Procurement Services

Procurement Services
1201 Main St., Suite 600
Columbia, SC 29201
803.737.0600
FAX:803.737.0639

Political Subdivisions

School Districts

School Districts - Large

Under Section 11-35-70, any school district whose budget of total expenditures exceeds seventy five million dollars annually is subject to the Consolidated Procurement Code, unless the district has its own procurement code which is, in the written opinion of Procurement Services, substantially similar to the provisions of the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code.

To gain audit firm approval, you must provide Procurement Services with the following:
1. Name of the audit firm;
2. The entire potential period of the audit contract, not just the current engagement period;
3. A requirement by your District that the firm will conduct the audit using the audit program published by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority; and,
4. A requirement by your District that the firm will issue an opinion on whether the District complied with its procurement code.

For further details, please see the attached letter. Approval requests should be submitted to Crawford Milling at dcmilling@mmo.sc.gov.

Details regarding the above referenced laws appear in Section 11-35-70 and Regulation 19-445.3000. The procurement laws are available here.
Attached please find various authorities regarding when Section 11-35-70 applies.
Also attached is our Audit Program for School Districts.

School Districts - All Districts

Every school district in South Carolina, regardless of its size or the amount of its annual budget or expenditures, is a “political subdivision,” as that term is used in the Consolidated Procurement Code. S.C. Code Ann. § 11-35-310(23). As discussed above, large school districts are subject to the specific requirements of Section 11-35-70. Other school districts, like all political subdivisions, are subject to the more general rule imposed by Section 11-35-50, which requires the adoption of procedures “embodying sound principles of appropriately competitive procurement . . ..” For court opinions discussing the meaning of this phrase, see the link for Resources under the heading for Political Subdivisions on our Home Page.

School districts should also consult Section 59-19-93 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

For additional information applicable to all political subdivisions, see the link for Cities, Counties, etc. under the heading for Political Subdivisions on our Home Page.