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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Oops -- My mistake

This article comes from Athol, Maine, and is a perfect textbook hypothetical procurement quiz question, played out in real life. It involves a bid error, and seeks to find a way to deal with it. The facts of mistake are always at the core of a problem such as this. But the clarity of the law would help its resolution.

I've set out the whole article as presented, but for our purposes, let's just pretend it is a test question. How would you analyze the problem and solution?

State AG’s office denies Kenefick bid protest
The attorney general has denied a protest by Kenefick Corp., which submitted the low bid to the town for the Queen Lake Dam rehabilitation project. Bids were opened Jan. 31, and the hearing was held March 9.

Kenefick’s bid of $268,150 was the lowest of the 11 bids received, but the town rejected it because the document was not properly filled out. Kenefick argued that the $60,435 error on the form was obvious and should have been corrected by the town.

On the form, Kenefick wrote the total bid price was $268,150. There was a unit price schedule attached to the form. Bidders were asked to provide a unit price for approximately 20 items. The bidders were expected to multiply each unit price by the estimated quantity to derive a total bid amount. Bidders were further instructed to write the extended price for each item in words.

Instead of listing the extended price for each item in words, Kenefick expressed its unit prices in words. The total of the amounts in written words equaled $207,715, which conflicted with the total bid price of $268,150. The town said it made Kenefick’s bid obscure, mandating the rejection.

In the town’s rules relating to bids, in case of a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount expressed in words governs.

Kenefick was notified that its bid read as $207,715. Project Engineer David Lenart told the selectmen this week that, “Kenefick was told to take the bid for the lower amount, or withdraw it. He filed a protest.”

Kenefick maintained the error was obvious, and the town should have corrected it.

The town argued that Kenefick’s bid was obscure because of its $60,435 discrepancy, and also that Kenefick is not a responsible bidder, because it does not have experience with three dam projects, which was called for by the bid specifications.

The company’s lack of experience was also a concern, the town said. Lenart said, “Kenefick could only come up with two projects, which were not comparable” to the scope of the work needed on the Queen Lake project.

State Assistant Attorney General Deborah A. Anderson wrote that the town was under no obligation to correct Kenefick’s bid price, noting if a bidder’s error makes the price or scope of work ambiguous, the bid must be rejected. She further stated the town did not abuse its discretion by failing to correct Kenefick’s error.

Anderson ruled, “I find that Kenefick’s error was an obvious one, even though Kenefick’s bid price could be read as either $207,715 or $268,150. The town had the discretion to correct this error, but it chose not to do so. This was not an arbitrary decision.’

Anderson said as protestor, Kenefick did not meet its burden to prove that its rejection was arbitrary. She said the town was rightfully concerned about allowing Kenefick to choose which bid price was the correct price, thus giving Kenefick ”two bites of the apple.” Also, she said the town followed its own rule. For those reasons the protest was denied.

The second-lowest bidder, R. Bates & Sons, who bid $270,540, made similar, though fewer, errors on the bid forms. He was informed of the same issue.

Selectmen signed two documents prepared by the town’s attorney, officially rejecting the Kenefick and Bates bids. Selectmen then voted to award the bid to the third lowest bidder, Edward Page Corp., which came in at $319,069 ($50,919 higher than the Kenefick bid).

Chairman Thomas Brouillet and John Telepciak signed the contract saying Page “did everything right, and has good experience.”

The project involves the demolition of the dam’s existing spillway and outlet conduit, and construction of a new concrete spillway and gate structure, outlet gates, trash racks, low level outlet pipe, riprap slope protection, gravel crest and landscaping.

Representing the town at the Boston hearing were Thomas McEnaney (town counsel) who filed a response to Kenefick’s protest, and David Lenart, the project engineer.

Work on the dam will begin after Labor Day.
So, what happened here? Kenefick presented a bid with itemized unit prices. In accordance with bid requirements, Kenfeck's bid amount was provided for each itemized line item, but was spelled out in word form. The total amount of all bids was then provided, in Arabic numerals.

Setting aside the question of Kenefick's responsibility for the moment, because the article makes it look like its bid was rejected on grounds of responsiveness, not responsibility, its bid was rejected because the bid "was obscure because of its $60,435 discrepancy" between the total bid price and the mathematical total of the itemized prices. Kenefick argued it was an obvious mistake, but the State Assistant Attorney General held that the town was under no obligation to correct the bid, on the ground that, if a bidder's error makes the price ambiguous, the bid must be rejected. She said the town did not abuse its discretion by failing to correct Kenefick's error.

That may well be the applicable law in Athol, which evidently has a rule that, "in case of a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount expressed in words governs." But this blog is about the ABA Model Procurement Code, and more particularly the Guam procurement law, which follows the ABA MPC, and there is no such law in that context. Remember, we are treating this article as a hypothetical factual situation for our analysis purposes.

MPC § 3-202(6) states that "correction ... of inadvertently erroneous bids before or after award ... shall be permitted in accordance with regulations. This is the same language in Guam law, 5 GCA § 5211(f).

The pertinent ABA MPC regulation is in R3-202.11 ("Mistakes in Bids"), in particular R3-202.11.4(b)("Mistakes where intended correct bid is evident"), which states, "if the mistake and the intended correct bid is clearly evident on the face of the bid document, the bid shall be corrected to the intended correct bid and may not be withdrawn. Examples of mistakes that may be clearly evident on the face of the bid document are ... errors in extending unit prices, ... and arithmetical errors." 

It might be the case that the town did not consider this to be a "clearly evident" mistake. But the AAG was certain it was a clearly evident mistake: "I find that Kenefick’s error was an obvious one...."

The AAG also said "the town was rightfully concerned about allowing Kenefick to choose which bid price was the correct price, thus giving Kenefick 'two bites of the apple'.” Again, I do not question the AAG's statement of applicable Maine law. But the "two bite at the apple" old saw is irrelevant in the MPC regulation, which says such a mistaken bid "shall be corrected ... and may not be withdrawn.

Moreover, there is another element here. Both bites of Kenefick's bid were the lowest prices bid. "Kenefick’s bid price could be read as either $207,715 or $268,150." The next lowest bid, at $270,540, was higher than both of those bids, if we assume, for argument, they were intended to be two separate bids. Even if the totaled low bid written in words,$207,715, the total bid expressed in Arabic numerals, $268,150, remained the low bid. For some reason, “Kenefick was told to take the bid for the lower amount, or withdraw it. He filed a protest."

I hope that there was a stronger reason to reject the bid because of issues of responsibility, though there is not much in this article that would help an analysis of that issue. This bid was rejected before it was evaluated from all appearances, even though it was the lowest bid. It was reported only that "Kenefick is not a responsible bidder, because it does not have experience with three dam projects, which was called for by the bid specifications." 

In the ABA MPC regulations (R3-401.10), it is not necessary to actually have all the experience at the time of bid if it can be obtained (R3-401.03) after bid evaluation, for instance by subcontractors or other professionals available for hire. This regulation requires a separate inquiry to determine responsibility after bid opening, so long as the low bidder's responsibility is determined to the satisfaction of the procurement officer before award (R3-401.04). There was evidently here no finding that Kenefick was nonresponsible (see, R3-401.05), merely "a concern".

And what did the town get from this? The obligation to pay $50,000 more for the next available bid, about 20% more than Kenefick's stated total bid.

It might be asked, why is the ABA MPC so lenient on allowing low bidders to correct bids? It would seem, unless the low bidder has determined to be nonresponsible, that government should be allowed the opportunity to take a low bid, notwithstanding technical mistakes in it that do not prejudice the competitive standing of other bidders. Here, correction of the bid, even to the higher amount, would not improve the competitive position of any of the other bidders.  

It is one of the foundation purposes and policies of the MPC, and Guam's procurement law, "to maximize to the fullest extent practicable the purchasing value of public funds". (MPC § 1-101(2)(f); 5 GCA § 5001(b)(5).)  It is mandated that the procurement law is to be construed and applied to promote its purposes and policies.  (MPC § 1-101(1); 5 GCA § 5001(a).)


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