Legal Question in Construction Law in California

You haven't provided enough information to answer your question. Important information to answer this question would be:

(1) Did you determine whether that particular city has its own bid protest procedures? They are usually described in the bidding documents but may be in that city's municipal code. If the City has it's own procedures, it will generally have its own procedures spelled out for a response deadline or when a hearing will be set.

(2) Did this particular contract require competitive bidding? An award must go to the lowest responsible bidder only if a statute or city charter requires it. It may not have been required depending on the size or type of the project. If competitive bidding was not required then you likely aren't going to get a response.

(3) In conjunction with the first question (1), above, was the bid protest timely submitted? Typically, it's 3-5 days after bids are opened but I've seen up to 10 business days (I believe the City of San Francisco is 10 business days).

(4)) Whose bid is being protested? Yours? Remember that just because you have the lowest bid, doesn't mean you were considered qualified by the city. If competitive bidding was required on this project, the city is only obligated to award it to the lowest QUALIFIED bidder. See Public Contract Code section 1103. If you are protesting someone else's bid, keep in mind that the public agency can (but does not have to) waive some technical or minor defects in a bid so while you think someone else's bid didn't qualify, the City may justifiably have a different opinion. Konica Business Machines v. Regents of the University of California (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 449.

(5) Is this worth pursuing? These disputes typically don't resolve at the City level and if you want to pursue it, you might have to seek court intervention after exhausting the bid protest remedies. This can be VERY expensive.