This article is an excerpt from The Art of Tendering: A Global Due Diligence Guide, which is available for purchase.
In its April 1992 decision in Asphalt Pavers Inc. v. Department of Transportation, the Florida First District Court of Appeal overruled the Department of Transportation’s decision to reject a $2.4 million low bid due to a missing subcontractor form. The case dealt with a road construction project in the City of Tallahassee. The complainant challenged the rejection of its bid, claiming that it had submitted the allegedly missing form and that the government had misplaced the form. The Court ruled in favour of the bidder, accepting the evidence provided by the bidder’s representative, who claimed to have included the required form in its low bid, and rejected the arguments of the Department since its staff could not recall opening or handling the complainant’s bid.
As this case illustrates, the failure to properly document bid evaluation procedures and resulting decisions can prove fatal to the defensibility of those decisions if challenged.
