J.O. from outside of Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
After competitive bids have been reviewed and a contractor selected should a contract be prepared and signed?
Mister Condo replies:
J.O., in theory, yes, but there is often more than just low price that goes into an association’s decision to do business with a particular vendor. Let’s say the association needs to have its parking lot and roads repaved. An RFP is prepared and distributed to several vendors. 30 days or so goes by and the bids are ready for review. Provided the association is ready to have the project proceed, awarding the contract could be as simple as going with the lowest bidder, in this case, Contractor A. Let’s suppose the association had a similar project done 5 years ago and was particularly pleased with the work done by Contractor B, who just happened to be the highest bidder for this new project. If the bid from Vendor B was relatively close to the bid from Contractor A, the association might still choose to award the contract to Contractor B because of the positive outcome from the last time Contractor B performed work for the association. Association Boards are not bound to select the lowest bidder. However, if they select a contractor who wasn’t the lowest bidder, they may have to justify that decision to unit owners who are likely to object to spending more that they feel necessary for the pavement of the association-owned roads and parking lots. In other words, the Board has the discretion to do business with whomever they feel will do the best job for the association. That decision may not always come down to who put in the lowest bid. All the best!