South Carolina Administrative Code

19-410.8. Fair and Equitable Distribution. A. The State Agency shall provide for a fair and equitable distribution of available surplus property to the eligible donees in the State based upon their relative need and resources and their ability to utilize the property in their pro…

19-410.9. Eligibility. A. Scope. The State Agency procedures for determining the eligibility of public agencies and non-profit educational and public health institutions and organizations in the State shall be those standards and guidelines as set forth in FPMR 101-44.207. B. Det…

19-415. INSURANCE RESERVE FUNDS. (Statutory Authority: 1976 Code § 1-11-140)

19-415.1. Authority for Tort Liability Insurance—Information Service. The State Budget and Control Board, through the Office of General Services, is authorized to provide insurance for personnel employed by the State, its departments, agencies, institutions, commissions or boards…

19-415.2. Nature, Terms and Scope of Insurance Policies. A. The nature, terms and scope of the Insurance Reserve Funds’ tort liability is declared in the policy entitled ‘‘General Liability Policy.’’ This policy may be revised at the discretion of the Office of General Services. …

19-415.3. General Liability Policy. Declarations Item 1 Insured: Employees including elective or appointive executive officers or members of the board of trustees, directors or governors of public bodies of the State of South Carolina (or any subdivision thereof) to whom a certif…

19-415.4. Medical Employee Professional Liability Insurance. Definitions When used in reference to this insurance ‘‘damages’’ means all damages, including damages for death, which are payable because of injury to which this insurance applies. ‘‘Insured’’ means any person qualifyi…

19-415.5. Automobile Liability Certificates of Insurance.

19-415.6. Insurance Reserve Fund. All hospitals which are insured by the State Budget and Control Board through the Insurance Reserve Fund under a General Liability or Professional Liability Insurance Policy shall develop and implement a program providing for risk management and …

19-445. CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE. (Statutory Authority: 1976 Code Section 11-35-10 et seq., and 2019 Act No. 41, Section 76.) Editor’s Note 2019 Act No. 41 (S.530), § 76, directed the State Fiscal Accountability Authority to publish interim regulations, which were published …

19-445.2000. State Procurement Regulations. A. General. These Regulations issued by the South Carolina State Fiscal Accountability Authority, hereafter referred to as the board, establish policies, procedures, and guidelines relating to the procurement, management, control, and d…

19-445.2005. Internal Procurement Procedures; Procurement Records. A. Procedures Manual. All governmental bodies shall develop and maintain an internal procurement procedures manual and forward a copy, and any revisions, of such to the Materials Management Officer. Upon receipt o…

19-445.2010. Disclosure of Procurement Information. A. Reserved. B. Prior to the issuance of an award or notification of intent to award, whichever is earlier, state personnel involved in an acquisition shall forward or refer all requests for information regarding the procurement…

19-445.2015. Unauthorized or Illegal Procurements. A. Decision to Ratify or Declare Void (1) Upon discovering after award either (a) that a person lacking actual authority has made an unauthorized award or modification of a contract or (b) that a contract award or modification is…

19-445.2017. Pre-solicitation Procedures. A. General. (1) This regulation prescribes best practices for pre-solicitation activities in acquisitions of supplies, services, or information technology, including acquisition planning, market research, and exchanges with industry. Noth…

19-445.2020. Certification. A. Review Procedures. (1) Unless otherwise authorized by statute, any governmental body that desires to make direct agency procurements in excess of $50,000.00, shall contact the Materials Management Officer in writing to request certification in any a…

19-445.2022. Temporary Suspension of Authority; Audit. A. Suspension of Authority. Within his area of authority, the appropriate chief procurement officer may temporarily suspend a governmental body’s power to conduct all, any type of, or any value of procurements if the chief pr…

19-445.2025. Authority to Contract for Certain Services; Definitions. A. Consultant Services. (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, consultant services shall be defined as follows: An individual, partnership, corporation or any other legally established organization performi…

19-445.2027. Electronic Commerce. A. ‘‘Electronic commerce’’ means electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions in- cluding electronic mail or messaging, World Wide Web technology, electronic bulletin boards, purchase cards, electronic funds transfer, and electro…

19-445.2030. Competitive Sealed Bidding—The Invitation for Bids. A. The invitation for bids shall be used to initiate a competitive sealed bid procurement and shall include the following, as applicable: (1) instructions and information to bidders concerning the bid submission req…

19-445.2040. The Official State Government Publication. The name of the official state government publication shall be known as the ‘‘South Carolina Business Opportunities.’’ It shall be published by the Materials Management Office at least weekly. The purpose is to provide a lis…

19-445.2042. Pre-Bid Conferences. A. Pre-bid conferences may be conducted. The conference should be held long enough after the Invitation for Bids has been issued to allow bidders to become familiar with it, but sufficiently before bid opening to allow consideration of the confer…

19-445.2045. Receipt, Safeguarding, and Disposition of Bids. A. Procedures Prior to Bid Opening. All bids (including modifications) received prior to the time of opening shall be kept secure and, except as provided in subsection B below, unopened. Necessary precautions shall be t…

19-445.2050. Bid Opening. A. Procedures. The procurement officer of the governmental body or his designee shall decide when the time set for bid opening has arrived, and shall so declare to those present. In the presence of one or more state witnesses, he shall then personally an…

19-445.2055. Bid Acceptance and Bid Evaluation. When necessary for the best interest of the State, bid criteria to determine acceptability may include inspection, testing, quality, workmanship, delivery and suitability for a particular purpose. Those criteria that will affect the…

19-445.2065. Rejection of Bids. A. Unless there is a compelling reason to reject one or more bids, award will be made to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. Every effort shall be made to anticipate changes in a requirement prior to the date of opening and to notify all …

19-445.2070. Rejection of Individual Bids. A. General Application. Any bid which fails to conform to the essential requirements of the invitation for bids shall be rejected. B. Alternate Bids. Any bid which does not conform to the specifications contained or referenced in the inv…

19-445.2075. All or None Qualifications. Unless the invitation for bids so provides, a bid is not rendered nonresponsive by the fact that the bidder specifies that award will be accepted only on all, or a specified group, of the items included in the invitation for bids. However,…

19-445.2077. Bid Samples and Descriptive Literature. A. ‘‘Descriptive literature’’ means information available in the ordinary course of business which shows the characteristics, construction, or operation of an item which enables the State to consider whether the item meets its …

19-445.2080. Bid Reductions. The responsible procurement officer may accept a voluntary reduction in price from a low bidder after bid opening but prior to award; provided that such reduction is not conditioned on, nor results in, the modification or deletion of any conditions co…

19-445.2085. Correction or Withdrawal of Bids; Cancellation of Awards. A. General Procedure. (1) A bidder or offeror must submit in writing a request to either correct or withdraw a bid to the procurement officer. Each written request must document the fact that the bidder’s or o…

19-445.2090. Award. A. Application. The contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder(s) whose bid meets the requirements and criteria set forth in the invitation for bids. B. The procurement officer shall issue the notice of intent to award or award o…

19-445.2095. Competitive Sealed Proposals. A. Request for Proposals. The provisions of Regulations 19-445.2030B and 19-445.2040 shall apply to implement the requirements of Section 11-35-1530 (2), Public Notice. B. Receipt, Safeguarding, and Disposition of Proposals. The provisio…

19-445.2097. Rejection of Proposals. A. Unless there is a compelling reason to reject one or more proposals, award will be made to the highest ranked responsible offeror or otherwise as allowed by Section 11-35-1530. Every effort shall be made to anticipate changes in a requireme…

19-445.2098. Rejection of Individual Proposals. A. Proposals need not be unconditionally accepted without alteration or correction, and to the extent otherwise allowed by law, the State’s stated requirements may be clarified after proposals are submitted. This flexibility must be…

19-445.2099. Competitive Negotiations. A. General (1) Competitive negotiations are governed by R.19-445.2030B, -2040, -2042, -2045, -2050B, -2085C, -2090B, -2095C, -2095J, and -2098. Regulation 19-445-2097 (Rejection of Proposals) applies to competitive negotiations except that R…

19-445.2100. Small Purchases and Other Simplified Purchasing Procedures. A. Authority. (1) An agency may make small purchases not exceeding the limits prescribed in Section 11-35-1550 in accordance with the procedures in that section and herein. (2) Any purchase of supplies, serv…

19-445.2105. Sole Source Procurements. A. Application. The provisions of this Regulation shall apply to all sole source procurements unless emergency conditions exist as defined in Regulation 19-445.2110. B. Exceptions. Sole source procurement is not permissible unless there is o…

19-445.2110. Emergency Procurements. A. Application. The provisions of this Regulation apply to every procurement made under emergency conditions that will not permit other source selection methods to be used. B. Definition. An emergency condition is a situation which creates a t…

19-445.2115. Information Technology Procurements. A. Reserved. B. Reserved. C. Software Licensing Pursuant to Section 11-35-510, the Information Technology Management Officer may execute an agreement with a business on behalf of, and which binds all, governmental bodies in order …

19-445.2120. Cost or Pricing Data. A. Definitions (1) Adequate Price Competition. Price competition exists if competitive sealed proposals are solicited, at least two responsive and responsible offerors independently compete for a contract, and price is a substantial factor in th…

19-445.2122. Price Reasonableness. A. General. The objective of offer analysis is to ensure that the final contract price is fair and reasonable. The procurement officer is responsible for evaluating the reasonableness of the offered prices. Normally, competition establishes pric…

19-445.2125. Responsibility of Bidders and Offerors. A. State Standards of Responsibility. Factors to be considered in determining whether the state standards of responsibility have been met include whether a prospective contractor has: (1) available the appropriate financial, ma…

19-445.2127. Organizational Conflicts of Interest. A. General. (1) ‘‘Organizational conflict of interest’’ occurs when, because of other activities or relationships with the State or with other businesses: (a) a business is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assista…

19-445.2130. Prequalification of Supplies and Suppliers. A. Qualified Products Lists. A qualified products list may be developed with the approval of the Chief Procurement Officer or the procurement officer of the governmental body authorized to develop qualified products lists, …

19-445.2132. Prequalification for a Single Solicitation. A. Application. The pre-qualification process shall not be used to unduly limit competition. Any mandatory minimum requirements shall comply with Section 11-35-2730. In a competitive bid, the pre-qualification process is no…

19-445.2135. Conditions for Use of Multi-term Contracts. A. General. A multi-term contract is a contract for the acquisition of supplies, services, or information technology for more than one year. A contract is not a multi-term contract if no single term exceeds one year and eac…