Lowest responsible bidder

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Ethan O'Brien

October 22, 2019 01:34

Would the lowest responsible bid be granted based on the base bid?  If there are alternates for the bid, do those numbers play into the lowest responsible bidder.  Let's say one contractor has the lowest base bid, but a higher alternate, so their total with alternate is higher than another contractor who has a higher base bid, but lower alternate.  Who would win the bid if awarded based on lowest responsible bidder?

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  Nichole Perkins October 28, 2019 13:00

  In my experience, the alternates are taken into consideration for the overall lowest bid.

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  Erik Schwarzkopf November 19, 2019 02:09

  My experience would also tend towards Nichole's answer.

   

  I would also like to add that most bidding processes are written so that the Owner is not obligated to select the lowest responsible bid and has the right to choose any bidder. So, another way of looking at this is thus: if Bidder A's base bid is low but their alternate is high, and Bidder B's base bid is high but their total with alternate is low, and the Owner decides that they don't want to follow through with the alternate (as is their right), then Bidder A would still ultimately be considered low. What I'm attempting to alliterate is that alternates can create a gray area depending on the Owner's decision making process. This becomes especially gray-area-esk if you include multiple alternates or even voluntary alternates, the latter of which is not highly recommended by all Architects.

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