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<br /> more responsive and more responsible after weighing qualifications, and this is made clear
<br /> when we go to the next page of the case, it says question, and this was a cross-examination
<br /> of Mayor Diaz, "On July 11 of this year did you as a strong mayor believe that you could
<br /> evaluate responsible bidders and determine which of those bidders you were,going to award a
<br /> contract to". Answer: "yes sir", "and even though Solo was the low bidder, one of the
<br /> responsive bidders and one of the responsible bidders you believed at that time you could still
<br /> award it to another contractor." Answer: "yes, based on all the information.", and that is
<br /> exactly what happened here, and in this case the Circuit Court as welllas the 3rd DCA
<br /> affirming, said that you can't do that, and that is exactly what you cannot do as a municipality,
<br /> procuring a contract that is to be awarded to the lowest and responsible bidder.
<br /> Ms. Dickens said that she sees a little bit of a distinction in the standards, in Sweetwater it
<br /> looks as if their Code specifically required that as long as the City found that the bidder was
<br /> responsive and responsible that they had no other choice but to go to the low bidder. When
<br /> she looks at the standard in Sunny Isles Beach it does not pivot the two against the one. In
<br /> Sunny Isles Beach, it appears to her that all three standards stand along side each other, so
<br /> that it has to be the lowest responsive and responsible, they are all the same, and that the
<br /> City can then consider that criteria together, unlike Sweetwater which says responsive,
<br /> responsible and then they have to have the lowest price. So how do you distinguish that?
<br /> Mr. De Armas responded, because that is exactly what the court goes on to lsay, and if you go
<br /> to the back of the case, the forth page from the back, at the bottom there is a number 14
<br /> where the court gets to its opinion, and it says"The City of Sweetwater's actions in attempting
<br /> to award the contract to the most responsible bidder as opposed to the lowest responsible
<br /> bidder,", exactly what we have here, an attempt to award a contract to a� more responsible
<br /> bidder than Tran Construction, as opposed to the lowest responsible bidder, demonstrates
<br /> that the attempted award was made without reason, or for a reason that is merely per textural,
<br /> and that is void of any legal basis. Accordingly, the City's decision to award the contract to
<br /> United Engineering,", in our case Southeastern, "was arbitrary and capricious and based upon
<br /> criteria that were neither included in the bid documents or clearly defined in any manner
<br /> whatsoever.", and it goes on to number 15, "The City of Sweetwater's actions in attempting to
<br /> award the contract to United Engineering Corporation are not only arbitrary and capricious but
<br /> also are contrary to Florida's competitive bid statutes. The Code provides that the City of
<br /> Sweetwater City Council will accept the bidder of the lowest responsible bidder who will
<br /> perform the contract in a matter most beneficial. Since Solo Construction was a responsible
<br /> bidder...", and in this case, there was no question that Tran is a responsible bidder,
<br /> "submitted the lowest bid", again there is no question but that Tran submitted the lowest bid,
<br /> "and offered to perform the contract in the shortest span of time. The City was legally
<br /> required to award the stormwater improvement to Solo. The City's attempts to award the
<br /> stormwater improvement contract to United as the most responsible bidder,is inconsistent with
<br /> the requirements of the City Code." What we are doing is, when we say lowest responsible
<br /> bidder as opposed to the under$25,000 language that says lowest most responsible bidder is
<br /> you are only quantifying one aspect and that is low, once you are the lowest, that is it, the City
<br /> has no authority. So long as you are one of the responsible and responsive bidders,which he
<br /> believes there shouldn't be any question of, the same exact proposition is,universally applied.
<br /> Summary Minutes: Bid Protest 07-10-02 030308 Page 3 of 11
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