Opinion ID: 1315464
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Procurement Code

Text: The South Carolina Legislature has stated the underlying purposes of the Procurement Code are to provide increased economy in state procurement activities and to maximize to the fullest extent practicable the purchasing values of funds while ensuring that procurements are the most advantageous to the State and in compliance with the provisions of the Ethics Government Accountability and Campaign Reform Act, as well as to require the adoption of competitive procurement laws and practices by units of state and local governments[.] S.C.Code Ann. § 11-35-20(a), (e) (Supp. 2009). The Procurement Code applies to every procurement or expenditure of funds by this State under contract acting through a governmental body as ... defined in the Procurement Code. Id. § 11-35-40(2) (emphasis added). Governmental Body. The term governmental body is defined in the Procurement Code as follows: Governmental Body means a state government department, commission, council, board, bureau, committee, institution, college, university, technical school, agency, government corporation, or other establishment or official of the executive or judicial branch. Governmental body excludes the General Assembly or its respective branches or its committees, Legislative Council, the Office of Legislative Printing, Information and Technology Systems, and all local political subdivisions such as counties, municipalities, school districts, or public service or special purpose districts or any entity created by act of the General Assembly for the purpose of erecting monuments or commissioning art that is being procured exclusively by private funds. Id. § 11-35-310(18) (emphasis added). State as used in the Procurement Code means state government. Id. § 11-35-310(32). Sloan alleges the Hospital is a state government board. Political Subdivision. In contrast, the Procurement Code states `[p]olitical subdivision' means all counties, municipalities, school districts, public service or special purpose districts. Id. § 11-35-310(23). Political subdivisions are excluded from the definition of a governmental body and are not subject to the procurement procedures outlined in the Procurement Code. Id. § 11-35-310(18). Section 11-35-50 of Procurement Code requires political subdivisions to develop and adopt their own procurement procedures: All political subdivisions of the State shall adopt ordinances or procedures embodying sound principles of appropriately competitive procurement no later than July 1, 1983. The Budget and Control Board ... shall create a task force to draft model ordinances, regulations, and manuals for consideration by the political subdivisions.... A political subdivision's failure to adopt appropriate ordinances, procedures, or policies of procurement is not subject to the legal remedies provided in this code. Id. § 11-35-50.