Course Catalogue.

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Distinguish among the types of bid calls and types of responses
• Use performance, labour and material payment bonds, and insurance knowledgeably
• Make productive use of the bidding period while the contractor is putting together a bid
• Discover new methods of bidding being contemplated by the industry
• Deal appropriately with the low bid when it exceeds the owner’s available financing

Description
For a building project, construction is the ultimate reality. Here ideas, drawings and specifications take physical form. The bidding, negotiation and contract award phases of a project are a short but essential part of every project.

The bidding process is to seek from the construction industry a statement of what it can do, how much time it will take to do it and what price it will charge. They are the most challenging aspect of the building process and result in a higher rate of claims and litigation. Key aspects include dissertations on the preparation of bids, the uses and abuses of unit prices, plus cost-saving and rebidding strategies.

Who Should Attend
Owners • Developers • Plant Managers • Architects • Engineers • Interior Designers • Contract Administrators, Specification Writers • Contractors • Subcontractors • Manufacturers • Suppliers • Construction Associations • Construction firms • Lawyers

Course Syllabus

Overview

• Preliminary legal aspects
• Definitions
• Assessing the marketplace
• Roles of consultants and owners
• Types of bids and calls
• Project delivery options
• Pre-purchasing of equipment, materials, and installation contracts

Pre-Qualifications of Bidders

• Purposes/pros and cons
• Standard procedures
• Wordings for invitations to prequalify
• Overall protocols and rating systems
• Standard forms and special clauses
• Evaluation techniques (c/w charts)
• Checking references
• Handling challenges

Bid Documents

• Invitations to bids
• Instructions to bidders
• Information available to bidders
• Bid forms and what they represent
• Supplementary bid forms
• Attachments to bid forms
• Unit prices, alternate prices, separate prices, itemized prices, identified prices-I
• Nominated subcontractors and manufacturers
• Contract price/contract time-1
• Privilege (exculpatory) clauses-1

Surety and Insurance Requirements

• Differences between bonds and insurance
• Bid bonds
• Consent and agreements to bond
• Performance bonds
• Labour and material bonds
• Long-term warranty bonds
• Lien bonds

Bidding Period

• Length of the period, day and time, industry protocols
• Pre-bid meeting/site tour
• Inquiries during the bid period
• Substitutions
• Addenda

Receipt and Evaluation of Bids

• Protocols for receiving bids
• Types of bid openings: open versus private
• Types of bids: formal, irregular, qualified, informal
• Withdrawal of bids, time for acceptance, late bids, mistakes in bids, incomplete bids, rejection of bids
• Bid security
• Evaluation/comparative analysis (c/w samples)
• Review of bonds, insurance and other pertinent documentation
• Negotiations
• Disclosure of results

Low Bid Exceeds Approved Cost Estimate

• Options for the owner
• How to conduct a cost-saving exercise
• How to conduct the rebidding of a project
• Problems which can occur when rebidding a project
• Negotiations-II

Award of Contracts

• Letter of intent vs. letter of acceptance
• Preparation and signing of the contract
• Contractor becomes constructor
• Pre-construction meeting

Key Legal Aspects

• Liability of design professional during the bidding stage
• Local politics/local sourcing
• Warranties and waivers
• Privilege (exculpatory) clauses -II
• Supreme Court of Canada cases

Questions and Answers and Feedback to Participants on Achievement of Learning Outcomes

Concluding Remarks and Final Adjournment