158.13 AWARD OF CONTRACT.

   The award of the contract, if it is awarded, will be to the lowest and best bidder whose proposal complies with all the requirements prescribed. The City reserves the right to consider all elements entering into the question of determining the qualifications and responsibility of any bidder. The City may accept a proposal and award a contract which is greater or less in any amount than the Service Director's or City Engineer's estimate pursuant to Section 158.03. Where bids are taken in the form of separate proposals on portions of one project, the work will ordinarily be awarded to the contractor, otherwise qualified, whose combined bid is the lowest. No bidder bidding on all such proposals shall be required to enter into a contract covering less than the entire project without his or her consent.

   The award, if made, will be made within sixty days after opening the proposals, unless the time for awarding and executing the contract is extended by mutual consent of the City and the bidder whose proposal the City accepts. No increase shall be made in the contract price for any damages, costs or expenses incurred by the bidder as a result of such extension unless such increase is specifically approved in writing by the City as a change order to the contract. In no case will a contract award be made until the certification of funds by the Finance Director and all necessary investigations are made as to the responsibility of the bidder to whom it is proposed to award the contract.

(Ord. 1981-11. Passed 3-10-81.)