Citations
- 116 A.D. 257
Full opinion text
Clarke, J.:
This is an appeal.from an order of the Special Term denying a writ of peremptory mandamus requiring the comptroller to pay the .balance allegéd to be due to the plaintiff from the city upon a contract for dredging. This contract was let after public advertisement and competitive bidding. By the provisions; thereof the proposals, the sjieeifications and the bid were all made part of the con- ' tract. The proposals are entitled: “ Proposals for bids or estimates,. bid or estimate, bond, contract .and specifications for dredging about 50,000 cubic yards on the North, East and!Harlem Elvers, Borough of Manhattan.” Paragraph 13 provides! that “ The estimated quantities are given only to form a basis ©f comparison of bids and are not guaranteed to be accurate and are ¡not-to be considered as a binding feature of this contract.” The bid stated that.it . was “ For dredging about 50,000 cubic yards, etc.” The. contract ' was “ For dredging about 50,000 cubic yards, etc,,” and provided inter alla that no claim for -extra or additional work or materials should be made by or allowed to the contractor unless before the performance of such extra- or additional work the commissioner should have first authorized. the same in writing, and, further,, that “ The aggregate price to be paid for extra or additional wojrk or materials so authorized or ordered shall not exceed 'five per cent (5$) of the contract price or total cost of the work and materials,f also that “ This contract shall not be binding or of'any force unless the Comptroller of the city shall endorse hereon his certificate that there remains unexpended and unapplied, as provided in the Greater New York Charter, a balance of the appropriation or fund, applicable thereto sufficient to pay the estimated expense of executing this contract .as certified by the officer making the same.” Upon the contract appears the certificate of the -commissioner of doéks that the estimated expense of the execution of the contract would approximate the sum of $49,500 and the certificate of the comptroller that there remains unapplied and unexpended a balance of t'lije fund.applicable . to. this contract sufficient to execute the.same, viz.,¡ $49,500.
It appears that that amount was arrived at by multiplying 50,000 estimated cubic yards-by ninety-nine cents," the - price bid. The specifications provide'd that the work to be done was the dredging in. such slips or portions of. such slips or on the bulkhead wall areas "as should from time to time be directed by the engineer, and that “ This contract will terminate on. the 31st day of December, 1905, unless the estimated amount of dredging called for in the contract has been completed, previous to this date when it will terminate at the time the amount dredged in Cubic yards is as near the estimated amount in the contract (i.