Notice End Date: March 24, 2023

Vendor Name: South Carolina Institutes of Innovation & Information (SCIII)

Contract Amount: $50,000

Agency Procurement Manager: Kimber H. Craig

Agency Procurement Manager Email: kcraig@mmo.sc.gov

Agency Procurement Manager Telephone#: 803-737-2527

The Agency hereby provides notice that it entered into an emergency contract per S.C. Code Ann. §11-35-1570 with Vendor for the following supplies, services, information technology, or construction:

Agency has contracted with or plans to contract with Emergency Vendor for the supplies, services, information technology, or construction described below per S.C. Code Ann. §11-35-1570 and S.C. Regulation 19-445.2110, Emergency Procurement.

Describe the nature of the emergency condition and the resulting immediate threat to public health, welfare, critical economy and efficiency, or safety that this procurement responded to: This procurement is being conducted pursuant to the provisions of S.C. Code Section 11-35-1570 in accordance with H.4408 - Signed by the Governor on May 13, 2022.

Description of the facts and circumstances giving rise to the above describe emergency condition and threat: On May 13, 2022, Governor Henry McMaster signed H.4408, which included an allocation of $400 million to the Office of Regulatory Staff - South Carolina Broadband Office for the purpose of deploying broadband infrastructure. The Act states “It is vital to the state’s interest that grant funds be awarded for the deployment of broadband infrastructure in rural communities in the most expeditious manner possible. Accordingly, contracting with broadband service providers and the procurement of professional grant management, vendor, consulting, or other services and pursuant to this act should be done pursuant to the provisions fo the S.C. Code Section 11-35-1570 of the 1976 Code.” In addition, the Act states “The State Fiscal Accountability Authority shall serve as the procuring officer for the procurement process and is responsible for administrative duties related to the process and the contract awarded.”

Basis for Selection of the Vendor – include a description of competition Agency conducted or will conduct, if any, and explain why more extensive competition was/is not practical under the circumstances: SCIII has been selected based on their knowledge of statewide resources and stakeholders, with include South Carolina’s seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which allow efforts targeted toward representation (i.e., distribution of surveys to diverse target groups) rather than representativeness (i.e., responses from a representative sample).

Description of supplies, services, information technology, or construction: Distriubtion and Dissemination of final broadband surveys with a goal of collecting 5,000 surveys by May 31, 2023.

Agency's justification for this emergency procurement may be viewed or obtained at: Agency Procurement Manager (Listed Above)

PROTESTS:
Any actual or prospective bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor aggrieved in connection with the intended award or award of this emergency contract, shall notify the appropriate chief Procurement officer in writing of its intent to protest within five (5) business days of the date this notice is posted. Any actual or prospective bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor who is aggrieved in connection with the intended award or award of this emergency contract and has timely notified the appropriate chief procurement officer of its intent to protest, may protest to the appropriate chief procurement officer in the manner set forth below within fifteen days of the date this notice is posted; except that a matter that could have been raised as a protest of the solicitation may not be raised as a protest of the award or intended award of a contract.
A protest must be in writing, filed with the appropriate chief procurement officer, and set forth the grounds of the protest and the relief requested with enough particularity to give notice of the issues to be decided. The protest must be received by the appropriate chief procurement officer within the time provided above. Days are calculated as provided in S.C. Code Ann. § 11-35-310(13).

Any Notice Of Intent To Protest And Protest Must Be Addressed To: Materials Management Officer