They can thus gain an unfair advantage over their honest rivals, especially on public jobs when contracts are awarded to the
lowest responsible bidder.
Now the plan is to award the work to the
lowest responsible bidder. The project will add 74,000 square feet to the NorthPoint campus at 1313 Penn Ave.
In upholding the contract award, the court relied upon well-established case law, noting that the requirement of awarding public work to the
lowest responsible bidder involves considerations of skill, judgment and integrity.
3d DCA 2002), the city issued an invitation to bid that stated the contract for a stormwater improvement project would be awarded to, "the responsive, responsible [b]idder which submitted the lowest acceptable [p]roposal." The city instead awarded the contract to the most responsible bidder, as opposed to the
lowest responsible bidder, based on criteria not advertised in the specifications.
Regis asserted that not awarding the contract to the
lowest responsible bidder may have left the town susceptible to a lawsuit.
"All contracts for erecting or repairing public buildings or bridges in any county, or for materials therefor; or for providing for the care and keeping of paupers, where there are no almshouses, shall be given to the
lowest responsible bidder, under such regulations as may be provided by law."
"You take the
lowest responsible bidder," Whitty said.
Historically, public works projects in most states and municipalities have had to follow public procurement laws that require the architect to represent the client, while the construction contract is awarded separately to the
lowest responsible bidder. For this reason, as the alternative project delivery's popularity has surged in the private sector, its use in the public sector has lagged.
The organization--with its more than 22,000 members in more than 80 chapters throughout the U.S.--was founded in 1950 in Baltimore, Md., by a group of contractors who believed that projects should be awarded to the
lowest responsible bidder. ABC was recently named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 50 most influential trade associations in the nation.
Five companies submitted price quotes for the stabilization project, and V3 was the
lowest responsible bidder.
He noted that 80 percent to 90 percent of the work in the industry goes to the
lowest responsible bidder. If you just said, 'I will raise my labor rate or compensation and that will solve my problems because people will go where their monetary interests are best served,' I'm not sure that fully applies (in construction), he said.