Article 33. Joint Highway Districts of California Public Contract Code >> Division 2. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 33.

The provisions of this article shall apply to contracts by a joint highway district, as provided in the Joint Highway District Act, Part 1 (commencing with Section 25000) of Division 16 of the Streets and Highways Code.

All construction work shall be done by contract awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after advertising for bids in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated within the district which has been designated by the secretary or the board of directors for that purpose. The advertising shall be done by means of two publications of the notice inviting bids the first of which shall be not less than 10 days prior to the time fixed for receiving the bids.

All bids for construction work shall be presented under sealed cover and shall be accompanied by one of the following forms of bidder's security:
  (a) Cash.
  (b) A cashier's check made payable to the district.
  (c) A certified check made payable to the district.
  (d) A bidder's bond executed by an admitted surety insurer, made payable to the district. Upon an award to the lowest bidder, the security of an unsuccessful bidder shall be returned in a reasonable period of time, but in no event shall that security be held by the district beyond 60 days from the time the award is made.

All bids shall be delivered to the secretary of the board of directors not later than the hour fixed for receiving bids and shall thereafter be publicly opened by the secretary in the presence of the board of directors assembled in public session.

The board of directors shall award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. However, before awarding the contract the board may:
  (a) Reject all bids should it deem this necessary for the good of the district.
  (b) Reject the bid of any bidder who has been delinquent or unfaithful in any former contract with either the district, or any county composing the district, or with the state.
  (c) Reject the bid of any bidder who is unable to satisfy the board of directors of his ability, financially or otherwise, to perform the contract for the proposed work.

If all bids have been rejected because it appears that they are too high and that the work can be done more cheaply by day labor, the board may, in lieu of readvertising for bids, order the work done by day labor under the supervision of the district engineer.

The bidder to whom any contract is awarded shall, within 20 days after the date of the award by the board of directors, execute a contract to perform the work. The contract shall be in a form approved by an attorney employed by the board of directors.

Before the contract is executed, the person to whom it is awarded shall execute bonds for the faithful performance of the contract and for the payment of all claims for labor and material thereunder in the manner provided by law and in the form approved by an attorney employed by the board of directors.

All of the bonds shall be executed by the bidder and by a corporate surety duly authorized to do business as such under the laws of the State of California. Each bond shall be in an amount not less than 50 percent of the aggregate contract price. The contract shall not be executed on behalf of the district until all the contract bonds are approved by the president of the board of directors and the district engineer.

The president or vice president and secretary or assistant secretary shall sign and attest all construction contracts on behalf of the district.

All construction contracts shall provide that a maximum of eight hours shall constitute a day's labor and that three dollars ($3) shall be the minimum amount paid for a day's labor performed upon any construction work covered by the contract.

If any bidder to whom a contract is awarded fails to enter into the contract and execute the required bonds, the board of directors shall declare the check accompanying the bid of such bidder to be forfeited. Upon cashing the check the proceeds shall be placed to the credit of the construction fund of the district. The board of directors may thereupon award the contract to the next lowest responsible and acceptable bidder, or may call for new bids.