Masonry Magazine March 1966 Page. 28
ANTI BID SHOPPING LEGISLATION
contractors at their lower prices. Also, we are informed that under the present practices sub-bids are submitted at the last possible moment before prime bids are finally submitted, in order to minimize the extent of bid shopping before bid opening, and are usually inflated in order to allow for a later reduction.
Hearings have been held in recent years on proposed Federal legislation requiring the listing of subcontractors by general contractors bidding on Government construction work. While these bills failed of passage, the statements submitted by various national associations of electrical and mechanical specialty contractors and by officials of member organizations have been preponderantly, if not unanimously, to the effect that bid shopping is quite prevalent and that requiring the prime contractor to list subcontractors would be very helpful in eliminating this undesirable practice.
The above hearings indicated that a substantial number of contractors do not bid on subcontracts for Federal construction work because they have no assurance of receiving the contract even if theirs is the lowest responsible bid. The president of one corporation engage in mechanical and electrical contracting work stated that over a six-month period his firm spent approximately $20,000 in preparing sub-bids on Federal projects on which it was the low bidder, but did not receive a contract. GSA feels that if a subcontractor has assurance his bid will be properly used and that he will receive the contract if he is the low bidder, the general contractor should be able to secure an adequate number of competitive bids from responsible subcontractors in sufficient time to properly evaluate then and estimate his costs on a businesslike basis.
In April of 1964 I introduced H.R. 11072, the predecessor to H.R. 489, paterned in large part after the California procedure. Senator Inouye and Congressman Hanna have also introduced similar legislation.
About this time the Department of Interior also introduced a pilot program in two states.
The idea of the government's concern for the quality of federal subcontractors is not new.
41 C.F.R. Sec. 1-1310-2 provides as follows:
It is a disservice to the Government to award contracts to bidders who are not responsible.
With regard to subcontractors, Sec. 1-1.310-11 declares that the evaluation of the qualifications of subcontractors is generally the function of the prime contractor. However, the section further provides that a prime contractor (whose qualifications are determined by the contracting officer) shall not be considered to be responsible unless recent performance history indicates an acceptable purchasing and subcontracting system or prospective major subcontractors are determined by the contracting officer to satisfy that standard.
41 C.F.R. Sec. 18-7.104-40, among others, requires contractor-on N.A.S.A. projects to select subcontractors on a competitive basis..." (What this means in listing has never been tested).
Many conferences were had, I know, between contractors, contractor organizations, my Congressional office and GSA that resulted in the regulation promulgation that provided in November of 1964 the first standard require
belt speed 400 ft. per minute... places materials up to 37 ft.... hydraulic raising mechanism materials unload directly from truck
CONTRACTORS CONVEYOR
AEROIL PRODUCTS COMPANY
69 Wesley St., South Hackensack N.J.