No proposal will be considered unless the party offering it shall furnish evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner of Public Works of his ability, and that he has the necessary facilities together with sufficient pecuniary resources to fulfill the conditions of the Contract and Specifications, provided such Contract should be awarded to him.
Companies or firms bidding will give the individual names as well as the name of the firm with their address.
L. E. McGANN,
Commissioner of Public Works.
Such advertisements as this may be required by statutes or ordinances, and in that case are, of course, proper and necessary. Even where not so required they may be considered advantageous, because they give prospective bidders more complete information as to the character and magnitude of the work, and may enable them to decide at once whether they care to pursue the matter further. But on the whole, the shorter form of advertisement, if permissible, seems preferable, because it refers the enquirer directly to the original and official sources of information, the forms to be used, the contract, specifications and estimated quantities of work, exactly as they will and must be presented to all bidders, and as they will appear in the subsequent stages of the transaction, and leaves, therefore, no room for possible confusion of statements between the advertisement and the other documents. Furthermore, the cost of the shorter form of advertisement is much less, and this is often a matter of some importance.
Instructions to bidders should be confined strictly to such information and directions as the bidder may need to properly and intelligently make up and submit his proposal in accordance with the requirements relating thereto. This should include primarily, a reference to the contract and specifications for all general and detailed information about the work to be done, but should carefully avoid any statements or language that might be construed to add to, take from, limit or modify the contract or specifications. Perhaps the briefest and best statement of what this document should or should not contain is that it should be so framed that, except as a matter of record, its office and usefulness should absolutely end with the award and signing of the contract.
No one who is not a lawyer can presume to say just what the contract proper should contain or cover, particularly as this may vary with the requirements of statutes and ordinances in force in a given city. It would seem logical and proper, however, to separate the special functions of contracts and specifications in such a way that each should cover a distinct field of its own, and be free from encroachment upon the proper domain of the other. With such a conception of the proper domain of each, one might safely say that the contract should undertake to set out only the legal and contractural relations of the parties thereto, and should refer to the plans and specifications for all detailed instructions as to the actual performance of the work and the results to be secured.
In the preparation of specifications for any public work the main points to be kept in mind are fulness, definiteness, and exact expression. While brevity and conciseness are desirable qualities in any document, they should not be secured at the expense of completeness and precision of statement. Even the frequent repetition of words, phrases and sentences throughout a document, where it is necessary to avoid the possibility of misunderstanding or ambiguity, should be resorted to freely. Exact description and definition are more important than literary style, though they may often be successfully combined. Of course, it is not possible or necessary to go into minute detail with regard to every part of the work. Certain things may be safely assumed to be required by established practice or trade usage. If, for instance, it is specified that certain lumber shall be “dressed” this word has a well-understood meaning in the trade and it is unnecessary to stipulate how the dressing shall be done or its character or quality, though it may be necessary to say whether it is to be dressed on one or more sides.
The proper preparation of specifications for any work involves a clear, distinct and complete conception, determination and design of what is to be done; of the conditions that are likely to be met with in carrying it out; and of alternate plans that these conditions may necessitate. This may not always be possible, for the engineer is not omniscient. But careful study and maturity of design will enable him to avoid the great majority of such indefinite expressions as “or in such other manner as the engineer may direct,” “in accordance with the instructions of the engineer,” etc. A great many of the items to which such expressions are intended to and do apply in practice, could be definitely settled before the specifications are prepared and thus all uncertainty on the part of both engineer and contractor be avoided. To illustrate: specifications for block pavement commonly stipulate that the blocks shall be set in rows running at right angles to the axis of the street, except at street intersections, where the engineer may direct them to be laid at a different angle. There is usually no good reason why the engineer should not determine beforehand at which, if any, street intersections the general rule should be changed and so state in the specifications. These may be and usually are unimportant matters which may not much affect one way or the other the cost to the contractor. But they often prove otherwise, and the contractor is entitled to know when he submits his proposal just what he will be required to do. Of course it may develop during the progress of the work that changes from the original plan will become necessary, but these should be provided for in some such definite and previously stipulated manner as outlined in Sect. 3 of the following specifications.
The practice of inserting, either in the specifications or the contract, a clause making the engineer judge and arbiter in any differences that may arise between the city and the contractor, and providing that his decision in all such cases shall be final, is as unwise as it is often illegal. Such clauses are based on the assumption that the engineer is a competent as well as a disinterested party in the transaction, an assumption that is usually wholly wrong, though to their honor it may be said that the confidence thus reposed in engineers is seldom abused. But the fact is that the engineer is never actually a disinterested party. He is employed and paid by the city to look after its interests, and is under no obligations to the contractor other than those named in the contract and specifications and his sense of justice, propriety and professional honor. He would be recreant to his duty if in all nicely balanced matters of doubt he did not espouse the side of his employer. Moreover, his personal interests are often involved. Having prepared the plans, specifications and estimates for the work, he is naturally and properly anxious that it shall be successful and that the cost shall not exceed that estimated. Under all these conditions it is hardly possible for any human being to be a wholly disinterested and unprejudiced judge. No broad-minded and conscientious engineer desires to be placed in such a difficult position, and it is as unfair as it is unwise and improper to require him to assume it.