Ocwd

Colich Construction, LP (Colich), a general contractor, submitted a bid for a public works contract to construct Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) Groundwater Replenishment System Unit II Pipeline Project (the project). Colich’s bid listed Golden State Boring and Pipe Jacking, Inc. (GSB), as a subcontractor. After OCWD awarded the contract to Colich, GSB persistently refused to sign the subcontract requiring it to obtain a performance bond as GSB gratuitously had offered to do in its successful bid for the subcontract. The impasse led Colich to seek OCWD’s approval of its request to substitute GSB out of participation in the project. After an evidentiary hearing, OCWD authorized the substitution, finding under Public Contract Code section 4107, subdivision (a)(1), that GSB’s unjustified intransigence constituted an “unwillingness to execute a written subcontract for the scope of work specified in its sub-bid.” GSB’s petition for writ in mandamus proceedings (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5) was denied by the superior court.

On appeal, GSB argues Colich had no right to insist on a performance bond because Colich failed to make a statutory request for bond under section…