Bidding, Evaluation, Negotiation and Contract Award - For Construction Projects

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 & specifications take physical form. The bidding, negotiation & 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 & what price it will charge. They are the most challenging aspect of the building process & result in a higher rate of claims & litigation. Key aspects include dissertations on the preparation of bids, the uses & abuses of unit prices, plus cost-saving & 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

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