temporary restraining order - Finance & Commerce
temporary restraining order - Finance & Commerce
temporary restraining order - Finance & Commerce
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Aff. Exhibit H). The legislature deliberately mandated use of competitive procurement<br />
processes to safeguard the public’s funds.<br />
The basic purpose of competitive bidding is to give the public the benefit of the<br />
lowest obtainable price from a responsible contractor. As a part of the fulfillment<br />
of that purpose, the discretion of public officials is limited or removed so as to<br />
avoid fraud, favoritism, improvidence, and extravagance.<br />
Foley Bros., Inc. v. Marshall, 123 N.W.2d 387, 391 (Minn. 1963). Those statutory safeguards<br />
are enforced by the courts. See Griswold v. Ramsey County, 65 N.W.2d 647, 651-52 (Minn.<br />
1954) (“Irrespective of what lawful method is adopted or used in the letting of public contracts, it<br />
is for the courts to determine whether officials in the exercise of their discretion have applied the<br />
method used in an arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable manner.”). Judge Rosenbaum aptly<br />
described the lens through which public procurement cases should be viewed by the courts.<br />
It is imperative that public bidding procedures be conducted in a carefully<br />
controlled and wholly open manner. To this end the legislature of the State of<br />
Minnesota has constructed and enacted into law a detailed code regulating public<br />
bidding procedures. The case law strongly supports those procedures. Even the<br />
slightest deviations from prescribed form are viewed with a most jaundiced eye.<br />
United Tech. Commc’n. Co. v. Washington County Bd., 624 F. Supp. 185, 188 (D. Minn. 1985)<br />
(internal citations omitted).<br />
b. The City was not authorized to deviate from competitive<br />
procurement requirements.<br />
The City has taken the indefensible position that the bonding statute funding the Capital<br />
Project Grants authorized the City to award a multi-million dollar contract to its favored<br />
contractor without engaging in any type of competitive process. See Wieland Aff. at Exhibits E,<br />
F, and G. It does not.<br />
The bonding statute, Session Laws 2012 Chapter 293 (“the Bonding Statute”), empowers<br />
Capital Project Grant recipients to do certain things. It empowered the City to “employ or<br />
contract with persons, firms, or corporations to perform one or more or all of the functions of<br />
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