JMS Air Conditioning & Appliance Serv., Inc. v. Santa Monica Cmty. Coll. Dist.

Plaintiff and appellant JMS Air Conditioning and Appliance, Inc. (JMS) appeals from the superior court's June 5, 2017 denial of JMS's petition for writ of administrative mandate. That petition asked the superior court to set aside an administrative decision by defendant and respondent Santa Monica Community College District (the District) that allowed a contractor with the District, real party in interest and respondent Bernards Bros., Inc., to substitute another subcontractor in the place of JMS on a construction project for the District. The court denied JMS's petition, and for the reasons discussed below, we affirm the court's denial.

*951 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

JMS challenges a decision the District issued pursuant to procedures in the Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act (the Act) ( Pub. Contract Code, § 4100 et seq. ).

*202 The Act stems from legislative concerns about the practices of "bid shopping" and "bid peddling" on public works projects. "Bid shopping" is "the use of the low bid already received by [a] general contractor to pressure other subcontractors into submitting even lower bids." ( Southern Cal. Acoustics Co. v. C. V. Holder, Inc.…