(1)(a) Purchases and leases by school districts and Florida College System institutions shall comply with the requirements of law and rules of the State Board of Education.

(b) Before purchasing nonacademic commodities and contractual services, each district school board and Florida College System institution board of trustees shall review the purchasing agreements and state term contracts available under s. 287.056 to determine whether it is in the school board’s or the board of trustees’ economic advantage to use the agreements and contracts. Each bid specification for nonacademic commodities and contractual services must include a statement indicating that the purchasing agreements and state term contracts available under s. 287.056 have been reviewed. Each district school board may also use the cooperative state purchasing programs managed through the regional consortium service organizations pursuant to their authority under s. 1001.451(3). This paragraph does not apply to services that are eligible for reimbursement under the federal E-rate program administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company.

(c) Purchases and leases by state universities shall comply with the requirements of law and regulations of the Board of Governors.

(2) Each district school board and Florida College System institution board of trustees shall adopt rules, and each university board of trustees shall adopt regulations, to be followed in making purchases. Purchases may be made through an online procurement system, an electronic auction service, or other efficient procurement tool.

(3) In districts in which the county purchasing agent is authorized by law to make purchases for the benefit of other governmental agencies within the county, the district school board and Florida College System institution board of trustees shall have the option to purchase from the current county contracts at the unit price stated therein if such purchase is to the economic advantage of the district school board or the Florida College System institution board of trustees; subject to confirmation of the items of purchase to the standards and specifications prescribed by the school district or Florida College System institution.

(4)(a) The State Board of Education may, by rule, provide for alternative procedures for school districts and Florida College System institutions for bidding or purchasing in cases in which the character of the item requested renders competitive bidding impractical.

(b) The Board of Governors may, by regulation, provide for alternative procedures for state universities for bidding or purchasing in cases in which the character of the item requested renders competitive bidding impractical.

History.—s. 530, ch. 2002-387; s. 145, ch. 2007-217; s. 23, ch. 2010-78; s. 152, ch. 2011-5; s. 21, ch. 2011-177; s. 1, ch. 2016-31.