3AWARD AND EXECUTION OF THE CONTRACT

SECTION 3.00 : AWARD AND EXECUTION OF THE CONTRACT Subsection 3.01 : Consideration of Proposals The Department reserves the right to reject any and all bids, or any bid item, to advertise for new Proposals for the project, to waive technicalities, to waive informalities as to form, or to proceed to do the work otherwise, as may be deemed to be in the best interest of the Department. Nothing herein shall be construed as depriving the Department of the right to reject any bid when such bid does not fully comply with the specifications for the project or the applicable public bidding laws or regulations, or the Contractor is otherwise no t eligible or responsible to receive award of the contract. A proposal will be considered irregular and will be rejected if it is determined that any of the unit prices are materially unbalanced to the detriment of the Department. The bidder will be required to justify in writing the price or prices bid for the wor k in question before the Department decides to award the contract or reject the bid. Subsection 3.02 : Award of Contract Subject to the reservations in Subsection 3.01: Consideration of Proposals , the contract will be awarded to the lowest eligible and responsible Bidder. It is anticipated that the Contract will be awarded within 30 days after the opening of bids, or, for projects requiring concurrence by the FHWA, or other Agencies, within 45 days after the opening of bids. The successful bidder will be notified by mail or otherwise that their bid has been accepted and that they has been awarded the Contract. No municipality may award a contract until the Department has determined that the bidder was prequalified in the specified class of work on or before the time of bid opening, and has not exceeded the Aggregate Bonding Capacity established by the bidder's surety company, and has, if applicable, a Single Project Limit in an amount equal to or in excess of the Proposal amount, and is otherwise in compliance with 7 00 CMR 14.00 Prequalification of contractors and subcontractors . Subsection 3.03 : Retention of Proposal Guaranty The two lowest Bidders shall keep their bids open for at least 30 days after the opening of bids, or, for projects requiring concurrence by the FHWA, or other Agencies, for at least 45 days after the opening of bids. The Proposal guaranties of the two lowest Bidders will be retained until after execution of the Contract, prior to which, however, either Bidder may substitute a bid bond, cash or certified check (or cashier's or treasurer's check), all as described in Subsection 2.06: Proposal Guaranty Required , for the guaranty already deposited with the Supervisor of Fiscal Management of the Department. The Department will endeavor to return the Proposal guaranties of all Bidders other than the two lowest Bidders within three days after the opening of bids. After the bid has been kept open for the required number of days the low Bidder may withdraw their bid and request the return of their proposal guaranty, in which case the guaranty of both the two lowest Bidders will be returned and the second lowest Bidder's Proposal shall not be considered for award. After the bid has been kept open for the required number of days the second II.54 202 4 Edition SUB