Polydyne, Inc. v. City of Philadelphia

OPINION

Polydyne, Inc. appeals from the final decree in equity of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, denying Polydyne’s request for a permanent injunction enjoining the City of Philadelphia’s award of a public contract to Cytec Industries, Inc. *fn1 On appeal, Polydyne alleges, among other things, that (1) the competitive bidding process was compromised because Wayne Laraway, the technical consultant hired by the City to assist in conducting pre-bid polymer trials and in evaluating the resulting data, had a conflict of interest in that he was a former employee of and owned in excess of $200,000 of stock in Cytec, the successful bidder, and (2) the manner in which bids were to be economically evaluated was changed without permitting the bidders to submit a new bid based upon the new formula for evaluation. While these contentions raise serious concerns regarding the integrity of the competitive bidding process at issue, we cannot reach the substantial public policy question at the heart of this controversy because of a jurisdictional defect.