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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY <br />OPINION NO. 73-26 <br />MARCH 19, 1973 <br />StTBJECT: Award of a Contract to Other Than the Lowest <br />Competitive Bidder <br />REQUESTED BY: James A. 4~,Tithers, City Attorney <br />OPINION BY: Frank J. Fekete, Deputy City Attorney <br />QUESTION NO. 1: In a competitive bidding situation, must a <br />low bidder who has been passed over in the <br />award of a contract in favor of a higher <br />bidder be af_f_orded an opportunity to present <br />evidence that he is qualified to perform the <br />contract? <br />nNSWFR: Yes. This is the holding in City of Inglewood-L.F. <br />' County Civic Center Authority v. Superior Court 97?_) <br />~, 7 Cal. 3d 381, 103 Cal. Rptr. 689. <br />nN7~I,YS IS <br />Tn the absence of a statutory requirement (for general law cities) <br />or charter provision, a city is not required to award contracts <br />using the competitive bidding method. Section 4~?_1 of_ the Santa <br />Ana City Charter requires competitive bidding on contracts f_or <br />expenditures in excess of $2,000.00 for materials, supplies or <br />equipment or for certain defined public works construction. Un- <br />less all bids are rejected, the contract must be awarded to the <br />"lowest and best bidder." <br />The term "lo~~est and. best bidder" distinguishes our City Charter <br />f.r_om the State statutes which were construed in the Inglewood <br />case, and from most city charters in this and other states, where <br />the term ''lowest responsible bidder" is most frequently used. <br />Iiowever, we believe that these terms are substantially the same <br />and. should be construed as having the same meaning for purposes <br />of_ applying the Inglewood case to Charter Section 421. (See <br />R. C. Willmott Coal Company v. State Purchasing Comm.'n, 54 S. W. <br />2c3 63a, ?_~F Ky. ]_15) In this regard, tae note the following lan- <br />guage in West v. ~~akland (191E) 30 Cal. App. 556, 56f1, 159 P. ?.0?, <br />2~n: <br />The tern "lov~est responsible bidder." h~~s been held to <br />47 <br />