Responsive or Non-Responsive?

Responsive or Non-Responsive Bid?  How do you determine if an irregularity in a bid makes the bid responsive or non-responsive.?

• A bid with a material irregularity must be rejected as non-responsive.

• A bid with an immaterial irregularity may be rejected as non-responsive or deemed responsive, at the discretion of the public agency.

Material or Immaterial Irregularity in Bid?  So what makes an irregularity material or immaterial?

"The test as to the materiality of a variance is whether it gives a bidder a substantial advantage or benefit not enjoyed by other bidders."

[Gostovich vs. City of West Richland, WA, March 1969, quoting Duffy v. Village of Princeton 240 Minn. 9 60 N.W.2d 27, 29 (1953)]

Whether an irregularity provides a bidder with substantial advantage or benefit not enjoyed by other bidders is a question that must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and is very much dependent on the specific facts relating to the bid.