Cal-Air Conditioning, Inc. v. Auburn Union School District

In this action, we interpret certain provisions of the “Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act” (hereinafter, the Act) found in the Public Contract Code. (Pub. Contract Code, § 4100 et seq.; all subsequent references to sections are to this code unless otherwise specified.) The Act addresses the practices of bid shopping by a general contractor and bid peddling by a subcontractor on public improvements. (§ 4101; Southern Cal. Acoustics Co. v. C. V. Holder, Inc. (1969) 71 Cal.2d 719, 725-726 [79 Cal.Rptr. 319, 456 P.2d 975 ].) These practices often result in financial difficulties for subcontractors and poor workmanship on public improvements. (§ 4101.)

The statutory provisions at issue in this case cover a prime contractor’s attempt to substitute one subcontractor for another based on an “inadvertent clerical error” in the prime contractor’s winning bid proposal. (§§ 4107, subd. (a)(5); 4107.5.) Section 4107.5 specifies that within two working days after the awarding authority opens the prime bids, the prime contractor, as a condition to assert a claim of inadvertent clerical error, shall give written notice of the error to the awarding authority and a copy of…