2015 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 11 - Public Finance
CHAPTER 35 - SOUTH CAROLINA CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE
Section 11-35-4810. Cooperative purchasing authorized.

Any public procurement unit may participate in, sponsor, conduct, or administer a cooperative purchasing agreement for the procurement of any supplies, services, or construction with one or more public procurement units or external procurement activities 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 board through regulations.

However, thirty days' notice of a proposed multi-state solicitation must be provided through central advertising and such contracts may be only awarded to manufacturers who will be distributing the products to South Carolina governmental bodies through South Carolina vendors; 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 Office of State Procurement in regard to the multi-state 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.

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.