WHEREAS, the New Jersey bidding statutes do
not establish a procedure for a municipality to award a contract in
the event of a tie bid; and
WHEREAS, upon several past occasions, the Division of Local
Finance has recommended that the municipality establish a procedure
to handle the award of contract under these circumstances:
Whenever it shall appear that there are two
or more bids in the same monetary amount submitted for any item and
said bids are otherwise identical, then the award of a contract by
the governing body shall be at a public meeting of the governing body
at which the Mayor, or chief presiding officer in his absence, shall
select the successful bidder by the drawing of a lot from identical
unmarked sealed envelopes placed in a container by the Town Clerk.
The procedure set forth in §
39-15 shall not be conducted unless the Purchasing Agent or other appropriate official shall deliver to the Town Clerk a letter certifying that there is no substantive basis to distinguish the bids for purpose of award.