Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

68 Civil Engineering Project Management
will usually seek to establish three categories of information about a contractor
as follows.
• The contractor’s organization and resources. Details of his ownership, details
of staff available for the contract, and information concerning any special
equipment or skills available for the particular type of work proposed.
• Experience and performance record. The experience the firm has of projects
similar in type and size to the intended project, and what performance
thereon was achieved. Some of this information may have to be obtained
by asking the contractor to provide references from previous employers, the
references being taken up. It is not always desirable to restrict the list to
contractors who have done work of a similar kind and magnitude before,
as this could unnecessarily restrict the choice of contractors and exclude
competent contractors who have growing resources and skills.
• Financial standing. A contractor must be able to show he has sufficient funding
to carry out the proposed contract without over-stretching his financial
resources. The contractor may be asked for his turnover and recent financial
history and data with respect to his current financial commitments. Some
of this information may be available from annual financial reports or other
sources; but it may be important to check that all relevant data has been
supplied. An accountant may be employed to enquire into these matters.
In order to collect the necessary data in an organized manner it is preferable for
standard forms to be issued to contractors, otherwise comparison and analysis
may be hindered. A format suitable for international tendering is available from
FIDIC, and guidance is also given by the World Bank in their Standard Bidding
Documents. If the purpose of pre-qualification is the construction of a specific
project, then applicants should be told the grounds on which their suitability
will be assessed. Care is needed in defining these grounds. On the one hand
the criteria applied need to be sufficient to keep those qualifying to a reasonable
number; on the other hand, they should not be so tight as to exclude potentially
suitable contractors who just fail to meet one of the criteria applied.
For works of a value up to about £1 million, a list of four to six pre-qualified
tenderers would usually be regarded as sufficient; for larger value contracts it
is seldom desirable or necessary to have more than eight pre-qualified contractors
invited to bid. For design and build contracts a list of only three or four
may be sufficient. Where a standing list is maintained, this can be divided into
lists of contractors best suited to certain kinds and magnitudes of work, but
contractors should be given reasonable opportunity to change their listing on
supplying additional information. Once a selected list has been produced and
approved by the employer, it is advisable that contractors on the list are
approached individually shortly before sending out tender documents, asking
them to confirm they are still interested in and capable of tendering. This is
important if there is any substantial lapse of time between the pre-qualification
of contractors and the sending out of tender documents. Contractors’ commitments
can change in a relatively short time. Those pre-qualifying should be
informed of the expected timing of the issue of tender documents and start of