Construction Bidding Court Case #4 – Bid Package
Learn how PlanSource could help construction professionals to significantly reduce the risk of costly delays or claims arising from errors or omission from real court cases.
Submitting a bid requires that bidders ensure even the most minute detail is addressed or their bid could be deemed non-compliant and all of the cost and effort put into the creation of a competitive bid is lost – even if you are the low bidder. Bid submissions can get complicated and may require the completion and submission of many forms with the bid. Even if an owner specifies that you sign the bid form in pink ink, failure to do so can result in your bid being disqualified as non-compliant.
The example below involves the requirement to attach a document to the bid. In this case, the bidder argued they complied with the bid requirements and the owner took the position that while the bidder did submit the required attachment, it was not complete and therefore the bid was non-compliant:
- The Instructions to Bidders required submission of complete package in sealed envelope.
- Included in the package was a 10 page breakdown of unit prices, with the last page showing rolled up stipulated sum, including taxes
The Contractor prepared their bid, confirmed all 10 pages of the breakdown unit prices was in the package, placed the contents in an envelope, sealed the envelope, and delivered the bid on time- At the bid opening, the Owner opened the envelopes, announced and recorded all bidders’ prices, and then took all the bids to their office to review for completeness, etc.
- Upon review the Owner says that the Contractor’s unit price breakdown only had only 9 pages and declared the bid non-compliant.
- The Contractor sued claiming they had submitted all 10 pages of the unit price breakdown.