February 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 31

substantial advantage over other
bidders as a result, and respondents'
acceptance of the nonconforming bid was in violation of law...
Minnesota Statute Section 471.345,
subdivision 3, requires competitive bidding for the contract at
issue. And the purpose of competitive bidding is to provide " all contractors an equal opportunity to
bid, " thus assuring that the taxpayers will receive the best value.

As a result, the appeals court concluded that the contract between Interboro and the City was void.
On appeal, Interboro had argued further that the city had the " discretion to
waive bid defects... even if the call for
bids did not allow substitutions. " The appeals court rejected this argument. According to the court, " [a] fundamental
purpose of competitive bidding is to limit the discretion of contracting officials. "
Pursuant to " municipal competitive bidding laws " (Minn. Stat. § 471.345), the
appeals court found the City was " not
permitted to accept Interboro's bid unless the bid offered a commodity that
substantially complied with the call-forbids specifications. "
Because it had incurred expenses related to performance of the contract, Interboro had also argued that the court
should not allow the City to claim that the
contract is void. The appeals court disagreed. In the opinion of the court, " [t]he
city and park board did not permit Interboro to continue for an extended period
under the assumption that the contract
was valid and that its final product conformed to the bid specifications. " On the
contrary, the court found " the contract
was in an early stage of performance "
because the park board had " notified Interboro that its bags were nonconforming within the same calendar month that
it received the first shipment. "

Conclusion
The appeals court, therefore, concluded
that the contract was void because " Interboro's bags were not of the thickness

required by the bid specifications. "
Since " Interboro's bid did not substantially comply with the call for bids, " the
appeals court affirmed the summary
judgment of the district court effectively dismissing Interboro's breach-of-contract claim.


James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D. ,

is an associate professor in the
School of Recreation, Health, and
Tourism at George Mason University
in Manassas, Virginia. E-mail: jkozlows@
gmu.edu. Webpage: http://mason.gmu.
edu/~jkozlows.

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February 2010

Parks & Recreation 29

February 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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