Procurement Policies and Procedures

Bids, Proposals and Quotations

It is the responsibility of Procurement Services to conduct and conclude procurement transactions.

Bids, proposals, and quotations will be sought in accordance with the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code. All purchasing records within Procurement Services, except in-process formal and informal bid solicitations, will be open and accessible to the public during regular business hours.

Requests for inspection of purchasing records must be reasonable, contain sufficient information for retrieval, and must not interfere with the orderly operation of Procurement Services. Vendors' application forms, which include financial disclosure information, or the identity of prospective vendors prior to bid openings, where such disclosure might negate the competitive bid process, will not be available to the public. Individual purchase records will not be available after bid openings prior to the issuance of formal purchase orders.

Vendors should be encouraged to attend bid openings on the date and time specified in the invitation notices. Statements of award will be posted on Procurement Services' Web site.

Procurement information shall be public record to the extent required by the Freedom of Information Act with the exception that commercial or financial information obtained in response to a solicitation which is marked as privileged and confidential need not be disclosed.