Did Shreveport have to bid environmental studies and contaminated-soil removal separately?

Plain-English summary

Shreveport hired professionals to study contamination on a prospective convention-center site, then arranged to remove polluted soil and bring in replacement fill. It asked how the Public Bid Law applied to each contract. In Opinion 03-0108, the Attorney General drew a clear line: professional environmental studies were service contracts outside the Public Bid Law, while soil removal and replacement were public work subject to competitive bidding when the project exceeded the then-applicable cost limit.

At the time, the opinion stated that public works costing at least $100,000 required advertisement and award to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. The city had obtained three written quotes for the remediation work and chosen the low bidder. The AG said that process did not replace the required advertisement and sealed bidding for a qualifying public-works project. The opinion separately described procurement rules for materials and supplies.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

City procurement officials

The AG classified engineering, geology, and investigation work as services. He classified removal of contaminated soil and placement of replacement material as improvement or repair of city-owned immovable property, a public work requiring the bidding process if the stated cost threshold applied.

Environmental contractors

The opinion said three quotations and selection of the lowest quote were insufficient where the public-works threshold triggered advertised sealed bids. Its analysis concerned the remediation project Shreveport described.

Common questions

Q: Did the city have to publicly bid contracts for environmental studies? A: The AG said no under the Public Bid Law, because retaining professionals for studies and investigations was a services contract.

Q: Was hauling away contaminated soil also a professional service? A: No. The opinion treated removal and replacement fill as work improving or repairing public immovable property.

Q: Were three contractor quotes enough for the soil work? A: Not if the public-works project exceeded the then-applicable $100,000 limit. The AG said advertisement and sealed bids were required in that event.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion applied the 2003 Public Bid Law's distinction among professional services, public works, and purchases of materials and supplies. It quoted the then-applicable public-works threshold and described separate dollar bands for materials. It cited Louisiana appellate cases treating service contracts as outside the bid law. The source's month stamp is incomplete, so the exact issue date is blank.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 38:2212.1A(1)(a); LSA-R.S. 38:2212A(1)(a). The opinion also cited Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 v. Carl Heck Engineers, Inc. and BFI, Inc. v. City of Monroe for the service-contract distinction.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0108

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Mare Street, Sutte 600
(21VI! DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

MAR
2003
Opinion Number 03-0108

90-A-1 Public Funds & Public Contracts R.S. 38: 2211(11);
Honorable Keith Hightower, Mayor R.S. 38:2212A(1 )(a) & (d);
City of Shreveport
R.S. 38: 2212.1A(1)(a) & (b);

P.O. Box 31109
Professional contracts entered into by the City of Shreveport to
Shreveport, LA 71130
perform environmental studies and investigations are for services
and are not subject to the Public Bid Law. Public Bid Law is applicable to contracts relating to the removal and transportation of
Dear Mayor Hightower: contaminated soil and backhaul of replacement soil.

On behalf of the City of Shreveport you have requested the opinion of this office on the applicability of the Public Bid Law to the employment of engineers, geologists and other professionals retained by the City of Shreveport and who performed environmental studies and investigations of properties purchased by the City for the possible use for construction of a Convention Center and garage. You have also asked whether the Public Bid Law applied to certain contracts relating to the remedial plan developed by the professionals and approved by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
The remedial plan included the removal of existing contaminated soil from the site and the supply of new fill material to bring the site up to grade for construction. The City obtained at least three (3) quotes for both the removal of the contaminated soil and the supply of new fill material. The award of each was given to the lowest bidder. Attached to your request was a copy of the following:

Various correspondence from the professionals associated with the project;
2. Scope of Work prepared for the professional services required;
3. Cost Quotations for transportation of contaminated soil and backhaul of replacement soil;
4. Cost Quotations for purchasing select fill material and transportation;
5. Summary of Events dated March 7, 2003, with attached project invoice spreadsheet summary.

Under the Public Bid Law, contracts for public works projects costing $100,000 or more must be advertised and let by contract to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder.
Public works means the erection, construction, alteration, improvement, or repair of any public facility or immovable property owned, used, or leased by a public entity. LSA-R.S.
38:2212A(1)(a) & (d) and 38:2211(11).

Contracts for the purchase of material and supplies exceeding $15,000 must be advertised and let by contract to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder.
Contracts for purchases of materials and supplies costing $7,500 or more, but less than

Page 2

Opinion Number 03-0108
Honorable Keith Hightower, Mayor
City of Shreveport
Page -2-

$15,000, must be made by obtaining no fewer than three telephone or fax quotations on the same specifications for the desired purchase. R.S. 38:2212.1A(1)(a) & (b). There are no provisions which set forth procurement requirements for smaller purchases.

While the City of Shreveport is subject to the Louisiana Public Bid Law when contracting for public works or the purchase of materials and supplies, our courts have held that contracts for services, professional or otherwise, are not subject to the requirements of that statute. Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 v. Carl Heck Engineers, Inc. (La. App. 1st Cir. 1977) 346 So.2d 769; BFI, Inc. v. City of Monroe (La. App. 2d Cir. 1985) 465 So.2d 882. A contract to retain professionals to perform environmental studies and investigations constitutes a contract for services and is not subject to the Louisiana Public Bid Law.

However, work associated with the implementation of the remedial plan developed by the professionals and which included the removal of contaminated soil and the fill of new material to bring the site up to grade would constitute a public works project and would require compliance with the Public Bid Law if the total cost exceeded the contract limit of $100,000. The removal of soil and fill of new material meets the definition of public work in that such work relates to the "improvement or repair of ... immovable property owned ... by a public entity." While the City did engage in a competitive bid process by obtaining written quotations for the work and awarded the contract to the lowest bidder the Public Bid Law requires public works projects of this description and this amount to be advertised and subject to sealed bids.

This office is of the opinion that the professional contracts to perform environmental studies and investigations are for services and are not subject to the Public Bid Law. Contracts for the implementation of the remedial plan requiring transportation of contaminated soil and backhaul of replacement soil must be executed in accordance with Public Bid Law.

We trust that this answers your inquiry.

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

BY:
RICHARD L. MCGIMSEY
Assistant Attorney General,/"

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