NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-4636-07T24636-07T2

IN THE MATTER OF JASPER SEATING

COMPANY, INC.'S REQUEST FOR

RECONSIDERATION REGARDING REQUEST

FOR PROPOSAL NO.: 07-X-37695.

___________________________________________________

Argued February 23, 2009 - Decided

Before Judges Carchman, R. B. Coleman and Sabatino.

On appeal from the Department of the Treasury, Division of Purchase and Property.

Maeve E. Cannon argued the cause for appellant Jasper Seating Company (Hill Wallack LLP, attorneys; Ms. Cannon, of counsel and on the brief; Patrick D. Kennedy, of counsel and on the brief; Megan McGeehin Schwartz, on the brief).

Beth L. Mitchell, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent Department of the Treasury, Division of Purchase and Property (Anne Milgram, Attorney General, attorney; Lewis A. Scheindlin, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; David A. Balaban, Deputy Attorney General, on the brief).

The opinion of the court was delivered by

R. B. COLEMAN, J.A.D.

Plaintiff Jasper Seating Company (Jasper) appeals from the Final Agency Determination of the Division of Purchase and Property (Division) to reject Jasper's bid as non-conforming for the State's purchase awards under its publicly-bid contract for furniture. We affirm the Division's determination.

The Division issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) on August 2, 2006, bid solicitation No. 07-X-37695, for non-modular office furniture. The solicitation was being offered for multiple State contract awards with the intent to make one statewide award for each brand of furniture listed in the RFP. An award of this type is significant as the contract award would not only cover the initial procurement of a particular brand of furniture but also all re-orders from the State and all of its using agencies and cooperative partners for a period of eighteen months. Due to the exclusivity and length of the contract, the RFP required pricing in the submitted bids to be firm for eighteen months.

The most relevant terms in the RFP which applied to all bidders are as follows. Section 6.1.5 mandates: "Responsiveness of the bidder with respect to the published price list(s) submitted. They should be adequate for the evaluators to analyze the bid proposal." Section 1.4.1 provides: "It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to be knowledgeable of all addenda related to this procurement." Section 1.4.2 provides: "The bidder assumes sole responsibility for the complete effort required in submitting a bid proposal in response to this RFP. No special consideration will be given after bid proposals are opened because of a bidder's failure to be knowledgeable as to all of the requirements of this RFP." Section 5.1 provides: "In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this RFP . . . the Addendum shall govern."

During the question and answer period prior to bid submittal, twice bidders asked questions regarding submissions that included catalogs with price escalation stickers on the cover. The addenda and RFP compliance questions asked by bidders regarding sticker increases and the answers thereto include the following:

RFP