Court Opinion

ID: 9759691
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:25:18.830165+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:04.111382
License: Public Domain

Justice EAKIN,
dissenting.
In February 1998, the Department entered a contract with Automated Wagering after, as my colleagues point out, the Department “selected the proposal ... most responsive to the Commonwealth’s needs.” The proposals included “options” *244(and prices) for the vending machines. The question we are presented is whether the December 1999 agreement to furnish those machines is a new contract, or an amendment of the February 1988 contract. While my colleagues conclude it is the former, I cannot find reason to disagree with the Commonwealth Court, which found the opposite.
The RFP shows an obvious intent to deal with one vendor, rather than a different vendor for every different type of lottery sale possible; avoiding such fragmentation was hardly a covert or undesirable goal. While the online aspects were the primary focus, the RFP clearly contemplated a much wider relationship, including vending machines.
That is, if prices of vending machines were not considered, why speak to them at all? The only reason was to establish that the vendor could provide them at some reasonable price; if the vendor could not, its response to the RFP would be less attractive. Prices of vending machines were not determinative, but the ability to provide services beyond online gaming was a consideration when determining which proposal was most “responsive to the Commonwealth’s needs.”
Given the language of the RFP and original contract, I find the December 1999 agreement to be an amendment within the clear contemplation of the original agreement, an option to be exercised by the parties. Once the overall offer was accepted and the contract signed, the options were resolved as an extension of that agreement-not as a new offer and new acceptance, but an exercise of something called for in the original agreement. While my colleagues express an inviting analysis, I cannot disagree with the court below and must respectfully dissent.