Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang
And didn't they award the construction to the lowest bidder, as per city policy? And don't we have bad welds as a result of that lowest bidder? And isn't that what might possibly put this thing over budget?
So it sounds like, despite being criticized as extravagant and expensive, the city's policy of accepting the lowest bidder is causing the delays and extra costs.
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No, accepting the lowest bidder did not cause the delays. At best, that is a very simplified way of putting it.
There is no reason to not accept the lowest bid unless you suspect that the trade submitting the bid is incapable of doing the work. I'm sure that the Spanish welders were well capable of doing the work properly. A trade that wasn't the low bid could have screwed up just as easily, except they didn't get the opportunity to.
It's not like a homeowner buying carpet, or furniture, or something and buying the cheapest one, then complaining when it isn't very good quality. For projects like this, there are minimum specs that the work has to achieve. Trades don't submit low bids for lesser quality work, they all submit bids for exactly the same work. That's why the lowest bid is almost always used.