Countywide : County Rejects Bids on ‘Technicality’

The winning bids of a handful of construction companies that failed to comply with the technical details of a new state law were rejected Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, opening the door for future litigation.

The board voted 3 to 1, with Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder dissenting, to reject four bids for what one official called a “technicality.” But county lawyers said the bids had to be rejected because they were “non-responsive” and in violation of a new law that went into effect Jan. 1. The law requires contractors to list the expiration dates of their contractor’s licenses on bids.

“We are headed for litigation no matter which way we go,” said a frustrated Don R. Roth, chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

Attorneys for the companies whose bids were rejected argued that the county should delay action and allow state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) to get legislation passed to “clean up” the new law.

Attorneys for the R.E. Hazard Contracting Co. argued that the authors of the law never intended for it to require contractors that have been in business for decades to submit the expiration dates of their licenses.

The rejected bidder on the Pelican Hill Road project complied with the new state requirement. A spokesman for that company, C.W. Poss Inc., said the contract should be awarded to his company because it was the “lowest responsive bidder” on the project.

Wieder argued that the bidding process in this case was surrounded by “total confusion” and urged that the board vote to wait to see if corrective legislation is quickly passed in Sacramento.