2.543 Mistakes in Bids.
(1) General. Clarification or withdrawal of a bid because of an inadvertent, nonjudgmental mistake in the bid requires careful consideration to protect the integrity of the competitive bidding system, and to assure fairness. Except as provided in this rule, if the mistake is attributable to an error in judgment, the bid may not be corrected. Bid correction or withdrawal by reason of a nonjudgmental mistake is permissible but only to the extent it is not contrary to the interest of the City or fair treatment of other bidders.
(2) Mistakes Discovered After Bid Opening but Before Award. This subsection prescribes procedures to be applied in situations where mistakes in bids are discovered after the time and date set for bid opening but before award.
(a) Minor Informalities. Minor informalities are matters of form rather than substance that are evident from the bid documents, or insignificant mistakes that can be waived or corrected promptly without prejudice to other bidders or the city; that is, the informality does not affect price, quantity, quality, delivery, or contractual conditions except in the case of informalities involving unit price.
Examples include, but are not limited to, the failure of a bidder to:
(i) Return the number of duplicates of signed bids or the number of duplicates of other documents required by the bid documents;
(ii) Sign the bid form in the designated block so long as a signature appears in the bid documents evidencing an intent to be bound;
(b) Mistakes Where Intended Correct Bid is Evident. If the mistake and the intended correct bid are clearly evident on the face of the bid form, or can be substantiated from accompanying documents, the manager may accept the bid. Examples of mistakes that may be clearly evident on the face of the bid form are typographical errors, errors in extending unit prices, transposition errors, and arithmetical errors. Mistakes that are clearly evident on the face of the bid form also may include instances in which the intended correct bid is made clearly evident by simple arithmetic calculations. For example, missing unit price may be established by dividing the total bid item by the quantity of units for that item, and a missing or incorrect total bid for an item may be established by multiplying the unit price by the quantity when those figures are available on the bid. For discrepancies between unit prices and extended prices, unit prices shall prevail.
(c) Mistakes Where Intended Correct Bid is Not Evident. The City may not accept a bid in which a mistake is clearly evident on the face of the bid form but the intended correct bid is not clearly evident or cannot be substantiated from accompanying documents.