The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-05-05
CONDITIONAL WORDS
LOSE FOR O'KEEFE
Continued from Page II

vides: No bid for the building
or repairing of any court house
shall be received or entertained
by the board of commissioners
OF any county of this state unless
such bid shall be accompanied by
an affidavit signed and sworn to
by the bidder and each of his
agents or representatives present
at the time of filing such bids,
specifying, etc" Then follows
specifically what statements such
affidavit must contain.
Cnder the provisions of this
section, it is quite clear that the
commissioners were prohibited
from receiving the bids Of appel
liant Ness and the other bidders,
except O'Keefe on account OF
their failure to comply with the
same. The statute is prohibitive
and appellant has no right to
complain, even though a wrong
reason was given for a proper
act but it is also insisted that the
bid OF appellee O'Keefe was in
valid and should not have been
received by the board.
Section 1858, provides: In all
cases where any county officer is
authorized by this act to receive
bids for any purpose, it shall be
the duty OF the county auditor to
prepare and furnish to possible
bidders printed forms on which
all bids shall be submitted. No
alteration or erasure in the form
OF said bid from that prescribed
by the auditor. with the approval
OF the commissioners, shall be
permitted and no bid shall be re-
ceived which does not comply
with this provision.
Appellant insists that the stip-
ulationS which O'Keefe added to
each OF his bids, making them all
conditional upon his receiving all
OF the work, was such an altera-
ton upon his receiving all of the
work, was such an alteration as
came within the prohibition OF
his section and rendered them in
valid, and the board therefore had
no right to receive or consider
| .hem. That the added stipulations
were alterations cannot be denied.
| Whether such alterations were
OF such a substantial character
as to bring it within the prohib-
ition OF the statute is the point
at issue. The specifications, the
Instructions to bidders and the
blank forms submitted, each call
ed for separate bids upon the
items therein specified. Upon
these various items then, each of
said bidders were notified to com
pete and this was the ground up
on which they were directed to
meet To permit bidder to Sc
leet another and different ground
and to submit another and differ
ent proposition from that speci-
fed and different from that which
other bidders were notified would
be considered certainly would not
conform to the definition of COM
petition. Appellee O'Keefe did
not bid separately on anything.
His bid was simply an aggregate
bid for all the work. He did not
offer to construct any portion OF
the work separately. The only
variations that could be made in
the aggregate amount OF his bid
was in the choice of materials
designated for certain work. For
example. if the commissioners de-
sired tile roofing instead of metal
roofing, his aggregate bid would
be increased in proportion to the
difference in cost OF the two
classes of work. The same is true
as to the matter of oak and Ter
razzo flooring.
The Board OF Commissioners
undoubtedly could have authoriz-
ed this form of bidding, had it
so desired, and if such form had
been designated in the notice and
in the forms for bidding. then
each of said bidders would have
had an opportunity of making
a similar bid and competition
would have thus been fully OBJ
tanned. But this was not done and
for this reason. the bid of appellee
did not conform either to the no.
tice. the specifications or the
form of bid provided by the Au-
ditor 1t was therefore not a valid
bid and should not have been re-
ceived and considered by the
board.
Appellant also insists that the
performance of O'Keefe's con-
tract should be enjoined for the
further reason that there was no
appropriation for the construction
of the surveyors room. Section
5942 Burns 1908 provides: mo
board of county commissioners,
officer or agent or employee of any
county shall have power to bind
the county by any contract or
agreement or in any other way, to
any extent beyond the amount of
money at the time already appro-
priated by ordinance for the pur-
pose of the obligation attempted
to be incurred, and all contracts
and agreements, expressed or inn
piled, and all obligations of any
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