code against the state or a unit of state government as that chapter defines it.

Chapter 2260 is the administrative route. It runs through negotiation and a contested case process rather than a lawsuit, and it is where contract claims against the state went before this chapter existed.

The division is by claim type, not by choice. A construction or engineering claim over $250,000 belongs here; other contract claims stay with the administrative process.

The exclusivity runs one way. This section bars the administrative route for claims within this chapter and says nothing about claims outside it.

Without the rule a claimant could run both tracks, taking the administrative process for its informality and the courthouse for its remedies.

The threshold in Section 114.002 therefore does double duty: it decides who may sue, and it decides who must use the other system.

The two systems differ in kind, not only in forum. The Government Code process runs through negotiation and an administrative contested case; this chapter runs through a district court under the rules of civil procedure.

Claim splitting is closed off as well. A claimant cannot carve a covered claim into pieces and take the smaller ones to the administrative route while suing on the rest.