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etc. This document is called the specifications. The drawings and this description are then referred to as the plans and specifications.

In order to get open and general competition in doing the work a date is set on which bids will be received, and blank forms of proposals are prepared by the engineer which can be filled out by the bidders, and notices or advertisements are inserted in the papers and in the engineering journals calling the attention of contractors to this public letting. These and other accompanying documents will be discussed in the order of their sequence in actual practice.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

58. The advertisement should be as short as possible to contain the necessary information, in order to save expense. It should usually contain the requisite information on the following subjects:

(1) A title indicating the kind of work to be done.
(2) Place, date, and hour of opening the bids.

(3) Person, company, or corporation letting the work, (4) An adequate description of the work, with especial reference to the kind and quantity (or cost) of work to be done. (5) Conditions of payment, if these are peculiar.

(6) Instructions as to where to obtain plans, specifications and blank forms of proposals.

(7) Statement as to amount of cash or of certified check or of bond to accompany the bid.

(8) A reservation of the right to reject any or all bids.

(9) Any other peculiar feature, as the letting of the work in parts or as a whole; bids to be received only from experienced contractors, etc.

59. The Theory of Advertisements. The object of the advertisement being to secure as large a competition as possible from responsible bidders, it follows that the inforniation conveyed in it should be such as not only to attract the attention of such parties, but such as would enable them to decide whether or not it would be worth their while to submit a bid. A prominent title indicating the general character of the work would serve to attract the attention of contractors engaged in that line of work. It is a common practice to omit this title, with the result that one is obliged to read nearly the entire advertisement, which is usually printed in small type, before he can learn what the nature of the work is. It is usual also to announce that the proposals or bids which are to be submitted shall be sealed, with the implied understanding that these seals are not to be broken until the bids are opened at the place, date, and hour named. This is for the purpose of preventing collusion and fraud. In other words the bids are to remain secret and unknown except to the bidders themselves until the hour arrives for opening them. It is also customary to state that these bids or proposals shall be opened in the presence of the bidders, in other words at an open meeting of the board, or committee, or corporation, or council. To this meeting all persons are free to come and see the bids opened, and to hear them publicly read, with the privilege of taking down the prices named if they choose.

The description of the work included in the advertisement should be sufficient to enable the contractor to decide whether or not it was of such a character as he would be willing to undertake, and also sufficient to enable him to determine the amount of work to be done, and the time required to perform it, as well as the probable approximate cost of the same, and the amount of capital required to successfully prosecute it. The advertisement should also indicate whether or not the work would be let in parts or only as a whole. If it may be

let in parts, the advertisement should indicate what the lines of division are, so that one might know what parts he was at liberty to bid upon. It is customary to pay for contract work on monthly estimates of the engineer, reserving from each month's estimate of the worth of materials furnished and work done twenty or twenty-five per cent. until final completion. This enables the contractor to carry out the work without having the requisite capital to complete the work with his own means. If the conditions of payment are to be other than this, thus making them unusual and peculiar, such conditions should be stated in the advertisement.

Having drawn the attention of contractors to the work and given them the necessary information to enable them to decide whether or not they would wish to submit bids upon the same, it remains to give them such information as may be necessary to enable them to procure promptly the necessary plans and specifications, the blank forms of proposals, and information as to the amount and kind of guarantee which they must submit with their bids to have them considered.

60. The Guarantee. The object of the guarantee is always to insure that the successful bidder, or the party who is given the contract, will sign the contract for doing the work and furnish the requisite bond for faithful performance. In other words this guarantee is simply an assurance of his good faith and honest intentions in submitting his bid, and it is customary to make it consist of cash or the equivalent of cash in the form of a bank check duly certified by the bank as being receivable for the amount stated. This check is to be made payable to the party letting the work, or his agent, and is to be forfeited to such party in case the bidder fails or refuses to enter into a contract for the performance of the work after the award has been made to him. The deposits made by the unsuccessful bidders are, of course, immediately returned to them, and that of the successful bidder is held until he has

entered into a contract as above stated, after which it is also returned to the owner. Sometimes it is considered a hardship for the bidders to have to make this cash deposit in submitting their bids, in which case the bidders are asked to furnish a bond or guarantee signed by parties known to be responsible, binding themselves in a stated sum, which sum they agree to pay if the bidder named therein fails to enter into a contract for the faithful performance of the work.* Some such guarantee as this should always accompany every bid received in open competition. While this might not be necessary for men of known business integrity, yet in an open competition bids will be received from strangers, and without this kind of an assurance of honest intention the successful bidder will often refuse to enter into a contract on the basis of a bid. In this case the handing in of a bid would involve no financial responsibility, and hence bidders might carelessly submit bids without having taken due precautions to determine the cost of the work, and hence might have made a price altogether too low and one which would involve serious losses on their part if they would undertake to carry out the work for the sum named. In case such a party should receive the award and then after more careful investigation learn that the work could not be performed for the price named in the bid he would decline to enter into a contract and the letting would have to be made over again. This would necessitate readvertising the work, and a considerable delay, in addition to some cost. It is desirable therefore always to require a certain guarantee of good faith which shall accompany the bid itself, and which shall involve considerable loss to the bidder if he declines to enter into a contract in case the work is awarded to him.

61. Right of Rejection. It is well always in the advertisement to reserve the right to reject any or all bids, for

*Or the agreement may be to pay the difference between the price named and the contract price for which the work may finally be let.

if this is not done the fair inference is that the contract will be let to the lowest bidder. In some instances, when the work is done under state or city auspices, the law may require that the contract shall be let to the lowest bidder if let at all. In this case the advertisement should state that "the right is reserved to reject all bids," since if parties should not choose to let the work to the lowest bidder their only recourse would be to reject all the bids and advertise the work again. If the parties letting the work are not bound by this legal requirement, and if they have reserved the right "to reject any or all bids" in the advertisement, then they are at liberty to let the work to any of the bidders without subjecting themselves to a charge of unfairness. It must be admitted, however, that if the work is not let to the lowest bidder, the parties letting the work subject themselves to invidious criticism, and they should have very good and satisfactory reasons which they are willing to produce in defense of their action, in order to clear themselves from blame before the various parties interested in the letting of the work.

62. Illustrative Examples. The following advertisements have been selected from the current journals as fairly embodying in suitable form the requirements as above stated. The student should note the terse and condensed style of these advertisements in which the greatest possible amount of valuable and required information is given clearly but in the least possible space:

CELINA, OHIO, WATER-WORKS-NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS.-Sealed proposals will be received by the trustees of the water-works of the village of Celina, Ohio, up to 8 o'clock P. M. of the 10th day of April, 1895, for furnishing the materials and constructing a system of water-works for said village.

There will be required about 773 tons of cast iron pipe; about 18 tons of special castings; 101 fire hydrants; 76 valves and boxes; brick pumping station and chimney; 2 pumps of a combined capacity of two million gallons per day; 2 boilers; a steel stand-pipe 16 feet in diameter and 125 feet high, etc.

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