Part 2 - Do You Know the Entire Contract

 

Critical Components in Information For Bidders  -  Company Qualifications

This is the 2^nd in a series of discussions that is intended to prompt Project Teams to be aware of the entire contract document, including Information For Bidders (IFB), General Conditions/Terms and Conditions (GCs) and the Technical Requirements [Specifications and Drawings.] 

It is important the Buyer’s Project Manager, Contracting Officer, and technical representatives verify content and ensure the contract is complete and executable within the Buyer’s organizational assets and business processes.   

Typically public and government contracts are advertised with legal notices in local and regional newspapers to attract a large pool of Seller’s to participate in the bid process.   The larger the pool of potential Sellers, the better the opportunity for competitive bid pricing, and thereby increasing  the potential best value for the Buyer and it funding partners, which many times include government funding.    

Once the contract is advertised for bid, any business entity can obtain the contract documents and submit a bid for the work.   In order to equally serve the time and financial investment by the Buyer and the bidders in the procurement process, the contract should identify company qualifications.    

IFB Company Qualifications:   Company qualifications are typically included in the Information for Bidders section of the standard form contract document.   This section identifies the corporate requirements for the Seller.    The requirements can include years experience; experience with project’s similar in scope, complexity and amount; licenses/certifications; and  the technical capabilities of the Seller’s organization.   The requirements should be correlated with the technical specifications regarding Cited Standards, Quality and Deliverables, and be consistent with the Engineer-Of-Record’s list of potential qualified Sellers for the contract work.

For construction in the rail transit domain, key project experience may include individual and combined scope for track and switches, DC substations, overhead AC catenary systems, third rail-traction power, ASC/cab signal systems, radio communications and fiber optic networks, supervisory centers and supervisory systems, train stations and platforms, rolling stock (passenger cars, locomotives and work trains), rolling stock and work train shops, and employee facilities. 

TIP:   The qualitative and quantitative requirements should be balanced with the qualified pool of Sellers but not be overly restrictive so as to reduce the submission of responsive bids.   

TIP:  Once the metrics are established in the contract, they can not be waived.    In order to avoid any type of protest during the bid evaluation, provide some flexibility in requirements that allows for Buyer discretion using an equivalent combination of years experience, project experience, management expertise, and technical capabilities.  

TIP:   Requirements for installation specialists, system integrators and equipment suppliers can also be stated in the technical specifications, which are prepared by the EOR.     During the final review of the completed contract documents, company qualifications in the IFB and specification sections should be aligned.   As needed, the IFB can identify other unique company qualifications by reference to the specification section for requirements.