A Columbia-based company was awarded more than $550,000 to supply T-shirts and other active wear to city departments over the next three years. Each T-shirt costs about $5.

The funds were allocated by the Board of Estimates in two separate awards – $115,580 approved last June 4, and $440,000 approved last week.

Both contracts went to Nightmare Graphics, a custom screen printing and embroidery company that has long been the city’s chief casual apparel supplier.

The second award was made because the first award gave “an incorrect estimation” of the cost of the T-shirts “based upon the bid amount rather than the amount of usage over a three-year initial term” of the contract, according to board records.

Distributed to Kids, City Employees

The latest award was unanimously approved by the five-member board, which includes Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young. Rawlings-Blake’s vote was made in her absence by Finance Department Director Henry J. Raymond.

Most of the funds will be spent by the Department of Recreation and Parks, which hands out free T-shirts to youths participating in sports, city camps and park events. The agency also distributes shirts and caps for rec center employees to wear.

The new contract will also supply orange T-shirts for city sanitation workers, polo shirts for Police Department officers in evidence control and communications, and polo shirts for Fire Department recruits at the training academy. (Uniforms for police and fire personnel come out of a separate budget.)

The T-shirt award is known as a “requirements contract” in which the city estimates its future needs and pays the supplier on an as-needed basis.

If the city’s apparel costs go beyond the awarded amount, the purchasing department typically goes before the board with a new request.