The advent, and now prevalence, of electronic commerce has created a number of legal issues regarding contract formation, binding documentation and terms of agreement. Virtually every enterprise has been affected. Public procurement is no exception. Government at the federal, state and local level has moved to electronic procurement. It raises some interesting questions.
A recent decision in the Court of Federal Claims is an example. When a solicitation called for electronic submission of proposals, at what point in time was the proposal “received?” Was it the arrival at the agency’s e-mail server or the arrival in the procurement officer’s e-mail inbox? If the proposal arrived with the server on time, but was not transmitted to the designated procurement officer until after the deadline, was the proposal timely? After all, the designated recipient had no access to the proposal, and did not even know of its existence, until it hit the e-mail inbox.
What issues have you seen arising out of electronic procurement? What is your opinion of the efficacy and fairness of the systems you have dealt with? I invite your comments.
Featured in Next Week’s Construction Claims Advisor:
- Supplier Bound by Purchase Order Specifications
- Settlement Agreement Introduced in Response to "Pay-When-Paid" Defense
- Arbitration Rendered Voluntary by Word "May"
