New York General Municipal Law § 101, known as Wicks Law, provides that when the total cost of contract work for the erection, construction, reconstruction, or alteration of a public building exceeds $500,000 or more, independent prime contractors must be used for the 1) plumbing and gas fitting work; 2) steam, hot water heating, ventilation and air conditioning work; and 3) electrical wiring and illuminating fixtures work. Separate specifications are required for each aspect of the project so...

Mistakes often occur when preparing a bid for a construction contract. Usually, a mistake comes in the form of incorrectly adding figures or inaccurate transfer of figures from calculation sheets to bid proposal sheets. Furthermore, specifications may be misunderstood or not read correctly, causing inaccuracies in the bid. Mistakes that result in higher bid prices than the bidder intended usually will result in the bidder failing to win the contract, or if the mistake results in a low bid and...

If a public contract is awarded in violation of the competitive bidding statutes, the contract will be designated as null and void. In Resco Equipment & Supply Corp. v. City Council, City of Watertown (1970) it was held that competitive bidding requirements are violated not only when a contract is awarded without advertisement for bids, but also when a municipality manipulates the specification so as to prevent true competitive bidding. In these situations, a contractor may not...

Contracts that are procured through fraud often allow the innocent party to rescind the contract if the parties can be placed in the position that they would have been in prior to the contracting. Also, if a party breaches a contract and is found to have substantially defeated the purpose of the contract, rescission may be available with a remedy based in restitution. In Strand Bldg. Corp. v. Russell & Saxe, Inc. (1963), a rescission action was commenced wherein the defendants...

Purchase orders and supply contracts are often the last contracts signed, and material suppliers are usually the last parties to be contacted on a construction project. However, suppliers are a very important aspect of any construction operation, as they provide the materials needed to complete the desired work. Even if the contractor is top-rated in its specific field and subcontracts with other top professionals, a construction project can be impaired by materials that are inferior or that do...