Pennsylvania Statutes Title 24 P.S. Education § 8-807.1. Purchase of supplies

(a) Deleted by 2012, June 30, P.L. 684, No. 82, § 8, effective July 1, 2012.

(a.1) Deleted by 2012, June 30, P.L. 684, No. 82, § 8, effective July 1, 2012.

(a.2) All furniture, equipment, textbooks, school supplies and other appliances for the use of the public schools costing, subject to adjustment under section 120,  1 a base amount of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500) or more shall be purchased by the board of school directors only after due advertisement as hereinafter provided. Supplies costing, subject to adjustment under section 120, a base amount of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500) or more shall be purchased by the board of school directors only after public notice has been given by advertisement once a week for three (3) weeks in not less than two (2) newspapers of general circulation. In any district where no newspaper is published, said notice may, in lieu of such publication, be posted in at least five (5) public places.

(a.3) Written or telephonic price quotations from at least three (3) qualified and responsible vendors shall be requested by the board of school directors for all purchases of supplies that exceed a base amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), subject to adjustment under section 120, but are less than the amount requiring advertisement and competitive bidding, or, in lieu of price quotations, a memorandum shall be kept on file showing that fewer than three (3) qualified vendors exist in the market area within which it is practicable to obtain quotations. A written record of telephonic price quotations shall be made and shall contain at least the date of the quotation, the name of the vendor and the vendor's representative, the supplies which were the subject of the quotation and the price of the supplies. Written price quotations, written records of telephonic price quotations and memoranda shall be retained for a period of three years.

(b) Deleted by 2012, June 30, P.L. 684, No. 82, § 8, effective July 1, 2012.

(b.1) The board of school directors shall accept the bid of the lowest responsible bidder, kind, quality, and material being equal, but shall have the right to reject any and all bids or select a single item from any bid. The board of school directors in any district may authorize or appoint the secretary of the board or other executive as purchasing agent for the district, with authority to purchase supplies that cost a base amount of less than eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500), subject to adjustment under section 120.

(c) The following shall be exempt from the above provisions: maps, music, globes, charts, educational films, filmstrips, prepared transparencies and slides, pre-recorded magnetic tapes and disc recordings, textbooks, games, toys, prepared kits, flannel board materials, flash cards, models, projectuals and teacher demonstration devices necessary for school use.

(d) Deleted by 2012, June 30, P.L. 684, No. 82, § 8, effective July 1, 2012.

(e) No board of school directors shall evade the provisions of this section as to advertising for bids or purchasing materials piecemeal for the purpose of obtaining prices under the base amount of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500), subject to adjustment under section 120, upon transactions which should, in the exercise of reasonable discretion and prudence, be conducted as one transaction amounting to more than a base amount of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500), subject to adjustment under section 120. This provision is intended to make unlawful the practice of evading advertising requirements by making a series of purchases or contracts each for less than the advertising requirement price, or by making several simultaneous purchases or contracts each below said price, when in either case the transaction involved should have been made as one transaction for one price.