Antibidshopping Law Offers Leeway To Contractors

Saturday, April 04, 2009 05:21 pm

Antibidshopping Law Offers Leeway To Contractors

A handful of states have legislation on their books designed to control postaward bid shopping and keep contractors tied to their bids.But those ties aren't necessarily as tight as they seem.Subcontractors who thought they had ajob can find themselves replaced as long as the con-tractor appears to have played by the general intention— if not the blackandwhite rules—of the statute.

Normally, antibidshopping statutes require that a contractor supply a list of subcontractors it is committed to using on a project—subcontractors it cannot switch out without seeking appropriate permission.However, such legislation doesn't always hold, point out the authors of"Bid Shopping,"which appeared in the Journal of Construction Education, Spring 2003, Vol.8, No.1.That was certainly true in a 2008 case where prime contractor Kemp Bros. Construction, Inc. (Kemp)replaced electrical subcontractor Titan Electric Corporation (Titan)with another sub for work on two Los Angeles Unified School District projects.

In Titan Electric Corporation v. Los Angeles Unified School Distr. & Kemp Bros. Construction, Inc., Cal App. 2d[...]