Fairview Valley Fire, Inc. v. Department of Forestry & Fire Protection

— In this government contracting dispute between defendant and respondent Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and plaintiff and appellant Fairview Valley Fire, Inc. (Fairview), we affirm a judgment entered in favor of Cal Fire on an order sustaining Cal Fire’s demurrer.

We agree with Cal Fire that, in approving in advance the vendors from which Cal Fire will actually later hire emergency fire equipment, the agency is not required to employ the formal competitive bid process set forth in the Public Contract Code. Under the express terms of Cal Fire’s written policies and procedures, no binding contract arises between Cal Fire and an equipment vendor until a vendor’s equipment is actually dispatched by Cal Fire in an emergency. Accordingly, the emergency exemption to the competitive bid procedures set forth in section 10340, subdivision (b)(1) applies to Cal Fire’s emergency hiring, and the trial court did not err in sustaining Cal Fire’s demurrer to Fairview’s declaratory relief claim challenging the agency’s emergency equipment hiring process.

We also find the trial court properly dismissed Fairview’s causes of action challenging its suspension as a…