218 Pa. 100 | Pa. | 1907
Opinion by
The appellants seek to restrain the appellees by injunction from executing and delivering a contract for filter materials and collectors for the Torresdale filters, to the firm of Nor-cross & Edmunds. While the appeal raises several questions of a collateral nature, on which we express no opinion, the decisive question involved is one of law, and within narrow limits.
In 1905 the then director of public works advertised for bids for the furnishing of filtering materials and collectors for the Torresdale filters, and on September 6 of that year bids were received from seven different bidders. They were opened by the director in the presence of the bidders and scheduled according to the usual method of the department. It was determined that the three lowest bidders, calculated upon the estimate of the materials to be furnished, were as follows: Pepper & Bowie, $310,996.05; Jerome H. Louchheim, $328,194.48; Norcross & Edmunds, $336,589.42. In the formal notice to bidders it was suggested that bids by letter, or on detached sheets not forming part of the printed proposal and specifications, would not be considered formal, and that incomplete, conditional or obscure proposals could be rejected. The evident purpose of the notice was to put all bidders on an equality so that open and honest competition
The learned counsel for appellants contend that under these facts there was no such open competitive bidding when the award was made as is required by the act of assembly, and the municipal ordinances. The Act of May 23,1874, P. L. 230, provides that all work and materials required by the city shall be furnished under contract to be given to the lowest responsible bidder under such regulations as shall be prescribed by ordinance. The city councils, in order to make effective the legislative requirement, passed the ordinances of May 10, 1876, July 5, 1877 and December 26,1882, in which it was ordained, in substance, that when work, materials and supplies, are required for the city, bids shall be asked for by advertisement, and when received they shall be opened and the contract awarded to the lowest responsible bidder in the presence of the head of the department. It is perfectly clear that the legislative and municipal intent in the awarding of such contracts was that there should be open and honest competition in order that fair prices should be secured and the city protected from collusive bidding as well as favorite bidders. This rule was announced in Mazet v. Pittsburg, 137 Pa. 548, in which Mr. Justice Sterrett, who delivered the opinion of the court, said : “ It cannot be doubted that the true intent of the act of
In deciding that the contract was improvidently awarded, it must not be understood to indicate that it should have been awarded to any other bidder, for clearly, the director had the power, if the facts warranted it, to set aside all bids, but this question is not before us, and we express no opinion on it.
This view of the law being conclusive of the controlling question raised by this appeal, it is unnecessary to discuss other assignments of error.
Decree reversed and record remitted to the court below with instructions to make the injunction permanent as prayed for, unless cause be there shown why such decree should not be made.