In an appellate case released about two months ago (Bay Cities Paving & Grading v. City of San Leandro, Cal. Ct. App. – Feb. 13, 2014), the plaintiff argued as follows:
I can’t believe the City gave that contract to the lowest bidder! That’s outrageous!! It should have given the bid to me, even though my $5 million-plus bid would have cost the City over a half-million dollars more! Didn’t you notice that the lowest bidder’s bid accidentally left out page 33 of its bid — a page that’s about the terms of a bid bond. That error should entitle me to win the bid.
It’s also worth noting that the lowest bidder promptly gave the City page 33 once it realized it was missing, and that the error was inconsequential and caused no serious harm or unfairness.
The City’s response? It’s not an “abuse of discretion” by us to accept the lowest bid under these circumstances of “harmless error”.
What’s a bit amazing is that it took the court 21 pages to decide it agreed.
The information presented is not intended to be, and does not constitute, “legal advice.” Because each situation varies, and only brief summary information is provided here, you should not use this information as a basis for action unless you have independently verified with your own counsel that it applies to your particular situation.
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