(A) Small procurements ($0–$4,999).
(1) Small purchases must be approved by the Mayor or his or her designee or a request may be submitted to the purchasing agent for procurement.
(2) Competition is encouraged and recommended to ensure fair and reasonable pricing. Each purchasing authority shall use professional discretion and good judgment in an effort to maximize the purchasing value of public funds.
(3) Small procurements of less than $4,999. Requires no formal procurement, but the purchaser will ensure that the lowest cost is sought when possible. Small procurements must be approved by the purchasing agent and shall be accomplished by purchase orders in accordance with town procedures and forwarded to the Finance Officer, who shall from time to time audit small procurements to validate that small purchases have been executed in accordance with this chapter and entered into the town’s purchasing system.
(B) Competitive quotes ($5,000–$9,999).
(1) Competitive quotes may be obtained by the purchasing agent or his or her designee, provided adequate budgeted funds are available for the purchase.
(2) Offers shall be requested and obtained from at least two sources whenever possible for purchases costing $5,000 or more but less than $10,000.
(3) All suppliers solicited shall be afforded a complete description and requirements of the goods
and services being sought, including any special conditions of the expected procurement.
(4) All suppliers solicited shall be afforded time considered reasonable by the purchaser to provide written quotes. Written responses shall be accepted by fax, email, mailings, or other similar means.
(5) All responses received shall be evaluated for price, quality, acceptability as specified, availability of goods or services, past performance, transportation, or any other special cost or factors which may apply, including any special conditions or exceptions which the vendor may have stipulated.
(6) In all cases, any discussions with vendors after responses have been received shall be limited to clarification purposes. No discussion or disclosure is permissible with any vendors in regard to offers received from others.
(7) Negotiation is generally not applicable to competitive quotes although negotiations may be conducted; however, should any negotiations result in the change of the vendor’s ranking, then like negotiations shall be afforded other vendors that have submitted a quote.
(8) Award shall be made to the most responsive, responsible vendor whose response has been evaluated and determined to meet the requirements and to be in the best interest of the town. The town shall reserve the right to award to the most responsive, responsible vendor by units or projects, whichever is in the best interest of the town.
(9) All such information received shall be considered confidential and shall not be disclosed to any vendor prior to an award decision. If all offers exceed the acceptable limits and it is determined that the goods or services shall be reprocessed, then all offers shall be rejected and no cost or pricing information shall be disclosed to any vendor for any reason.
(10) Procurements $5,000 or more but less than $10,000 shall be accomplished by purchase orders in accordance with departmental procedures with supporting quote documents and source justification and/or written rationale as to why the procurement may be considered under other procurement methods as provided elsewhere within this chapter, or more specifically, considered as a sole source procurement, sensitive procurement, emergency procurement, procurement through the state or one of its agencies, the county, or procurement through an existing town contract. Supporting documentation should include written quotes submitted by vendors and contain a clear, concise statement as to the services and/or goods offered for the town’s consideration. At a minimum, comparative pricing should be obtained from two sources whenever possible which provide like or similar goods and/or services. Purchase orders $5,000 or more but less than $10,000 must be approved by the Mayor or his or her designee.
(C) Competitive quotes ($10,000–$24,999). All requirements outlined in above division (B) apply to this purchasing level except that purchase orders require approval by the Mayor and Town Council and a minimum of two written quotes is required.
(D) Competitive sealed bids ($25,000 and over).
(1) Purchases and/or contracts valued at $25,000 or greater shall be awarded by competitive, sealed bidding, except as may be provided elsewhere in this chapter.
(2) Full specifications and proposed vendors shall be provided to the purchasing agent to solicit competitive sealed bids.
(3) An invitation for bids shall be advertised through local press publications, the town’s website, and/or the South Carolina Business Opportunities (SCBO) publication or other similar publications, not less than ten days prior to the date set forth therein for the opening of bids.
(4) If necessary, all prospective bidders will be invited to a pre-bid meeting with the purchasing agent to discuss the bid.
(5) All bids received prior to the opening shall be kept secure and unopened. All bids, hand delivered, shall be initialed, indicating date and time received. Any bids not properly identified and opened in error by the town shall be resealed immediately and initialed by the recipient.
(6) Bids shall be opened publicly in the presence of one or more witnesses at the time and place designated in the invitation for bids. The amount of each bid and such other relevant information as may be specified in the invitation, together with the name of each bidder, shall be tabulated. The tabulation shall be open to public inspection at that time.
(7) It shall be the responsibility of all bidders to provide adequate means whereby their bids, whether mailed or hand carried, shall be received by the town no later than the day and time as stated in the invitation. Late bids will not be accepted.
(8) Bids shall be accepted unconditionally without alteration or correction, except as may be otherwise authorized in this chapter. The invitation for bids shall set forth the evaluation criteria to be used. No criteria may be used in the bid evaluation that is not set forth in the invitation for bids.
(9) The town shall evaluate the bids solely using the information as supplied by the bidder. However, it is sometimes determined that, for clarification and more professional evaluation, additional information is desirable and often necessary. Therefore, the town reserves the right to hold discussions, review the specifications as believed offered, and request clarification or any additional technical information which may provide a fair and impartial evaluation by the town. All discussions shall be limited to the bidder’s products, goods, or services, and no discussion shall be permitted regarding bids by others.
(10) Corrections or withdrawal of inadvertently erroneous bids before bid opening, withdrawal of inadvertently erroneous bids after award, or cancellation of awards or contracts based on such bid mistakes may be permitted by the town where appropriate.
(11) Any bidder may, by requesting in writing, withdraw his or her bid for any reason prior to the scheduled bid opening.
(12) After bid opening, no changes in bid prices or other provisions or bids prejudicial to the interest of the town or fair competition shall be permitted.
(13) Properly worded and directed changes or corrections which do not disclose the total amount may be made by any bidder if submitted to the town in writing and received prior to bid opening. These changes or corrections may be hand carried, mailed, emailed, or sent via fax transmission as follows.
(a) To increase or decrease a previously submitted lump sum amount, the bidder shall instruct the town in the amount that his or her bid is to be increased or decreased by.
(b) In case of a bid which contains multiple items, the bidder shall instruct the town in the amount that he or she desires a given item to be increased or reduced, thereby requesting that his or her total bid be increased or decreased in an equal amount. Changes shall only reflect the amount of adjustment. Changes received which indicate or divulge openly the total amount bid shall not be accepted.
(14) The bid shall be awarded with reasonable promptness by notice to the most responsible bidder whose bid meets the requirements and specifications and any other award criteria set forth in the invitation for bids, and in the best interest of the town. The town reserves the right to reject any or all submittals.
(15) The Mayor may authorize the purchasing agent, in situations where the town’s best interest precludes re-solicitation of work, goods, or services of a reduced scope, to negotiate an adjustment in the bid price, including change in the requirements, with the low, responsive, and responsible bidder.
(16) In the event that negotiations are unsuccessful in reaching a price or scope of work or services which would be agreeable, the town, at its discretion, may terminate all negotiations with the lowest bidder, and enter new negotiations with the next lowest bidder, and likewise the third and sequential bidder should negotiations not be productive with the second lowest offerer.
(17) Should subsequent negotiations be conducted, all negotiations shall be conducted in like manner as with the first bidder. No changes or reductions in scope of work or services shall be permitted during negotiations with sequential bidders that was not permitted or offered with the negotiations with previous responsive bidders.
(18) In conducting negotiations, there must be no disclosure of any information derived from bids submitted by competing bidders.
(19) Procurements costing more than $25,000 shall be accomplished by purchase orders in accordance with departmental procedures with supporting bid award documents and source justification and/or written rationale as to why the procurement may be considered under other procurement methods as provided elsewhere within this chapter, or more specifically, considered as a sole source procurement, sensitive procurement, emergency procurement, procurement through the state or one of its agencies, the county, or procurement through an existing town contract. Supporting bid award documents should include bid tabulation and a concise statement as to the reasons for the bid award recommendation. Purchase orders more than $25,000 must be approved by the Mayor and Town Council.
(E) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a higher level, more stringent procurement method being used if it is determined by the purchaser that the town's best interest would be better served.
(F) Written contracts shall be executed by the Mayor.
(G) The purchasing agent may also authorize any budgeted expenditure approved in the current fiscal year’s budget, where the price does not exceed the budget estimate by more than 10%, if the total expenditure does not exceed $25,000. The purchasing agent shall submit a report of the expenditure to the Town Council, which shall be entered in the minutes of Council.
(Ord. 2012-16, passed 11-15-2012; Am. Ord. 2017-06, passed 5-18-2017; Am. Ord. 2019-13, passed 1-16-2020; Am. Ord. 2024-02, passed 3-21-2024)