Virtually all public construction contracts are awarded through
a competitive bidding process. Although bids often are solicited
for private work, a private owner is free to award a contract to
whomever he chooses using whatever criteria he desires. However,
for public work, a public owner commonly will be required by
statute or regulation to award a contract to the responsible
bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid.
If a contractor believes a public agency erred in accepting a
bid, he can initiate a bid protest. A bid protest can be filed by a
low bidder who was not awarded a contract or another bidder who
believes the contractor who won the project did not submit a
responsive bid or was not a responsible bidder.
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