§ 120-L — Letting of contracts

§ 120-l. Letting of contracts. 1. Whenever any work to be performed or\nmaterials to be furnished in or about any improvement to be made by two\nor more municipalities under the provisions of this act shall involve an\nexpenditure of any sum of money exceeding five hundred dollars, the\nmunicipal bodies or boards of the contracting municipalities, by their\nofficial action taken in joint meeting as herein provided, shall\ndesignate a time when they will meet at their usual place of meeting to\nreceive proposals, in writing, for doing the work or furnishing the\nmaterials, and such joint meeting shall order the chairman and secretary\nthereof to give notice, by advertisement inserted in one or more\nnewspapers published or circulating in the municipalities jointly\ncontracting, at least two weeks before the time of such meeting, of the\nwork to be done or materials to be furnished, of which at the time of\nsuch order they shall cause to be filed in the office of such joint\nmeeting particular specifications; all proposals received shall be\npublicly opened by such chairman in the presence and during a session of\nsuch joint meeting, and of all others who choose to attend the said\nmeeting; not more than one proposal shall be received from any one\nperson, directly or indirectly, for the same contract work or materials;\nand the said joint meeting may reject any and all of said proposals and\ndirect its chairman and secretary to advertise for new proposals and\naccept such as shall in the opinion of a majority of the municipalities\nrepresented in said joint meeting be deemed most advantageous for the\nsaid municipalities, subject, however, to the reservations herein\nprovided; the board may require a bond or deposit from the person\nsubmitting a proposal, the liability of such bond to accrue, or such\ndeposit to be forfeited to the municipality, or municipalities, in case\nsuch person shall refuse to enter into a contract in accordance to his\nproposal. The proposal so accepted shall be reduced to a contract in\nwriting, and a satisfactory bond to be approved by such joint meeting\nshall be required and given for its faithful performance, but all\ncontracts when awarded shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder\noffering satisfactory security; this section shall not apply to any\nengineer or agent of the joint contracting municipalities engaged in\nsupervising or directing the work of such improvements.\n 2. Whenever a security bond is posted by a successful bidder for the\nfaithful performance of a municipal project under the provisions of this\narticle, for which state aid is approved, the name and address of the\nbonding company or person issuing the security bond, the number of such\nbond, and such other information as may be required by the state\ndepartment or agency responsible for supervising the aid program\nregarding the project, shall be transmitted to such department or\nagency, where it shall be reviewed to determine its authenticity prior\nto the award of such contract. The original of such bond shall remain in\nthe office of the municipality. Upon request of such department or\nagency, the superintendent of financial services shall render such\nassistance as is necessary to determine the authenticity of the security\nbond.\n