§ 11-35-410 — Public access to procurement information.

South Carolina § 11-35-410

• Jurisdiction: South Carolina
• Title 11: PUBLIC FINANCE
• Ch. 35: SOUTH CAROLINA CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE

Text

(A) Procurement information must be a public record to the extent required by Chapter 4, Title 30 (The Freedom of Information Act), except as otherwise provided by this code, and with the exception that commercial or financial information obtained in response to a request for proposals or any type of bid solicitation that is privileged and confidential need not be disclosed. (B) 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. Examples of this type of information include: (1) customer lists; (2) design recommendations and identification of prospective problem areas under an RFP; (3) design concepts, including methods and procedures; (4) biographical data on key employees of the bidder. (C) The board shall promulgate regulations directing the public availability and disposition of documents submitted in response or with regard to a solicitation or other request where no award is made. (D) For all documents submitted in response or with regard to any solicitation or other request, the person submitting the documents shall comply with instructions provided in the solicitation for marking information exempt from public disclosure. Information not marked as required by the applicable instructions may be disclosed to the public. (E) A governmental body, with the approval of the appropriate chief procurement officer, may keep portions of a solicitation confidential and release the information to prospective offerors only upon execution of a nondisclosure agreement, provided the information is otherwise exempted from disclosure by law. (F) If requested in writing before a final award by an actual bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor with regard to a specific intended award or award of a contract, the procurement officer shall, within five days of the receipt of any such request, make documents directly connected to the procurement activity and not otherwise exempt from disclosure available for inspection at an office of the responsible procurement officer. Without otherwise limiting any other exemptions granted by law, and except as provided herein, documents of and documents incidental to proposed contractual arrangements, including those used for contract negotiations, are not exempt from disclosure after the date notice of intent to award is posted, unless the notice is subsequently canceled.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1981 Act No. 148, SECTION 1; 1997 Act No. 153, SECTION 1; 2006 Act No. 376, SECTION 9; 2019 Act No. 41 (S.530), SECTION 7, eff May 13, 2019. Editor's Note 2019 Act No. 41, SECTION 80, provides as follows: "SECTION 80. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies to solicitations issued after that date." Effect of Amendment 2019 Act No. 41, SECTION 7, in (A), inserted ", except as otherwise provided by this code, and"; rewrote (C); deleted (D), which related to an exemption for evaluative documents predecisional in nature; redesignated (E) as (D); and added (E) and (F). Subarticle 9 Reporting of Furniture and Certain Purchases