Case Note: W & W Contractors, Inc. v. Tunica County Airport Commission

This case, unpublished as of yet, according to Westlaw, can be found at 2004 WL 1879503. The case was heard by the Mississippi Court of Appeals, and concerns a competitor's efforts to overturn an award of a contract for fencing, let via a competitive bid process, on the grounds that the Commission improperly allowed the competitor to supplement its bid to include DBE information, as required by the bid documents.

The opinion focuses on the old "arbitrary and capricious" analysis, and finds that the decision to allow the supplementation of the bid was neither. If the DBE program requirements were met, the project would be eligible for federal funding (presumably AIP discretionary funding). The Court also held that because the supplement "bore no relation to economic provisions in the bid such as price which could affect the competitiveness of sealed bids," the Commission did not act outside the scope of its powers in allowing the supplement.

The opinion reinforces the discretion governmental bodies have when deciding on the award of contracts, and at the same time stresses the importance of complying with all those technical requirements of the bidding process (be they imposed by ordinance, regulation, statute, or policy) which serve to further the governmental purpose of increasing competition, which in turn allows for the public dollar to secure more value in circulation.