Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

corrected. Where this results in an alteration to the total tendered sum, either
this altered sum is adopted, or the altered sum is brought back to the quoted
tendered sum by inserting an ‘Adjusting item’ – the Instructions must state
which. A reason for leaving the quoted tender sum unaltered is that the contractor’s
estimating staff work out the unit rates, whereas the contractor’s
directors will not check a tender arithmetically but will look at the total sum tendered
to decide finally whether or not it is sufficient to cover the whole job.
The lowest three or four tenders are then checked for compliance with contract
and other requirements, under the following headings:
• Compliance: conformity with instructions; completeness of entries; compliance
with bond and insurance; absence of unacceptable qualifications, etc.;
• Technical: conformity with specification; proposals for materials; use of
sub-contractors; temporary works proposed and methods of construction;
intended programme, etc.;
• Organizational: staff proposed, experience, responsibilities held, etc.;
• Financial: make-up of total price; amounts for items in Preliminaries; unit
rates; exceptional prices, errors and omissions, etc.
In addition, if open tendering has been adopted, details of tenderers’ resources,
past experience, financial and other data will need to be examined. This work
will be conducted in parallel with the checking of prices described below.
6.7 Checking prices and comparing tenders
Tendering 73
The engineer or consultant advising the employer must bear in mind that his
report on tenders should provide the factual results of his analysis of tenders.
He may need to indicate what any particular finding implies; but he does not
recommend which tender should be accepted unless the employer requests
this. Even so the choice of contractor must be the employer’s, and not his
advisor’s. Sometimes it is necessary for the engineer or consultant to present
an interim report on tenders. This can occur if there are many tenders, or complex
issues need to be resolved concerning qualifications attached to tenders,
or relating to the standing of tenderers if open tendering has been adopted.
While the lowest total tendered sum may be a major factor influencing
choice, individual rates and prices must be examined to see whether relatively
high or low rates entered could alter the ranking of tenders should certain
quantities under re-measurement for payment come different from those in the
bill of quantities. A contractor is entitled to set highly profitable rates for some
items and non-profitable or loss rates for others. This can lead to problems if
quantities are not as billed, or work has to be varied. The implication of such
differences needs to be considered. Nevertheless prices for the same type of
work can vary widely from one contractor to another; in this connection sums
entered by the contractor in the Preliminaries Bill must be taken into account
(see Section 15.10). One tenderer may put large sums there for access, insurance,