The Purchasing Department is responsible for all aspects of the City's centralized procurement process. Its objective is procuring all materials, services and equipment at the lowest possible cost consistent with quality and quantity demands and in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and City policies while maintaining the public's trust and fulfilling the policy and objectives of the city.
The Purchasing Department requires that any vendor doing business within the City of Sumter is required to have a current City of Sumter Business License. Any vendor doing business on City Property is required to have certain Certificates of Insurance (COI) on file that meet all City requirements. Specific type(s) and amount(s) will be displayed within the contractual agreements between the City and primary vendor. Neither a Business License nor a COI are required to participate in bidding on City projects.
The Purchasing Department's primary function is to assist other City Departments in their procurement efforts by directing the processes necessary to support City operations in an efficient manner utilizing mechanisms to maintain the optimum balance of quality and cost to provide full support to all, while assuring fair and equal opportunity to all qualified vendors.
The Purchasing Department provides the following services:
- Informal, Annual, & Formal Invitation to Bid’s
- Contract Administration
- Request for Qualification’s / Request for Proposal’s
- Develop and manage effective relationships with suppliers
- Communication System Management
- Develop and manage commodity strategies and tactical plans
- Verify purchasing practices comply with established laws, policies
- Analyze vendor ratings based on Quality, Service, and Delivery.
- Identify supply risks and provide potential solutions and mitigation plans
- Sale and Disposal of City-owned Surplus
Disclaimer The posting of bid opportunities is no guarantee of an award to a contract. The City reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to accept, reject or cancel in part, or in entirety, any or all submissions. In addition, the City reserves the right to reissue, terminate, restructure, or amend the solicitation and/or procurement process, at any time. Once a bidder downloads a solicitation and proceeds to bid, it is each bidder’s responsibility to review all governing terms and conditions, submit complete and accurate bid responses in the proper format, and to periodically check the site for updates and/or addendums. While every effort is made to ensure that all information is accurate, data found on this site is provided as is and without any warranty of any kind. The City shall not be responsible or liable in any way for errors, inaccuracies or omissions in any documents or information retrieved or downloaded from this site. Further, there may be recent addenda or changes in the Request for Proposals (“RFP”) or Bid Documents including, among other things, the bidding instructions, general conditions, technical specifications, and exhibits that may not be currently reflected at this site. Postings on this site may change and/or be deleted without notice. For a complete set of specifications and the applicable RFP or Bid Documents, all interested bidders are directed to contact the appropriate person identified in the solicitation or contact the Purchasing Department located at the City of Sumter, 21 N. Main Street, Sumter, SC 29150. In the event of a conflict or discrepancy between the information or documents posted at this website and the RFP or Bid Documents published and contained in the Purchasing Department, the RFP or Bid Documents in the City’s Purchasing Department shall control.