Konica Business MacHines U.S.A., Inc. v. Regents of the University of California

After Konica Business Machines U.S.A., Inc. (Konica), unsuccessfully bid for a contract to provide copier services to the University of California (University), it sought a writ of mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085) challenging the award of the contract to Copy-Line Corporation. Appealing from the denial of its petition, Konica contends (1) Copy-Line’s bid did not comply with the requirements in the University’s request for bids, and thus, the University should have either accepted Konica’s conforming bid or rejected all bids and recommenced the bidding process; (2) alternatively, the request for bids was too ambiguous to result in fair competitive bidding; and (3) Copy-Line was given illegal preferential treatment over other bidders. We conclude Copy-Line’s bid did not meet the specifications and gave it a prohibited competitive advantage, and the University’s request for bids did not clearly notify bidders they could deviate from the specifications.

I

Konica had provided photocopy machines and service to the University for several years. When the University advertised a “Request for Quotation” (RFQ) for a new contract on a charge per copy basis, Konica submitted a bid…