The Council's maintenance manager Lucy issued a call seeking interested parties to tender for a three-year cleaning contract for the Council's premises. There had been tensions between the Council's existing cleaning contractor Ezy-Kleen and Council management, which declined to grant an extension of its contract. The call indicated that all tenders had to comply with a prescribed form, and attach certain company information and testimonials. They also had to be received by Council by a specified time. Despite earlier tensions, Ezy- Kleen put in a tender as stipulated. Only one other company, Ace Cleaning Services (Ace), tendered for the job and it also complied with the call's requirements. However, the application by Ace was incorrectly date stamped and marked as 'received late'. The result was that its application was not considered and, to the surprise of many on Council's staff, Ezy-Kleen was granted a new and revised contract. The discrepancy was the subject of an internal review. Ace is now threatening to commence legal action against the Council for breach of contract