Bidder Responsibility

Bidder Responsibility

"Responsibility" Defined.

A responsive bid may be rejected if the public entity determines the bidding company is not "responsible." A bidder is not responsible if it is not inherently capable of performing a contract as promised. This is an important area for public entities since the contractor will argue that the performance bond is ample protection for the public entity and that the license held by the bidder is sufficient evidence of competency. The following are a few of the major public works provisions that address the topic of bidder responsibility.

Public Contract Code § 10162 provides that a state agency may reject any bidder that has previously been "disqualified, removed, or otherwise prevented from bidding on, or completing a federal, state or local government project because of a violation of law or a safety regulation." Public Contract Code § 10303, relating to state agencies, permits rejection of a bidder for 90 to 360 days where the bidder's performance on prior state contracts "has demonstrated a lack of reliability in complying with and completing such previously awarded contracts."

Public Contract Code § 10285.1 permits suspension of a bidder from public works contracts for up to three years where the contractor or any partner, member, officer, director, responsible managing officer, or responsible managing employee of the company has been convicted of fraud, bribery, collusion, conspiracy, or other violation of any state of federal antitrust law in connection with bidding on any public works contract.

A bidder may be able to satisfy the "responsibility" requirement through a pre-qualification process. For example, the State General Services Administration has pre-qualification programs for a variety of work categories.