A Florida appellate court recently struck down a county’s procurement procedure for noncompliance with state statutes. Engineering Contractor’s Association of South Florida, Inc. vs. Broward County, 789 So.2d 445 (Fla. 4th DCA. 2001). Florida statutes require that road and bridge contracts be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder by competitive bid.
In 1999, Broward County amended its procurement procedures to require a two-step process. First, the county prepares a list of qualified bidders, a "short list," based on factors such as claims history, performance history, debarment, "an unresolved concern," or "any other cause under this code and Florida law for evaluating the responsibility of an offeror." The county publishes a request for letters of interest defining the factors to be considered in the short-listing process. The county staff would review the responses and assign either an "acceptable" or "unacceptable" rating on each of the categories. The second step is to
