Great West Contractors, Inc. v. Irvine Unified School District

*1428 Opinion

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS CASE

This case is important for two reasons. First, it presents a challenging problem in public contracting law: How to distinguish a “nonresponsive” bid from a de facto determination that the bidder is not a “responsible” bidder. The difference is significant not only to the bidder, but to the taxpaying constituency of the public entity: A truly nonresponsive bid may be summarily denied by a public entity even if the bid is otherwise monetarily the best for the entity. On the other hand, a determination of nonresponsibility entitles the bidder to a hearing where certain minimal elements of due process must be afforded before the contract can be awarded to the next-best bidder. 1

*1429 More particularly, this case illustrates the necessity of following the rule enunciated in 2007 by our Fifth District colleagues in D.H. Williams, supra, 146 Cal.App.4th 757 (D.H. Williams). Under the D.H. Williams rule, a public agency cannot reject the bid of the lowest bidder on a public works project on the theory that the bid is “nonresponsive” to the agency’s request for bids when, in substance, the real reason for the rejection is that the agency…