(A) Procurement responsibility.
(1) The county manager shall designate a county procurement director, who shall have duties and responsibilities as are fixed by the provisions of the S.C. Code § 4-9-160, the provisions of this subchapter, county procurement policies as may from time to time be established by the County Council, and other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned by the county manager.
(2) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this subchapter, in accordance with the requirements provided and subject to the supervision of the county manager, the procurement director shall serve as the principal public procurement official for the county, and shall be responsible for the procurement of all supplies, materials, equipment and services in accordance with this subchapter, as well as the management and disposal of county assets, supplies and equipment when appropriate.
(3) The procurement director shall have such authority, duty and responsibility to approve purchases, and sign and execute certain purchasing agreements, contracts, and purchase orders for goods and/or services, based upon the procedures and policies established in this subchapter. Unless otherwise referenced in this subchapter, the procurement director shall be authorized to approve all purchases and awards up to the mandatory bid amount.
(4) The chairperson, or under special circumstances, the acting chairperson, of the County Council shall retain sole authority to sign and execute, on behalf of the Council, all ordinances, resolutions, directives, deeds, bonds, contracts, and other official instruments or documents, except for purchase orders or purchasing contracts for amounts less than the mandatory bid amount.
(5) The procurement director and/or his or her designee(s) shall be the only individuals authorized to sign purchase orders or certain procurement contracts on behalf of the county, as provided and authorized in this subchapter.
(6) The procurement director shall not incur any obligation on behalf of the county, if sufficient funds have not been specifically appropriated by the County Council or are otherwise not available, and if they have not been properly designated for the specified purchase by the appropriate county official(s).
(7) The procurement director shall work cooperatively with county departments in making determinations relative to the purchase of supplies, materials, equipment and services.
(B) Procurement director's responsibility. In accordance with this subchapter, and subject to the supervision of the county manager and the County Council, the procurement director shall:
(1) Procure or supervise the procurement of all supplies, materials, equipment and services needed by the county, consolidating purchases of like or common items, and work with all county offices and departments to establish standardization of materials, supplies, and equipment, when appropriate and advantageous to the county.
(2) Sell, trade, transfer or otherwise dispose of surplus supplies, property and equipment designated and approved for disposal by the County Council.
(3) Maintain a complete record of all purchasing transactions.
(4) Establish and maintain programs for specification development, contract administration, inspection and acceptance, in cooperation with the public offices using the supplies, materials, equipment and services.
(5) Exercise general supervision over inventories of supplies belonging to the county.
(6) Draft or cause to be drafted Invitations for Bids, Requests for Proposals, Requests for Qualifications and other solicitations as may be permitted by law, and prepare specifications or scopes of work for the same.
(7) Supervise the handling and processing of all interoffice, incoming and outgoing U.S. Mail, and the distribution and collection of that mail throughout county offices.
(8) Decide whether it is in the best interest of the county to purchase directly from state contracts for single purchases totaling less than $50,000.01, or for collective purchases of multiple single units totaling less than $50,000.01; to seek County Council authorization to purchase directly from state contracts when the total amount of a single purchase is $50,000.01 or more, or the collective purchase of multiple single units is $50,000.01 or more, and the purchase from the state contracts is found to be in the best interest of the county; or seek competitive pricing, based upon the limitations and/or guidelines of this subchapter.
(9) Delegate duties, responsibilities and assignments to assistant procurement employees when deemed necessary; provided such staff should comply with all applicable laws, rules and procedures previously established by the County Council.
(10) Maintain the names and address information of various suppliers, contractors, consultants and other vendors of products and services to be used as a source for providing for the needs of the county, and investigate new products and new sources of supply.
(11) Retain all records relating to procurement projects, and maintain all such records so as to ensure their availability for inspection by the appropriate government official.
(12) Appoint advisory groups to assist with respect to specifications and procurement in specific areas, and with respect to any other matters within the authority of the director. These groups could include department heads, vendors, and others deemed necessary by the director. Such groups shall, to the extent required by law, comply with all South Carolina laws applicable to such groups.
(13) Take all necessary action to further the objectives of the county regarding promotion and encouragement of minority and women businesses' participation in the procurement process.
(C) Central store.
(1) Certain goods and supplies, common to many county departments, may be purchased in bulk by the county and placed in a central store's inventory.
(a) Such goods may include basic office supplies, office equipment, various paper products and various chemical products.
(b) Minimal quantities of these items will be purchased and maintained on-hand for use by all county departments and offices.
(2) The procurement department will manage the stocking and distribution of the various supply items included in the central store's inventory, maintain central store stock records, and make adjustments to reflect current stock levels and availability.
(D) Standards of conduct.
(1) In all actions involving the procurement of supplies, services, or construction for the county, the county shall comply with the provisions of the State Ethics Act, S.C. Code §§ 8-13-10 through 8-13-1020, as may be amended from time to time.
(2) Acceptance of gifts and/or gratuities at any time shall be prohibited.
(3) Employees shall not become obligated to any vendor, and must not negotiate any county transaction from which they may personally benefit, either directly or indirectly.
(4) The procurement director shall not knowingly issue a purchase order or execute a contract when there is evidence of a conflict of interest.
(5) In instances when a conflict of interest may exist, but its existence is not clearly established, the director shall refer the matter to the county attorney, whose opinion will be final in the absence of specific instructions from the county manager.
(E) Minority vendor procurement.
(1) Non-discrimination.
(a) The county will make every reasonable effort not to discriminate in its purchasing practices because of race, creed, sex or origin, and will generally promote equality of opportunity for minority vendors who may desire to do business with the county.
(b) A MINORITY VENDOR means a vendor that owns a business individually and is a member of a minority group; or a vendor that owns a business through partnership, joint venture, or association, at least 51% owned or controlled by members of a minority group; or a vendor that owns a business in corporate form that is certified to be wholly, or at least 51% owned or controlled by members of a minority group.
(c) Minority groups include, but are not limited to, African American/Black, Hispanic American, female, Aleut, Eskimo, East Indian, Native American, Asian and other.
(2) Non-discriminatory efforts. In furtherance of the county's non-discrimination in its procurement processes, the procurement department shall:
(a) Maintain a list of minority-owned vendors eligible to contract with the county.
(b) Seek to locate minority vendors to provide goods and services.
(c) Ensure that there are no barriers in purchasing procedures that will prohibit full participation of minority-owned vendors from doing business with the county.
(d) Submit regular reports to county management on the status of minority purchasing activities.
(3) DBE/SBE/MBE/WBE utilization. The county wishes to ensure that qualified and duly certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (“DBEs”), Small Business Enterprises (“SBEs”), Minority Business Enterprises (“MBEs”), and Women's Business Enterprises (“WBEs”) are afforded the opportunity to fully participate in the overall procurement process of the county. In addition to any requirements set forth in state or federal mandates, the procurement director may include qualified DBEs, SBEs, MBEs, and WBEs on solicitation lists.
(F) Public information.
(1) Public access to procurement information.
(a) The county is subject to the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. As a result, every person submitting information or documents to the county in connection with matters governed by this code is on notice that the county may disclose such submitted information or documents. By submitting information or documents to the county, the submitting person assumes the risk and bears sole responsibility for any damage that may arise from disclosure.
(b) The county may, at its sole discretion, assert any relevant and applicable exemption to disclosure allowed by the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
(c) Unless contrary to the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, the county shall not be required to disclose the following:
1. Evaluative documents, pre-decisional in nature, containing technical evaluations and recommendations; or
2. Documents submitted in response or with regard to an Invitation for Bids or solicitation of proposals or other request in instances in which a contract is not made.
(d) To the extent a person provides the county with documents that contain what the person deems to be confidential proprietary information, the person has a duty to mark such documents “CONFIDENTIAL.” In that instance, the person must mark “CONFIDENTIAL” each part, by page, paragraph, section or line, as appropriate, in such manner that it is clear to a reasonable person making a cursory review of the document as a whole that the relevant part has been marked confidential. Under those circumstances, the county will endeavor to take reasonable steps to keep those portions confidential, unless a Freedom of Information Act request is received. Under the latter circumstances, the county will endeavor to take reasonable steps to notify the person of the Freedom of Information Act request so that the person may take, at its sole expense, whatever steps, if any, it deems necessary to protect its assertion that the information is confidential and exempt from disclosure.
(2) General provisions.
(a) Procurement information shall be public record to the extent required by Chapter 4 of Title 30 (The Freedom of Information Act) of the South Carolina Code of Laws.
(b) Certain commercial, financial or trade secret information, set forth in any type bin or within any response to a Request for Qualifications or a Request for Proposals, and designated by a responder as privileged and confidential, may not be disclosed.
(3) Privileged and confidential information.
(a) Designation.
1. At the time of submitting a proposal or bid, the party supplying a bid or proposal must identify any portion of the proposal or bid considered by the party to be privileged and confidential commercial, financial or trade secret information, and thus eligible to be withheld from public inspection and copying.
2. If the information identified by the party is commercial information, financial information, or a trade secret, it may be withheld from public inspection and copying.
3. If the party fails to identify information as privileged and confidential commercial, financial, or trade secret information, the entire bid or proposal is to be made available for public inspection and copying.
(b) Definition and examples.
1. PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION is information in specific detail not customarily released to the general public, the release of which might cause harm to the competitive position of the party supplying the information.
2. Examples of this type of information would include:
a. Customer lists;
b. Design recommendations and identification of prospective problem areas under an RFP;
c. Design concepts, including methods and procedures;
d. Biographical data on key employees of the bidder.
(4) Pre-decisional evaluative documents. Evaluative documents pre-decisional in nature, such as inter- or intra-departmental memoranda containing technical evaluations and recommendations, are exempted so long as the contract award does not expressly adopt or incorporate the inter- or intra-departmental memoranda reflecting the pre-decisional deliberations.
(Ord. 1006, passed 4-17-06; Am. Ord. 2014, passed 6-2-14; Am. Ord. 4316, passed 9-19-16; Am. Ord. 6023, passed 11-20-23)