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<br /> Mr. De Armas said that he has for the court, Boeing Engineering Corporation which addresses
<br /> the same issue, of Indiana, and in that case we had the same thing, we had a bid, a request
<br /> for proposals that was to be awarded to the lowest responsible responsive bidder. The
<br /> municipality there acted as if they were awarding to the lowest most responsible bidder and
<br /> the court said you can't do that, there is a difference between lowest responsible bidder and
<br /> lowest most responsible bidder.
<br /> Ms. Dickens said then are you saying that when the City awards a construction contract, that
<br /> the only consideration that the City can make is the price? Mr. De Armaslsaid no, the City
<br /> determines whether bidders are qualified or not, and that, it has an obligation to do, and there
<br /> is a set criteria that they use to determine whether somebody is responsive and responsible or
<br /> not. Ms. Dickens said then assuming that people are not disqualified, bids come in, some are
<br /> thrown out they didn't meet the requirements, they are disqualified, not those, let's assume
<br /> that the City has gotten a list of contractors that are qualified to do the work,land so then they
<br /> go to the next step, are you then saying that out of that group of those contractors that are
<br /> qualified to do the work, the City is then legally required to take the lowest bid and are not to
<br /> consider any other factors? Mr. De Armas said absolutely, when it says lowest responsible
<br /> bid, that is exactly what it means. Once these bidders are found to *responsible and
<br /> response you do not quantify more responsible or less responsible, they a ie all responsible,
<br /> now you go to one criteria, lowest bid, and that is exactly what this court:in Indiana said as
<br /> well, "The Board may not make comparisons of bidders to determine responsibleness,
<br /> responsibleness is a minimal requirement of bidders, not a competitive standard among
<br /> bidders. A bidder can be un-responsible only if the awarding body would not award the
<br /> contract to the bidder even if that bidder had submitted the only bid. The absence of the term
<br /> best, or most responsible unmistakenably demonstrates the legislature did not intend
<br /> responsibleness to become a competitive factor between bidders, but rather the legislator
<br /> intended to give the Board the discretion to reject bids from contractors who are unable to
<br /> perform the work satisfactory they have awarded the contract. The Board may not award the
<br /> contract to Boeing simply because the subjective factors met materially in favor of Boeing.
<br /> Whether Boeing is more responsible than WPM is irrelevant when determining whether WPM
<br /> is the lowest responsible and responsive bidder.
<br /> Ms. Dickens said she sees the law is that there are two governing principals as it relates to
<br /> awarding contracts in the State of Florida for municipalities, you have the State Statutes, and
<br /> you have your local ordinance, and in the absence of a local ordinance, you rely on the State
<br /> Statute, however, if you have a local ordinance then that, unless it is contradictory to what the
<br /> State law says, controls. Mr. De Armas said he agrees, and Ms. Dickens said with that being
<br /> said, you read the Sunny Isles Beach Code, and you see that Sunny Isles Beach not only
<br /> limits their bidding to costs, but in their Code in Section 62.8, what do you think of these other
<br /> listed factors, and Mr. De Armas said those are factors that you use to determine whether a
<br /> bidder is responsible or not, that is the criteria that you use to determine responsibility velnon
<br /> period, once you determine that a bidder is responsible then that is it, your discretion is out
<br /> the window, you must award to the lowest bidder. It is very simple, in case:after case stands
<br /> for the same proposition, the last case he cited was Boiston vs. Nappa Sanitation, and it is a
<br /> California case and it says the exact same thing, when we use the term "lowest responsible
<br /> bidder", lowest responsible bidder is not to be qualified on responsibility,land the court says
<br /> Summary Minutes: Bid Protest 07-10-02 030308 Page 4 of 11
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