The Attorney General has made clear that the Public Bid Law is a prohibitory law. Any exceptions to it (which both buying off of a State contract and piggybacking are) must be strictly construed. That means, in order to use an exception to the Public Bid Law, you must meet all of the conditions.

There is a specific provision in the law (R.S. 39:1710) that allows local entities who buy an item off of the State contract to use a local vendor. There is no such provision in the piggybacking law (either pursuant to R.S. 38:321.1 or the Local Government Services Law). In both cases, the requirements are that the vendor who was awarded the contract must agree to sell the item to the entity wishing to piggyback off of the contract. Therefore, in order to piggyback off of a contract, the local entity must use the same vendor.