Citations
- 36 Cal. App. 4th 1074
Full opinion text
Opinion
ANDERSON, P. J.
The crux of this appeal is whether a municipality, consistent with applicable ordinances and without overreaching areas occupied by state law, can bar a contractor from bidding on its public works projects for five years, on a declaration of irresponsibility for knowingly filing a false claim. We conclude it can and reverse the order preliminarily enjoining the City and County of San Francisco (City) and its public utilities commission (PUC) from enforcing the PUC’s order against public works contractor Stacy & Witbeck, Inc. (Stacy).
I. Background
The City is a chartered city and county and as such has adopted its own laws requiring competitive bidding on public works contracts involving expenditure of more than $50,000. (San Francisco Administrative Code (SFAC) § 6.1, calling for the letting of such contracts to “the lowest reliable and responsible bidder.”) In May 1991, pursuant to its competitive bidding process, the City awarded Stacy and Nationwide Construction Company, its joint venture partner, Muni Contract MR-1038 to construct a double crossover track system at the Castro Street light rail vehicle station. The contract called for a 10-day continuous shutdown period, but due to delays the shutdown period was extended.
Problems ensued. On December 5, 1991, Stacy served the City with a Government Code claim pertaining to the contract. The following month, on January 14, it submitted a preliminary construction contract claim and request for equitable adjustment to the City. Therein, Stacy indicated that the City’s engineer had stated that change order requests had to be pursued via a “Contract Claim” following project completion. Nonetheless, Stacy decided to submit a preliminary breakdown of damages “because the multiplicity of changes to the work made by the City has and is resulting in monumental extra cost to both the Contractor and our Electrical Subcontractor. . . .” “In accordance with the early advice of the Engineer, we hereby submit a description of damages known at this time. We will continue to review and analyze the impact of the City’s actions and inactions while work continues on the project. [