176 Iowa 217 | Iowa | 1916
‘ ‘ In case our bid is accepted, we agree to sign the contract and furnish the required bond within 10 days after the con*221 tract has been awarded to us and have the improvement completed on or before Dec. 1st, 1916. ’ ’
In the other bid, that of J. S. McLaughlin & Sons, which was accepted, notwithstanding the fact that it was $1,718.70 higher than that of the Western Improvement Company, the date inserted for completion was Nov. 1, 1916. The date “Dec. 1st,” in the bid of the Western Improvement Company, was written in. The form of contract exacted performance according to the specifications, and these provided that the contractor should have the improvement entirely completed on or before November 1, 1916, and that “the time limit shall be considered as extending between May 1, 1916, and November 1, 1916.” The specifications further provided that a certified check of $3,000 be deposited with each bid as a guarantee that he will enter into a contract with the city for doing the work in strict accordance with the plans and specifications and in accordance with his bid and that “said check shall be forfeited . . . if he fails to enter into such contract. ’ ’ Another condition says that, on failure to complete the work in the time specified, the contractor shall forfeit $25 per day “for each and every day that elapses between the time specified for completion and the time it is actually completed,” and the amount thereof shall be deducted from any money owed to the contractor. It seems clear that the bid of the Western Improvement Company was not responsive to the proposition presented by the plans and specifications. These fixed November 1st for the completion, while the company proposed, if it were awarded the contract, to have the improvement done December 1st. The time of completion of the improvement was a material part of the specifications, and a bidder had no more right to change it than to change the materials to be used or the manner of preparing them. Osburn, v. City of Lyons, 104 Iowa 160. If a change of one month may be made, why not a year?
“Ford knew that the council had no authority to advertise for ‘ bitulithic or its equal pavement, ’ and that it had not purported to do so, and, when he proposed to lay bitulithic or its equal pavement at a specified price, he authorized the council to accept his proposal for bitulithic pavement without condition. His bid was framed in his own terms, and he was bound to assume that the council might give it a construction which would render it valid and binding rather than a construction which would vitiate it and render it a farce. We think that there was no such doubt or uncertainty as to the effect of Ford’s bid as to justify the council in refusing to consider it.”
No contradiction was involved. Part of the bid was responsive to the proposal and part was not; and as these were severable, the court held that the portion not responsive should be treated as surplusage. There was nothing to reconcile them, while here the dates of completion are different, and the sole question is, Which shall prevail in the construction of the bid? The authorities agree that there must be a substantial compliance with the proposal to warrant the consideration of the bid, else bidding would not be on equal terms, and the advantages of competition lost. Unless the bid responds to the proposal in all material respects, it is not a bid at all, but a new proposition. It will be noted that, though the specifications fix the time for completion as November 1, 1916, the payment of $25 per day as damages is to be for each day
The decree of the district court is — Affirmed.