Keep Eye on Details When Bidding for Local Public Contracts

The exacting nature of bid submissions under local public contracts law will continue to foil bidders who do not pay close attention to complying with those statutory requirements. That is the lesson from two recent decisions by the New Jersey Appellate Division, which recently affirmed rejection of bids under New Jersey’s Local Public Contracts Law (LPCL) for failure to comply with the bid requirements. In both cases, companies lost lucrative contracts because errors in bid responses rendered them noncompliant with the LPCL.

The LPCL, N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1 et seq., provides a framework of statutory requirements for public entities—including municipalities—seeking to purchase goods or services beyond a threshold amount (generally $21,000). “The purpose of [the LPCL] is to ensure that bidding is fair and free from fraud.” Entech Corp. v. City of Newark, 351 N.J. Super. 440, 457 (Law Div. 2002). Many of the LCPL requirements relate to the local contracting entity, for example, by requiring that bids be advertised a certain number of days before the date set for receipt of bids. There are also mandatory requirements with which bidders must comply. For example, the submission of statutorily required documents with bids is a requisite for a compliant bid. A list of those documents should generally be included with the bid documents. New Jersey courts have routinely denied contract awards to bidders who fail to comply with these mandatory bid document requirements. If a company is interested in obtaining work under the LCPL, it is crucial to have an understanding of the importance of complying with both the bid and statutory requirements.