7th December 2005, 02:00 PM
I have put out lots of tenders over a 12-year period, and my experience chimes with that of Post-Med Potterer fairly closely. I have a few supplementary comments though:
1. Even where there is a tight spec, the prices sometimes vary amazingly (in one case, from around ?90K to ?400K for the same job to a detailed spec).
2. We always look at quality issues as well as price; in part, we use the RAO rules as a framework for doing this, together with our own experience of the contractors in question. However, we also try to filter before issuing the tender (and discuss the list with the curator), so that only units that both we and the curator have confidence in get invited in the first place. On that basis, they have to do something wrong in the actual tender process to get excluded on quality grounds.
3. Notwithstanding the above, we do not always appoint the cheapest; in probably around 20% of cases we appoint the second-cheapest, and I believe that on one occasion we have appointed the third cheapest.
4. On contingencies, we always build-in provisional allowances for specific items that might or might not be required, and also a general contingency based on a percentage of the subtotal. That way, the tender total is likely to be the maximum that the client will end up paying, rather than the minimum.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
1. Even where there is a tight spec, the prices sometimes vary amazingly (in one case, from around ?90K to ?400K for the same job to a detailed spec).
2. We always look at quality issues as well as price; in part, we use the RAO rules as a framework for doing this, together with our own experience of the contractors in question. However, we also try to filter before issuing the tender (and discuss the list with the curator), so that only units that both we and the curator have confidence in get invited in the first place. On that basis, they have to do something wrong in the actual tender process to get excluded on quality grounds.
3. Notwithstanding the above, we do not always appoint the cheapest; in probably around 20% of cases we appoint the second-cheapest, and I believe that on one occasion we have appointed the third cheapest.
4. On contingencies, we always build-in provisional allowances for specific items that might or might not be required, and also a general contingency based on a percentage of the subtotal. That way, the tender total is likely to be the maximum that the client will end up paying, rather than the minimum.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished