Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
Critical Components in Information For Bidders - Due Dates
While there are many standard form contracts, each typically cover the same requirements available from Construction Specification Institute, American Institute of Architects, and Design Build Institute of America. The standard form contains legal and contractual requirements to complement the execution of work defined in specifications and drawings that create the contract. The contract content ensures that the expectations of the Buyer and the obligations of the Seller are clear, concise, unambiguous, understood and agreed upon with joint endorsement of the contract.
While a standard form may imply it is a “boiler plate”, there are important inputs that the Buyer’s Project Manager, Contracting Officer, Legal representative and Accounts Payable Manger need to verify content or to provide input that ensure the contract is complete and executable within the Buyer’s organizational assets and business processes.
This is 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.]
IFB - Due Dates: Due date are scattered throughout the Information for Bidders section of the standard contract form document. The dates are assigned to critical milestones for prospective Sellers to participate in the procurement for the contract, and it provides the controlled and structured process by the Buyer leading to contract award. These dates are essential to managing the contract procurement process in accordance with the project schedule. The milestones usually include: A) Bid Conference date, location and time. B) Site Tour date, location, time and itinerary. C) Question Period start and end dates, D) Bid Due Date, delivery location and time. The requirements should be reasonable for the contract complexity and industry, and should be aligned with the project schedule.
For construction in the rail transit domain, the optimum process for procurement of the contract will include activities for: A) 45 days (min) to receive bids. B) 30-45 days (min) for bid review and selection of lowest responsive and responsible Seller. C) 30-45 days (min) for Buyer’s internal time for authorizing contract award.
TIP: Assure the requirements account for Sellers’ time for creating take-offs, developing costs and submitting a responsive bid. Overly aggressive due dates/schedule may cause large numbers of Sellers questions and requests to extend the bid due date or risk a smaller pool of bids.
TIP: The end of Question Period does not always extend with each extension of bid due dates. Note that extending the question period risks that questions will continue from bidders with a consequential impact to the contract award date in the project schedule. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Good Points.
The contract is the most important part of a project and as a PM, you need to be fully aware of every single clause in it. We do many amendments from project to project especially on the General Conditions Part. Saving Changes...
Michael ZiyadehContracts Negotiator Sr. | Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin CompanyBranford, Ct, United States
I agree with Rami. To further your point: Requests for Proposals and Requests for Quote (RFP's, RFQ's) may contain Seller certifications and representations. A qualified bidder may affirm representation and certify to certain statements by either explicitly affirming (stating 'Yes' our organization meets this condition) or simply providing a Proposal against the RFP, depending on the RFP/RFQ requirements. If organizations overlook these representation and certifications the organization runs the risk of making a false statement. Ultimately this can disqualify the bidder.
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1 reply by Henry Hattenrath
Feb 20, 2017 3:38 PM
Henry Hattenrath
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Michael - Thank you setting to stage for future discussions. Stay turned for more Parts.
Nice overview Henry. You should put this up as a blog post. Saving Changes...
Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
Feb 20, 2017 1:39 PM
Replying to Michael Ziyadeh
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I agree with Rami. To further your point: Requests for Proposals and Requests for Quote (RFP's, RFQ's) may contain Seller certifications and representations. A qualified bidder may affirm representation and certify to certain statements by either explicitly affirming (stating 'Yes' our organization meets this condition) or simply providing a Proposal against the RFP, depending on the RFP/RFQ requirements. If organizations overlook these representation and certifications the organization runs the risk of making a false statement. Ultimately this can disqualify the bidder.
Michael - Thank you setting to stage for future discussions. Stay turned for more Parts. Saving Changes...
Michael ZiyadehContracts Negotiator Sr. | Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin CompanyBranford, Ct, United States
I look forward to it. Thank you, Saving Changes...
Thank you for good information on bidding procedure as a buyer.
From the seller's point of view, bid documents like IFB, RFQ from the buyer should be stated clearly to prepare the seller's responsive bids or quotations within a requisite period of time. In my humble opinion, there is practically not much room to negotiate critical issues of the contract clauses in case of IFB and RFQ after the seller has been selected prior to signing of the contract agreement. Therefore, the detailed information on product and project should be inclusive to the extent that the sellers are able to prepare their responsive documents with confidence.
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1 reply by Henry Hattenrath
Feb 21, 2017 7:15 PM
Henry Hattenrath
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Stay tuned for Part 4-Bid Requirements
Saving Changes...
Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
Feb 20, 2017 8:48 PM
Replying to Sungjoon Park
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Thank you for good information on bidding procedure as a buyer.
From the seller's point of view, bid documents like IFB, RFQ from the buyer should be stated clearly to prepare the seller's responsive bids or quotations within a requisite period of time. In my humble opinion, there is practically not much room to negotiate critical issues of the contract clauses in case of IFB and RFQ after the seller has been selected prior to signing of the contract agreement. Therefore, the detailed information on product and project should be inclusive to the extent that the sellers are able to prepare their responsive documents with confidence.
Stay tuned for Part 4-Bid Requirements Saving Changes...
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