By: Bond Schoeneck & King: Lindsay T. Crocker, Edward P. Hourihan, Jr., and Gregory J. McDonald
The Appellate Division, Third Department issued its decision in Lynch, Inc. v. Board of Education of the Maine-Endwell Central School District, which affirmed the February 13, 2025 decision.
“Piggybacking” refers to a governmental entity using another governmental entity’s existing competitively bid contract to purchase the same goods or services, usually at the same or lower price, instead of conducting its own bid process. On February 13, 2025, the trial level court in Broome County held that the “piggybacking” exemption, General Municipal Law (GML) § 103(16), cannot be used for “public works projects” and those projects can only be awarded after strict compliance with the traditional competitive bidding process outlined in GML § 103(1) and (2). “Public works projects” were defined as “construction or repair projects undertaken by municipalities on their infrastructure.”
In its May 21, 2026, decision, the Appellate Division agreed with the Broome County court and held that GML § 103(16) does not authorize the use of piggybacking to award a public works contract.
Municipal and school district clients should not use piggybacking to award contracts for public works construction projects and, instead, proceed through the competitive bidding framework required by GML §§ 101 and 103. At the same time, this decision leaves room for continued use of GML § 103(16) in the narrower circumstances identified in the statute itself, namely true purchases of apparatus, materials, equipment or supplies and contracts for services related to the installation, maintenance or repair of those items.
Accordingly, public entities should review current procurement practices to distinguish genuine purchasing transactions from public works contracts that must be bid. For pending projects that have not yet been awarded, the recommended course is not to issue an award through piggybacking and, instead, utilize the traditional competitive bidding process.
