In a recent decision, the Appellate Court reminded us that it is the lowest responsible bidder and not merely the bidder that submits the lowest price that shall be awarded the contract for a public project. In Good Earth Tree Care, Inc. v. Town of Fairfield, 2014 WL 3408914 (Conn.App.), 2 (Conn.App., 2014), the plaintiff brought an action against the Town of Fairfield (the “Town”) because of the Town did not award the plaintiff the contract to operate the Town’s leaf and yard waste facility (the “Facility”) despite the plaintiff having submitted the lowest bid. The lawsuit was dismissed after the plaintiff presented its evidence because it failed to prove that the Town engaged in “fraud, corruption, or favoritism.” Based upon the facts of this case, however, it is easy to understand why the plaintiff thought that there might have been an element of favoritism involved. Specifically, the Town awarded the 5 year contract to the contractor that had operated the Facility for the previous five years at a higher price than the plaintiff had offered.
In the private sector, it is perfectly permissible for an owner to say that it is willing to pay a familiar entity a higher price than a new company if the private company is happy with the existing company’s performance but public owners do not have that type of discretion.