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September 18, 2024
City of Santa Monica
Department of Finance
1685 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
AƩenƟon: Teresa Villa, Procurement Manager
Re: Project ID:4490 Santa Monica CCTV Expansion, Replacement and Maintenance Dear Ms. Villa,
We are hereby submiƫng this formal noƟce of protest in the above Public Bid. It is our contenƟon that the “Experience” points awarded was not reflecƟve of our capabiliƟes and we request an opportunity to prove otherwise as per the Court in City of Inglewood – Los Angeles County Civic Center Authority, supra.
It is our contenƟon that the use of “Experience” points under Santa Monica Code (2.24.190) Best qualified person or firm, must be determined based on objecƟve and transparent measurements by those individuals qualified to make that assessment based on documented training or experience and not based on subjecƟve reasonings.
We believe that in this case, the higher “Experience” points awarded to the incumbent falls under the basis of “superior responsibility,” a violaƟon against the requirement of each individual bidder to be evaluated independently. The Court held that to permit a public agency to reject the bid of the lowest responsible bidder and to award the contract to a “more” responsible bidder operates to frustrate the very purpose of the compeƟƟve bidding process and could promote favoriƟsm in the award of public contracts. (Court in City of Inglewood – Los Angeles County Civic Center Authority, supra)
Per the above, we are asking how the “Experience,” porƟon of the jusƟficaƟon was calculated, for all copies of the tabulaƟons used to award the “Experience,” points, the final tabulaƟon, and the experience of those on the commiƩee contribuƟng to the tabulaƟons and sufficient Ɵme and resources with the City to remediate any shortcomings in our evaluaƟon.
Respecƞully,
David Kim,
General Manager
A3 CommunicaƟons Inc., DBA Blue Violet Networks