purchasing

South Carolina Resident Bidder Preference

Revised September 10, 2020

Title 11: Public Finance
Chapter 35: South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code

Section 11-35-1520: Competitive sealed bidding

(9) Tie Bids. If two or more bidders are tied in price while otherwise meeting all of the required conditions, awards are determined in the following order of priority:

• (a) If there is a South Carolina firm tied with an out-of-state firm, the award must be made automatically to the South Carolina firm.
• (b) Tie bids involving South Carolina produced or manufactured products, when known, and items produced or manufactured out of the State must be resolved in favor of the South Carolina commodity.
• (c) Tie bids involving a business certified by the South Carolina Office of Small and Minority Business Assistance as a Minority Business Enterprise must be resolved in favor of the Minority Business Enterprise.
• (d) Tie bids involving South Carolina firms must be resolved in favor of the South Carolina firm located in the same taxing jurisdiction as the governmental body's consuming location.

Section 11-35-1524: Resident vendor preference

(B)

• (1) When evaluating pricing for purposes of making an award determination, the procurement officer shall decrease by seven percent the price of any offer for a South Carolina end product.
• (2) When evaluating pricing for purposes of making an award determination, the procurement officer shall decrease by two percent the price of any offer for a United States end product. This preference does not apply to an item to which the South Carolina end product preference has been applied.
• (3) Whether award is to be made by item or lot, the preferences must be applied to the price of each line item of end product. A preference must not be applied to an item for which a bidder does not qualify.
• (4) If a contract is awarded to a bidder that received the award as a result of the South Carolina end product or United States end product preference, the contractor may not substitute a nonqualifying end product for a qualified end product. A substitution in violation of this item is grounds for debarment pursuant to Section 11-35-4220. If a contractor violates this provision, the State may terminate the contract for cause and, in addition, the contractor shall pay to the State an amount equal to twice the difference between the price paid by the State and the bidder's evaluated price for a substituted item.

(C)

• (1) When evaluating pricing for purposes of making an award determination, the procurement officer shall decrease a bidder's price by seven percent if the bidder maintains an office in this State and either
  • (i) maintains at a location in South Carolina at the time of the bid an inventory of expendable items which are representative of the general type of commodities on which the award will be made and which have a minimum total value, based on the bid price, equal to the lesser of fifty thousand dollars or the annual amount of the contract;
  • (ii) is a manufacturer headquartered and having an annual payroll of at least one million dollars in South Carolina and the end product is made or processed from raw materials into a finished end product by that manufacturer or its affiliate (as defined in Section 1563 of the Internal Revenue Code); or
  • (iii) at the time of bidding, directly employs or has a documented commitment with individuals domiciled in South Carolina that will perform services expressly required by the solicitation and the total direct labor cost to bidder for those individuals to provide those services exceeds fifty percent of the bidder's total bid price.

(D)

• (1) When evaluating pricing for purposes of making an award determination, the procurement officer shall decrease a bidder's price by two percent if
  • (b) at the time of the bidding, the subcontractor directly employs or has a documented commitment with individuals domiciled in South Carolina that will perform services expressly required by the solicitation and the total direct labor cost to the subcontractor for those individuals to provide those services exceeds twenty percent of bidder's total bid price.
• (2) When evaluating pricing for purposes of making an award determination, the procurement officer shall decrease a bidder's price by four percent if
  • (b) at the time of the bidding, the subcontractor directly employs or has a documented commitment with individuals domiciled in South Carolina that will perform services expressly required by the solicitation and the total direct labor cost to the subcontractor for those individuals to provide those services exceeds forty percent of bidder's total bid price.

Section 11-35-3215: Preference for resident design service; definitions; exceptions

(A) As used in this section

• (1) "Design services" means architect-engineer, construction management, or land surveying services as defined in Section 11-35-2910 and awarded pursuant to Section 11-35-3220.
• (2) "Resident" means a business that employs, either directly or through consultants, an adequate number of persons domiciled in South Carolina to perform a majority of the design services involved in the procurement.

(D) In an evaluation conducted pursuant to Section 11-35-3220, a resident firm must be ranked higher than a nonresident firm if the agency selection committee finds the two firms otherwise equally qualified.

(E) This section does not apply to a procurement if either the procurement does not involve construction or the design services are a minor accompaniment to a contract for non-design services.