The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal recently issued an opinion in LeBlanc Marine, L.L.C. v. State of Louisiana (2018-CA-434) reiterating the Court’s opinion that, when a public entity issues a bid requirement that is stricter than a similar statutory bidding requirement, the public entity must follow the stricter bid requirement to the extent it does not conflict with the statute. Particularly, LeBlanc Marine submitted a certificate of authority for the person who signed its bid, and that certificate of authority complied with La. R.S. 38:2212(B)(5), but it did not meet the requirements in the advertisement for bids. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s determination that the project could not be awarded to LeBlanc Marine because it failed to comply with an advertised bidding requirement. It will be interesting to see if the Louisiana Supreme Court weighs in. Stay tuned.
