SURVEYOR AND STATE SURVEY. 299

serving the right to reject any and all proposals; said pro-
posals shall be publicly opened at the time specified in said
advertisement, and the contract for such work or for the sup-
plies and materials required for such construction or work or
for the supplies and materials required for such construction
or improvement shall be awarded by the Commission to the low-
est responsible bidder, unless, in the opinion of said Commis-
sion, the interests of the State shall be better served by award-
ing the contract to some other bidder, when this may be done;
but said Commission shall not be required so to advertise for
proposals or to award any contract for any work or for any
materials or supplies for any amount less than five hundred
($500) in the aggregate. The construction and improvement of
all State highways or parts thereof shall be under the super-
vision and subject to the approval of the said Commission, in
accordance with plans and specifications prepared by the chief
engineer and approved by said Commission. In all cases where
the contract for work and materials shall be given out after
competitive bidding, the successful bidder shall promptly exe-
cute a formal contract to be approved as to its form, terms and
conditions by said Commission, and shall also execute and de-
liver to said Commission a good and sufficient bond to be ap-
proved by said Commission to the State of Maryland in not less
than the amount of the contract price. In no case shall any
such bond be approved or accepted unless the obligators bind
themselves therein to the payment of all just debts for labor
and materials incurred by the bidder in the construction and
improvement of the road contracted for. To all such bids there
shall be attached the certified check of the bidder, and the bid-
der who has the contract awarded to him and who fails to
promptly and properly execute the contract and bond shall
forfeit the said contract. The said check shall be taken and
considered as liquidated damages/ and not a penalty, for fail-
ure of said bidder to execute said contract and bond. Upon
the execution of said contract and bond by a successful bidder
his check shall be returned to him. The amount of said check
shall be five hundred dollars. The checks of the unsuccessful
bidders shall be returned to them after opening the bids and
awarding the contract to the successful bidder; provided, how-
ever, that said Commission, with the consent of a majority of
all its members, may itself do any part or parts of any such
work under such conditions in every respect as it may pre-
scribe by day labor, whenever the chief engineer, in writing,
shall recommend that course.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That this Act shall take effect
from the date of its passage.

Approved April 13, 1910.