(1) Any public procurement unit may participate in, sponsor, conduct, or administer a cooperative purchasing agreement for the procurement of any supplies, services, technology information, or construction with one or more public procurement units in accordance with an agreement entered into between the participants. Such cooperative purchasing may include, but is not limited to, joint or multi-party contracts between public procurement units and open-ended state public procurement unit contracts which shall be made available to local public procurement units, except as provided in Section 11-35-4820 or except as may otherwise be limited by the appropriate chief procurement officer.

(2) Without limiting other requirements of this code, all cooperative purchasing with other states conducted under this article must be through contracts awarded through full and open competition, including use of source selection methods substantially equivalent to those specified in Article 5 and, as applicable, Article 9 of this code, and consistent with the requirements of Section 11-35-2730 (Assuring Competition).

(3) The offices of the chief procurement officers, and any other purchasing agency of this State, may participate in cooperative purchasing as provided in Section 11-35-4810(1) only if the appropriate chief procurement officer determines in writing: (i) that participation is in the interest of the State, (ii) that the procurement will conform to subsection (2), if applicable, and (iii) that any entities responsible for the management and administration of the procurement, other than another state's central procurement office, have in place appropriate and adequate internal controls to provide safeguards for the maintenance of a procurement system of quality and integrity with clearly defined rules for ethical behavior on the part of all persons engaged in the public procurement process. In making his determination, the chief procurement officer shall evaluate and consider the impact on South Carolina businesses.

(4) Thirty days' prior notice of a proposed multistate solicitation must be provided in accordance with Section 11-35-1520(3). Supplies acquired pursuant to such contracts may be distributed only through vendors with an in-state office, as defined in Section 11-35-1524(A)(6), when available; provided, however, that the provisions of this paragraph do not apply to public institutions of higher learning if the institution demonstrates a cost savings to the appropriate chief procurement officer in regard to the multistate solicitation and procurement.

HISTORY: 1981 Act No. 148, Section 1; 1997 Act No. 153, Section 1; 2011 Act No. 74, Pt V, Section 8, eff August 1, 2011; 2019 Act No. 41 (S.530), Section 66, eff May 13, 2019.

Editor's Note

2019 Act No. 41, Section 80, provides as follows:

"SECTION 80. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies to solicitations issued after that date."

Effect of Amendment

The 2011 amendment in the second undesignated paragraph substituted "days'" for "days", substituted "must" for "shall", and added the exception at the end relating to demonstrated cost savings.

2019 Act No. 41, Section 66, rewrote the section, providing that certain cooperative purchasing with other states must be through contracts awarded through full and open competition.