Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

70 Civil Engineering Project Management
engineer and the contractor to carry out their duties. A contractor faced with
a set of contract documents has to absorb much information, get many quotations,
and consider all options. For a small job even 4 weeks’ tendering time
may fall short of his needs; for major projects up to 3 months’ tendering
time may be needed to ensure that tenderers have time to consider all their
strategies and put their best price forward.
Not less than two sets of documents should be sent to each of the contractors
on a selected list and, if a substantial amount of specialist input is specified, further
copies of the parts of the documents covering these specialist requirements
ought to be supplied for the contractor to send to his specialist suppliers.
Electronic supply of documents and drawings may help tenderers particularly
if time is short or if suppliers are to be sought from around the world. Employers
sometimes consider tenderers should pay for all sets of documents they
receive; this may be prudent when open-tendering is adopted in order to prevent
frivolous enquiries, the payment being returned to contractors who submit
proper tenders. For selected tenderers, payment should be unnecessary except
when a tenderer makes an unreasonable demand for extra copies. In whatever
manner tender documents are sent to contractors, details of their despatch
should be logged, and each tenderer should acknowledge receipt. All drawings
and specifications should eventually be returned to the employer.
During the tendering period it may be necessary to issue amendments to
tender documents. These may stem from errors and inconsistencies coming to
light, queries raised by tenderers and changed requirements by the employer.
Each amendment should be numbered, and a copy sent to every tenderer,
with a request for him to acknowledge its receipt. If any query is raised by a
tenderer (even by telephone) and the answer given to him provides him with
additional or clarified information, this information must be confirmed in
writing and the same information must be sent to all other tenderers; but the
identity of the tenderer raising the query should not be disclosed.
Too many amendments should be avoided since they can cause disruption to
tenderers and may lead to requests for extension of the tendering time. Minor
errors found in the specification or drawings should not be circulated; they
should be noted for correction at a later stage. If the employer requires some
important change, careful consideration must be given as to whether tenderers
should be advised of it, or whether the change should be held back to be dealt
with when making the award of tender, or by issuing a variation order after the
award of contract. Amendments should not be issued late in the tendering
period. Requests received from contractors for extension of the tendering time
can be avoided by giving adequate prior notice to selected contractors as to
when tender documents will be issued, and giving sufficient tendering time.
No extension of tendering time should be allowed if any tender has already
been received, even though it remains unopened.
Sometimes pre-tender meetings are held which all tenderers are invited to
attend; they are usually addressed by the employer who wishes to clarify
some special aspect of the proposed project or give information concerning
some important query raised by a tenderer. Preferably such meetings should