The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-12
AWARDED TO BOSTON FIRM
FULLER xG WARREN co. TO HEAT
 CANNER STREET SCHOOL.

Their Bid Accepted by the Board of Ed-
 ucation Last Evening Corporation
 Counsel Robertson Decides tho Legal-
 ity of the Award-Local Firms Did Not
 Bid According to Specifics tions.
 At the meeting of the board of educa- tion last evening the committee on
 schools was authorized to secure bids on stationery and school supplies and the committee on school buildings to get bids on fuel and janitors' supplies for the next school year. Aside from this, the only matter of importance which came before the board was the award ing of the contract for. the heating of the Gamer street school. Messrs. Mo- ran and Harmount, composing the com mittee on schools, presented to the board the opinion of Corporation Coun- sel Robertson in regard to the legality of awarding the contract to the Fuller & Warren company of Boston, and am nounced that, in accordance with an affirmative opinion, they had awarded the contract to that company.
 The opinion of the corporation counsel in the matter is quite interesting inas- much as it shows that local bidders for the heating contract did not make their bids in accordance with the specifica-, tions. These, the opinion shows, did not call for any particular system of heating, as the contesting bidders claims ed, and therefore there is not the sligf1t- est foundation to the latter's claim or doubt as to the legality of awarding the contract to the Boston firm. The opin- ion in full follows:
 To the Board of Education of New Ha-
 ven:
 Gentlemen--I am in receipt of your communication concerning the matter of the giving out of the contract for the heating system of the new Gamer street school; also paper addressed to your honorable board, signed by cer-i tain bidders for the contract, protesting against your board awarding the same to the Fuller & Warren company oB Boston, Mass. also the advertisement for bids, together with the specifications and the bids received by you. You re- quest me to advise your board whether it would be illegal to award the contract to the Fuller & Warren company who, you state, are the lowest bidders and have complied with the specifications in all respects.
 notice that you say in the statement of facts in your communications: After full consideration and examination the committee decided upon the system of the Fuller & Warren company of Bos- ton, Mass, or one equally good, that system being substantially the one now in successful operation in the Ezekiel Cheever school.
 I notice also in the specifications, un- der general conditions the following: "The heating contractor will furnish and install, exclusive of brick work, six Fuller & Warren Warming and venti]- ating company's No. 800, all cast-iron ventilating furnaces as described below. or equal as approved"
 Referring to the protest, the gist of it is that the bidders were required to fur nish the Fuller & Warren company's ventilators and heaters; that the differ ent bidders went to the Fuller & War; ren company and from them received exorbtant prices for said furnaces, SO that they were unable to compete with the Fuller & Warren company, who put in bid to do the work, which was the lowest bid received. This is the bid in question, and your board asks if you can legally award the contract to the Fuller & Warren company.
 The protestants seem to have failed to notice, if am correct in regard to facts. that they were not restricted to the Fuller & Warren company heaters, and consequently if the Fuller & Warren gave such prices that they could not compete with said company. or neglected to give prices at all, they were at liberty to obtain prices from some other concern whose hea ters were equally good.
 On this statement of facts the protest falls to ground and the protestants can find no fault except with themselves for their carelessness in reading the spe- of the board of education and making their bids accordingly, and am of the opinion that the board can legally award the contract to the Fuller & Warren company.
 If for any reason the board is dissat- isfied with the bid of the Fuller & War; ren company, either on account of the facts set out in the protest or for any other reason, they have a perfect right, under section 156 of the charter, to re- ject all the bids and advertise anew. This, however, is a question for the board to decide.
 If the facts set out in the protest ir- of any statements of facts by the board of education in my hands, were true, and the bidders for the ven- tilating and heating of the Gamer street school were restricted to articles by the Fuller & Warren and if the Fuller & Warren without any collusion or on the part of the board of education or it's officers, should give nigh prices to the other bidders so that the bid of the Fuller & Warren compa- ay should be lower than theirs and as result lower contract could be made by the board of education, which is the principal object of bidding for work even then I am of the opinion that 1t is for the board of education to say wheth- sr or not they will set aside the bids, and if under these circumstances they should make a contract with the Fuller 2 Warren company, I am of the opin- on that the contract would be legal
 The combinations between bidders at auctions or in proposals for work in some cases Vitiate the contract. for in-