Opinion ID: 1154635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Provisions of LSA-R.S. 38:2215

Text: LSA-R.S. 38:2215 states in relevant part: A. The public entity upon receipt of bids for the undertaking of any public works contract, shall act within thirty calendar days of such receipt to award said contract to the lowest responsible bidder or reject all bids. However, the public entity and the lowest responsible bidder, by mutually written consent, may agree to extend the deadline for award by one or more extensions of thirty calendar days. [Emphasis added.] The City contends that, under this statute, all bids are automatically rejected if the contract is not awarded within the 30-day period. We decline to accept this interpretation. On rehearing in the present case, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the City's argument, relying upon its prior interpretation of LSA-R.S. 38:2215 in Bill Roberts, Inc. v. City of New Orleans, 485 So.2d 988 (La.App. 4th Cir.1986) and the Fifth Circuit's decision in Thigpen Construction Company, Inc. v. Parish of Jefferson, 560 So.2d 947 (La.App. 5 Cir.1990). In Roberts, supra, the Fourth Circuit held that the 30-day period in LSA-R.S. 38:2215 was the limit within which the governing authority had to accept the lowest responsible bid or reject all bids. If it did not award a contract within that time frame, the governing authority had to reject all bids. The Fifth Circuit similarly ruled in Thigpen, supra . In so holding, both cases cited Donahue v. Board of Levee Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District, 413 So.2d 488 (La.1982). Rosenbush and the Contractors contend that the above cited cases are questionable authority for the City's position because of their reliance upon Donahue, supra, a case which construed the prior law. At the time Donahue, supra, was decided, LSA-R.S. 38:2214 still allowed the rejection of bids without any cause. Where it is possible to do so, it is the duty of the courts in the interpretation of laws to adopt a construction of the provision in question which harmonizes and reconciles it with other provisions. Bunch v. Town of St. Francisville, 446 So.2d 1357, 1360 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984). Both LSA-R.S. 38:2214 and 38:2215 were amended and reenacted in their present forms in Acts 1991, No. 1043, § 1. They must be reconciled in such a manner as to give full force and effect to each as amended. Thus, LSA-R.S. 38:2215 must be read as implicitly incorporating the standard of rejection for just cause. As Rosenbush and the Contractors correctly argue, the present LSA-R.S. 38:2214 and 38:2215 should be interpreted together to provide that a public entity has 30 days to do one of the following: (1) award a contract to the lowest responsible bidder; (2) reject all bids for just cause; or (3) extend the deadline by mutual consent with the lowest responsible bidder. In the present case, the City did none of these. Since the City failed to comply with its obligation to award the contract within the 30-day period, a mandamus action to compel the public entity to award the contract to the lowest qualified bidder was justified. At this point, the City could not avoid its ministerial duty by trying to change the basis of the contract from administrative services to professional services and readvertise for bids; the 30-day period in LSA-R.S. 38:2215 had already expired; it was simply too late. [6] Consequently, we find that LSA-R.S. 38:2215 is not authority for justifying the City's refusal to award the contract to Rosenbush.