Matthew J. Barrick, Jr. v. State of New Jersey, Department of Treasury, Division of Property Management and Construction

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey reviewed the State Division of Property Management and Construction’s award of a ten-year office-space lease to RMD Properties, LLC, the lowest bidder. The Court held that the Division reasonably determined that the public-transportation-distance requirement was not material and that awarding the contract to RMD was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. The Court reversed the Appellate Division and declined to resolve the broader mootness issue, while cautioning unsuccessful bidders to promptly seek a stay pending appeal.

Holdings

1. The Director reasonably determined that the quarter-mile public-transportation requirement was not material and therefore could be waived because it was not imposed by statute or regulation, all qualified bids exceeded it, and the deviations were de minimis.
2. The threshold determination whether a bid deviates from an RFP requirement must be made by the agency director when the bids are opened, based on the information available at that time.
3. The Division's award of the lease to RMD, the lowest bidder, was not arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or unsupported by substantial credible evidence.
4. The Court declined to decide whether an unsuccessful bidder's failure to seek a stay creates a bright-line rule of mootness because the merits reversal resolved the appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Division acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably by determining that the RFP's public-transportation distance requirement was not material and awarding the lease to RMD.
2. Whether the Director was required to determine bid deviations based on information available when the bids were opened and could properly reject Barrick's later supplemental information.
3. Whether an unsuccessful bidder's failure to seek a stay rendered the appeal moot after the State and the successful bidder expended resources performing the contract.

Disposition

reversed