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with the bid submittal requirements. However, four (4) of the prospective bidders did not fully comply with the bid submittal requirements and were disqualified from further consideration. The City retained Beiswinger, Hoch & Associates ("BH&A") to serve as its engineering consultant on the Central Island Project. As part of its consulting services, BH&A was asked to review the bid responses for fact finding purposes for the City Manager. The review consisted of checking references and verifying past projects, performance evaluations, and proposed subs-contractors. This process also required verification of the bidders' unit price schedule and sufficiency of their equipment and labor. BH&A conducted a thorough and comprehensive review of these requirements. In a letter to the City dated February 14, 2008, BH&A outlined its rationale to support the City Manager's recommendation of Southeastern as the contractor for the Central Island Project.' BH&A emphasized that "the City would be best served not only by the lowest bid but by a contractor specializing in this type of work." (emphasis added). The construction of the Central Island Project involves the rebuilding of all of the streets impacted, in addition to landscaping, curb and gutter and street parking improvements. In particular, the project involves new concrete curb and gutter on all impacted streets, a ten (10) foot wide hike and bike path on 183"1 Street and North Bay Road, and Gwen Margolis Park drainage improvements. In its letter, BH&A noted that SoutheasterMspecializes in this type of project and has a history of successfully completing these projects for local towns and municipalities. In comparing the low bid of Tran versus the second lowest bid of Southeastern. BH&A noted that Tran "is basically a Construction Management type operation which subs odd mostly all of the work." BH&A also noted that Trans was late on a recent project for the City of Miami Beach and had the lowest estimated percentage of work to be completed on the project by its own forces. In contrast, BH&A noted that Southeastern would perform 70% of work on the project by its own forces. In addition, BH&A also noted that Southeastern is `more in-line with the requirements that we feel are needed to address the special needs of the [Central Island Project]". BH&A noted iticontacted various individuals within South Florida's construction industry and "[t]he consensus of our reviews leads us to recommend [Southeastern] for this project." A recommendation was made by the City Manager to award Bid No. 07-10-02 to Southeastern. On or about February 21, 2008, the City Commission, pursuant to its authority under the City Code, approved and adopted a Resolution awarding Bid No. 07-10-02 to and entering into an agreement with Southeastern for the construction of the Central Island Drainage and Streets Improvements Project in an amount not to exceed $3,635,852.02. On or about February 21, 2008, Tran filed a bid protest alleging that they should have been awarded Bid No. 07-10-02 because they were the lowest bidder in terms of dollars and cents. The protest letter is hereby attached hereto as Exhibit "B". III. Issues Presented A. The City has the authority to select the most qualified bidder under the City Code i. The City followed the competitive bidding requirements in Section 62-7 of the City Code 1A copy of the February 14, 2008, letter attached hereto as Exhibit "A".