Section 10126 Of Article 2. Plans And Specifications From California Public Contract Code >> Division 2. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 2.
10126
. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 10125, the
estimate of cost may be approved by the director, which includes
alternates contemplating additions to, or deletions from, the base
bid, provided that all of the following requirements are met:
(a) Estimates are made for each contingency and, in the aggregate,
the alternates do not exceed 10 percent of the estimated cost for
the project.
(b) The available funds are at least sufficient to cover the filed
estimate for the base project.
(c) Whenever additive or deductive items are included in a bid,
the bid solicitation shall specify which one of the following methods
will be used to determine the lowest bid. In the absence of such a
specification, only the method provided by paragraph (1) will be
used:
(1) The lowest bid shall be the lowest bid price on the base
contract without consideration of the prices on the additive or
deductive items.
(2) The lowest bid shall be the lowest total of the bid prices on
the base contract and those additive or deductive items that were
specifically identified in the bid solicitation as being used for the
purpose of determining the lowest bid price.
(3) The lowest bid shall be the lowest total of the bid prices on
the base contract and those additive or deductive items that, when
taken in order from a specifically identified list of those items in
the solicitation, and added to, or subtracted from, the base
contract, are less than, or equal to, a funding amount publicly
disclosed by the department before the first bid is opened.
(4) The lowest bid shall be determined in a manner that prevents
any information that would identify any of the bidders or proposed
subcontractors or suppliers from being revealed to the public entity
before the ranking of all bidders from lowest to highest has been
determined.
(d) The contract is awarded to the lowest bidder, as determined by
the method prescribed in subdivision (c).
(e) A responsible bidder who submitted the lowest bid as
determined by this section shall be awarded the contract, if it is
awarded. This section does not preclude the department from adding to
or deducting from the contract any of the additive or deductive
items after the lowest responsible bidder has been determined.
(f) Nothing in this section shall preclude the prequalification of
subcontractors.