Opinion ID: 2633675
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The insurance requirement in Addendum # 2 is objectively measurable.

Text: Alaska Statute 36.30.150(a) provides in relevant part that the procurement officer shall evaluate bids based on the requirements set out in the invitation to bid .... The criteria that will affect the bid price and be considered in evaluation for award must be objectively measurable, such as discounts, transportation costs, and total or life cycle costs. The invitation to bid must set out the evaluation criteria to be used. Criteria may not be used in bid evaluation if they are not set out in the invitation to bid. (Emphasis added.) The original bid solicitation required contractors to obtain $1,500,000 in builder's risk insurance. Addendum # 2 required bidders to insure the Value of Completed Project. Lakloey argues that the value of the completed project is not objectively measurable, but is dependent on the procurement officer's subjective interpretation. Lakloey argues that a prospective bidder would therefore risk either being deemed non-responsive if it guessed too low a value, or losing competitive advantage if it guessed too high. Lakloey also seems to argue that the allegedly subjective insurance requirement made fair and honest consideration of its bid impossible, entitling it to its bid preparation costs. In interpreting statutes, we have adopted a sliding scale approach, under which [t]he plainer the statutory language is, the more convincing the evidence of contrary legislative purpose or intent must be. [20] Under Alaska law, words and phrases in statutes generally are to be construed according to their common and approved usage. [21] The word objective means publicly or intersubjectively verifiable [especially] by scientific methods and expressing or involving the use of facts without distortion by personal feelings or prejudices. [22] The word measurable means capable of being measured. [23] The phrase objectively measurable is therefore commonly understood as describing something that can be measured with reference to externally verifiable facts. Lakloey has not referred us to any legislative history that would suggest another interpretation. A requirement for insurance of the value of the completed project is not as precise as the $1,500,000 insurance requirement that it replaced. But the definition of objectively measurable does not require that the insurance requirement be set at a specific dollar amount. Instead, the range of values based on the objective characteristics of the existing facility and planned improvements satisfies the requirement of AS 36.30.150(a) that the bid criteria be objectively measurable. The YUTE project consisted of improving an existing structure. Estimates of the expected added value of the improvements would yield a range of acceptable values. Because the range could be generated and evaluated by objective facts, the value of the completed project was objectively measurable.