Opinion ID: 1630832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: ¶ 3. The City of Meridian solicited sealed bids for the construction of a one million gallon elevated water tank, the North Meridian Elevated Water Tank, pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 31-7-13 (Supp.2002). The City employed Malcolm-Pirnie, Inc. as the project engineer who prepared bid specifications. ¶ 4. A project manual, which included the bid specifications, was distributed to prospective bidders. The manual's instructions note that the [owner] reserves the right to reject any or all Bids ... [and] to waive any informality not involving price, time or changes in the Work. Further, the contract was to be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible Bidder who has neither been disqualified nor rejected.... The manual also states that the concrete and formwork requirements... shall be strictly enforced to ensure concrete of the highest practicable structural and architectural standards. It specifies that prefabricated form segments shall be used and that the [c]oncrete pour height shall be a minimum of 6 ft. and a maximum of 12 ft. ¶ 5. Four sealed bids were submitted including Caldwell's at $1,261,000 and Landmark's at $1,310,000. The other two bids were higher. After the bids were opened, the project engineer noted that Caldwell proposed to use composite tanks that had been constructed in 1996 and 1997 while the project specified tanks constructed five years or more prior to the bidding. He also noted that Caldwell proposed to use four feet forms instead of six to twelve feet forms as specified in the project manual, but recommended in writing that the City award the contract to Caldwell anyway as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. ¶ 6. In a letter to the project engineer, Landmark's attorney opined that Caldwell did not comply with the bid specifications concerning the forms to be used, and therefore, the bid was not responsive. Upon written request by Landmark's president, Eric Lamon, the matter was added to the city council's agenda for the same time the contract award was to be considered. The city council members reviewed the correspondence before the meeting. ¶ 7. At the meeting, Landmark's president, Caldwell's president, the city public works director, and a representative of the project engineer all spoke to the city council. Lamon submitted that Landmark could have also reduced its costs if it had known it could take exceptions to the specifications. However, Lamon gave no specifics to expound upon or evidence to support this conclusion. The public works director stated that the structural strength of the water tank was not compromised by the different size forms and that the tank would still have to be constructed within the tolerances set forth in the specifications regardless of the size of the forms. The project engineer's representative testified that the deviation from the specifications did not involve time, price and changes in the work because there was still going to be a one million gallon tank that was not significantly altered. He also stated that Caldwell's forms would merely be a change to aesthetics, not to the structure of the tank. ¶ 8. The city council voted unanimously to accept Caldwell's bid and award it the contract. Landmark filed a notice of appeal and bill of exceptions with the circuit court which in turn affirmed the city council's contract award to Caldwell. Landmark timely appealed to this Court. The circuit court allowed Caldwell to intervene on appeal.