KITV reports the City is seeking to move away from construction awards to the lowest responsible bidder, to a more subjective selection process that takes into account the bidder's past performance.

Contractors and others in the industry may recall that about ten years ago, the State experimented with Performance Information Procurement System ( ("PIPS"), a data based procurement system that assigned grades to contractors based upon a computerized point system that evaluated their performance on past jobs.  The system was scrapped due in large part to concerns about subjectivity in award of the jobs, which under the PIPS systems ended up being awarded to a handful of the same contractors. 

The current procurement code does not envision such a process under the competitive bidding provisions.  Under the current version of the code, the low bidder will be accepted if it is the lowest responsible and responsive bidder.  Theoretically, the City's concerns over bidder qualifications should be addressed under the "responsible" requirements of the section. 

Alternatively, the City might move away from competitive bidding altogether, and opt for only the RFP process, such as the one utilized for award of the rail contracts.  This allows for greater subjectivity.  However, it is also a more complicated and time consuming procurement process that is often not suited for smaller jobs that need to be completed in a hurry.