In Bay Cities Paving & Grading, Inc. v. City of San Leandro, 167 Cal.Rptr.3d 733 (Cal.App. 2014) the bid documents required submission of a 36 page package of documents that included the two page bid bond. The low bidder included the second page of the bid bond with the signatures binding the surety and principal but inadvertently omitted the first page of the bond. The bond was the City’s standard form, and the only information on the first page to be filled in by the bidder was the identity of the parties and the project, which also appeared on the second page. After the bids were opened, the low bidder provided the missing page. The City waived the irregularity and accepted the low bid. The second low bidder sought judicial review, and appealed from the trial court’s denial of its petition. The Court held that the City did not abuse its discretion in waiving the deviation in the low bid and affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying the second low bidder’s petition for a writ of mandamus. The Court rejected the petitioner’s arguments that the deviation gave the low bidder an option to withdraw without forfeiting the bond. There was substantial evidence to support the City’s determination that the deviation was inconsequential.
