Evening star., 1921-11-10
INJUNCTION ASKED.
| BY SCHOOL BIDDER |

George Hyman. the contractor VINO
built the substructure of the new
Eastern High School building at 18th
! and B streets northeast and whose
bid for the super structure was yes
terday rejected by the District Conn
missioners. today filed suit for injunc-
ton in the Supreme Court OF the Dis-
James F. Oyster and Charles Keller,
the District Commissioners, are named
as defendants in the suit, which. was
filed through former Commissioner w.
Gwynn Gardiner. = =
The court Is asked to restrain the
Commissioners from rejecting the BAD
OF Hyman and from accepting the, bid
Of George e. 'Wyne or OF any other
bidder. II the bid has been accepted,
then the court is requested to enJo.n
The Commissioners from executing the
contract and to require them to give
| the contract to lyman as the Lowest
responsible bidder" -
Justice. I1oe....is cited the District
Commissioners TO appear In court
Monday next to show cause why the
| injunction should not be granted
lne court .s ADVISED that the bids
| were opened October rs last, and it
Was founu that hyman's bid, which
had been accompanied ~ a bona o.
the Globe indemnity company 10.
| 100000, was the lowest subm tied
less than the bad of George E. Wyne,
which the Commissioners have an
nounced they will accept. To his utter
surprise. the contractor tells the
court, he was advised that a recon-
menuatlon would be made not to
accept his b,d, notwithstanding the
! fact that he had frequently done con-
tract work for the DlsLrlct and during
the war had lost large sums OF
| money in maintaining a contract and
declined to permit any recommenda-
ton to Congress for relief. accepting
his loss as the chance taken with the
contract s.. =
AR lyman submits a statement OF
! his financial standing showing assets
! of nearly QuarLer OF million dol
any amount of bond that the contraet
should require. he went further Than
required by the bid. he states, and OF
| tered to give bond for .he "mpte-
! ton OF the building within twelve
months instead OF tie eighteen
He explains that he solicited the CO.
operation of James l.. IA. sons anu
| that their Joint responsibility equals
| one-half million dollars.
What Action Will Entail.
The proposed action of'the District
Commissioners besides costing the
people an additional sl5,s0O, ;he con
great financial damage and destroy his
sood reputation rs a contractor. H.
questions the right of the Cotnmis-
sloners to reject a lowest bid from
a responsible bidder under compet-
! tive bidding and asserts tfat their at
! tempted action is unIawIul and void
| The Commissioners late yesterday
| afternoon decided to award the con-
tract for competition If the new East
ern High School. to Mr.. Wyne TO.
| .tn ha hull In ha pt1fa Il
in twelve months.
In making tho announcement. Col.
Charles Keller. Eneaneer Commits
sioner. made public a statement eX-
planning why the contract was given
| 10 WyIe instead of to LYMAN, the
lowest bidder. 1he statement reaas
in part. as follows:
r. Col. keIier's Statement. -
Considering now only the Lyman
and WXne bids under opt on (a), our
records show that Hyman his never
done for the District of Culumbi.,
work of the complicated character of
this new building, although he. has
done fairly satisfactory work as a
sewer contractor and xon his existing
contract for the excavation and SUBJ
Structure of the new Eastern Hig
School. H exclusion is therefore
contemplated by the provisions of
paragraphs s. s. and Z OF the in
sSt:OCtlOnS 10 DldQe~S.
In the effort to overcome the objec-
lion OF lack of proper experience. Mr..
Hynan. on November 4. called upon me
in company with James L. Parsons, jr.
builder Of this city. who had himself
been bidder at SS13.S00 under option
CD). and stated that Mr.. Parsons was
I builder of we'll known experience and
that he. Mr.. Hyman. now proposed to
associate himself with Mt. Parsons III
the work Of constructing the school in
question. I asked Mr.. Hyman and Mr..
Parsons to furnish written evidence as
TO their resources and their plant and
IS to Mr. Parsons experience as s
builder. Hereto attached is d letter
dated November 4, 1921. signed by. Mr.
Parsons and Mr.. Hynan, in which they
state that they propose to go into part
nership for the construction of the
new Eastern High School, and also a
letter from Mr.. Parsons setting forth
letters commencing Mr.. Hyman writ.
ten by building firms Of the highest
reputation.
by reference to the instructions
to bidders 1t will be seen that para
graph reads, in part. as. follows:
that any bidder is interested in more
than one proposal for the sama item
Will cause the rejection of all proi
posals which he is interested in
AIte tne Hynan proposal was not
originally definitely Parsons, his sup.
Elementary letter becomes a part Of
the proposal. and it is the duty Of
the District, therefore, to take meas
ures to avoid any suspicion of col
lustve bidding, or Of laek Of literal
good faith in applying the safeguards
of the specifications. -
considering Hyman's bid alone and
ignoring, therefore, his improper al
lance with Parsons, it is belize ed
that the difference between Hyn,an's
bid and the next lowest bid is mot
sufficient to justify the risk of, non
completion which would, be taken in
giving the contract to Hypuan. "A con-
tract to complete within twelve
months contains provisions. authoriz-
ing extension of time on. account. Of
strikes, bad weather, ETC.. On his sub
structure contract, Hyman has ap-
piled for and been granted forty-five
days extension Of time because Of 4
strike at the stone quarries in rInc
diana. It is true that a strike existed,
and no doubt 1t held up Hyman's>de
liveries. but stone. nevertheless, was
not unobtainable. and it is believed
."a+ Nd uv->ar's o-~ani-nt o. and