Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-981 Page: 2 of 3
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4:38
Hon. Raymond E. Magee, page 2 (V-981)
readvertising for additional bids?'"
We are unable to find among the documents
which you present for our consideration any information
from which we might determine in what particular the
building contract is violative of the building code of
the City of Galveston. It follows that neither are we
able to determine exactly what changes were made in
the contract in question, other than the exclusion of a
tile floor from the original plans. The submitted facts
do reveal, however, that changes were made in the speci-
fications which, as advertised, were the basis of the
bids upon which the contract was awarded.
The rules as to when there must be a new ad-
vertisement for bids when changes are made in the speci-
fications submitted as the basis for bids in the first
instance are well stated in 43 American Jurisprudence
789, Public Works and Contracts, Section 46, as follows:
".. . After bids have been made upon
the basis of plans and specifications prepar-
ed by public authorities and given out to all
interested bidders, no material or substantial
change in any of the terms of such plans and
specifications will be allowed without a new
advertisement giving all bidders opportunity
to bid under the new plans and specifications.
"Cases are legion in which contracts have
been condemned by reason of the departure from
the notice or specifications in some particular
which was substantially favorable to the bid-
der. Among particular departures from the ad-
vertised plans and specifications that have been
regarded as material may be mentioned an exten-
sion of the time within which the proposed work
is to be completed, in cases where time is of
the essence of the contract, a stipulation for
the use of paving materials different from that
designated in the advertised plans and specifi-
cations, or setting a different price for a
portion of the work. And the courts will not
permit this rule to be circumvented indirectly
by permitting public authorities after entering
into a legal contract pursuant to the advertised
plans and specifications, later to make a new
contract or supplemental contract with the suc-
cessful bidder embodying changes in those plans
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-981, text, December 22, 1949; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth265800/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.