Bidding on city property

[rmelo99]

What is the name of your state? CT

I'll try to make this short. The city I live in put up for bid to the highest bidder a vacant/abandoned house. The process was sealed bids

Bid's closed at the end of June. I was present for the opening of the bids. All of the people about 10 or so put in bids in the 30-60k range. One development corp put in a bid for 125k. My bid was $125,619. So I was the high bidder.

After months of waiting I spoke with the city as to the hold up. The woman says they are going to reject all of the bids and reopen the bid process. She said the original bid request was "unclear" as to what criterea they would be awarding based upon. If they gave the bid to the high bidder person then the other would complain that they had more experience in rehabing homes, and if it was the other way around then the high bidder would complain that they were the highest.

So now I am screwed. Since I am an individual I cannot afford to go any higher than I originally did. Now this corp knows the price range they must bid in to guarantee their win. On top of this the corp that is bidding against me is sort of shady. They are a non-profit that in the past several years have sponged a lot of federal funds for rehabbing houses and have had not much to show for it. of 600,000 in funds only 4,000 went to rehabing houses.

I found numerouse newspaper articles describing their past history. I higlighted all the imp parts and had all the surrounding neighbors sign a petition saying they don't want their involvement in our city. I sent this to the mayor, purchasing dept, and the P&E development dept who is handling the property sale.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? CT

I'll try to make this short. The city I live in put up for bid to the highest bidder a vacant/abandoned house. The process was sealed bids

Bid's closed at the end of June. I was present for the opening of the bids. All of the people about 10 or so put in bids in the 30-60k range. One development corp put in a bid for 125k. My bid was $125,619. So I was the high bidder.

After months of waiting I spoke with the city as to the hold up. The woman says they are going to reject all of the bids and reopen the bid process. She said the original bid request was "unclear" as to what criterea they would be awarding based upon. If they gave the bid to the high bidder person then the other would complain that they had more experience in rehabing homes, and if it was the other way around then the high bidder would complain that they were the highest.

So now I am screwed. Since I am an individual I cannot afford to go any higher than I originally did. Now this corp knows the price range they must bid in to guarantee their win. On top of this the corp that is bidding against me is sort of shady. They are a non-profit that in the past several years have sponged a lot of federal funds for rehabbing houses and have had not much to show for it. of 600,000 in funds only 4,000 went to rehabing houses.

I found numerouse newspaper articles describing their past history. I higlighted all the imp parts and had all the surrounding neighbors sign a petition saying they don't want their involvement in our city. I sent this to the mayor, purchasing dept, and the P&E development dept who is handling the property sale.

My response:

Thank you for your wonderful "human interest" story.

So, what do you want from us?

IAAL

 

[rmelo99]

Thanks for your warm welcome.

What I am looking for is some advice. What recourse do I have. How can I stop the city from reopening the bid? The original bid said it was a contract between the city and the high bidder.

I think reopening the bids underminds the whole idea behind sealed bids. Now everyone knows what price range all the others will be bidding. In addition it will inflate the actual price value of the property b/c a bidding war will start jacking up the price. I believe that this corp is pulling some strings @ city hall.

I have spent countless hours of my time working on all of the particulars for this deal. In addition to $$$. I never thought there would be a problem since I was the high bidder. What kind of action can I bring against the city?

Someone has to have experience in public purchasing that can help out here.

TIA

REM

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Thanks for your warm welcome.

MY RESPONSE: You're welcome. Next time, learn how to ask a legal question. We're not god-damned mindreaders!



What I am looking for is some advice.

MY RESPONSE: No sh!t, Sherlock. But, to what question? That's the problem we were having with your initial post - - there was no question.




What recourse do I have. How can I stop the city from reopening the bid?

MY RESPONSE: Now we're getting somewhere. You need to sue the city for Breach of Contract and Injunction.




The original bid said it was a contract between the city and the high bidder.

MY RESPONSE: Gee, really?



I think reopening the bids underminds the whole idea behind sealed bids.

MY RESPONSE: No kidding!



Now everyone knows what price range all the others will be bidding.

MY RESPONSE: That's only one of the reasons why you want to sue for an Injunction, so you can stop the city from re-opening.


IAAL