Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-07
IVY HILL BID
MAY BE TAKEN
TO THE COURTS
Mr.. Jamoneau Consulting At
torney Today on Award of
Furniture Contracts.

The awarding of a contract for the
interior furnishing of the new 100000
almshouse at Ivy Hill may result in
an appeal to the courts is the decla-
ration today of William H. Jamou-
neau, president of the w. H. Jamou-
neau Company, or this city This Is
the aftermath of the awarding of the
contract yesterday afternoon by the
poor and aims committee of the COM
mon Council. The Jamounean bid
was thrown out, as 1t was not in con-
formity with the regulations of the
specifications.
Mr. Jamouneau said today:
II am taxpayer and have been a
resident of Newark for forty years.
intend to consult my attorney to-
day and will carry the matter into
the courts. Why should the citizens
of Newark be compelled to pay s46,-
1896 for furnishings for the new
almshouse, when my bid of $41,99O Is
81, 494. Sc less than the amount called
for by the successful bidders Ac-
cording to an opinion received by the
committee yesterday afternoon from
City Counsel Nugent, my bid is con-
sidered to be an informal one-that
is, one where the unit prices of each
article is not given. l consider that
the bids of the firm of M. j. O'Connor
&, Sons were submitted in the same
manner. | have three witnesses to
testify that unit prices were omitted
on many of the items.
II consider the whole matter a
frame-up, and if any change is made
in the original bid of the O'Connor
concern l intend to make trouble for
those responsible for the changes"
Not Awarded in Bulk.
The contracts were not given
in bulk to the lowest bidder. but
individual articles, or sets of arti-
Giles, was given the preference. The
contracts were given as follows:
Bathroom fixtures and fittings
for every bathroom, Newark Hard
ware and Supply Company, ST.
POSTS; office furniture and rockers
for the inmates, w. B. Wood Com
pany, $3,5SS.50, and the rest of the
furnishings, beds, chairs, linen, cur
tains, etc, was awarded to M. J.
O'Connor Sons at SAL, 690.7l.
There were nine Specifications con-
tanned in the bids on each of which
OConnor's Sons bid, making the to-
tai on all of the furnishings $780,
54464. On five of the specifications
the award was made to the lowest
bidder.
In three instances the committee
had to award the contract to the
next lowest bidder. the O'Connor
firm, because the lowest bidder had
failed to comply with the specifica-
lions. The bids that had thus to be
rejected were those of the William
H. Jamoneau Company on two speci-
fcations, and that OF the Baker
Printing Company on one specifica-
ton. The action of the committee
was based on an opinion rendered by
City Counsel James r. Nugent, stat
ing that the bids had been found in
formal. Under the specification, the
opinion reads, the bidders were re-
CURED to give unit prices, which
both the Jamoneau and the Baker
concerns failed to do. The opinion
also referred to the fact that the
Jamoneau general bid, though low
er than the composite bid, failed 70
give prices on all of the nine sepa-
rate specifications as required, and
furthermore neglected to specify a
time limit.
In speaking of the specifications,
Alderman Rogers, one of the mem
bers of the committee said: THE
prices was to give us the chance that
il IN any case we found we could
get along on a smaller quantity, then
stated in the total bid, we could do
SO, without running the danger of
afterwards being compelled to pay
the full contract price.
Option of Later Order.
ITO give an illustration of what
mean, let us say the specifications
call for total of three dozen pillow
cases. Our specifications also stipu-
lated that the price per dozen must
be quoted, giving us the option of
afterwards ordering one dozen with
out paying for more"
Under the Jamoneau contract, ac-
cording to the opinion of the law
department, we not only would con-
tract for a sum total but also for
three dozen at a lump sum. We
would, therefore, be compelled to
take that quantity whether we need
it or not. We also learned that
Jamoneau was not in the furniture
business and 1t was felt that he
might not be able afterwards to live
up to his contract"