Procurement & Tendering

Question 1

What is tendering?

Answer 1

The activity of obtaining a contractor and a price

Question 2

What are the main tendering strategies?

Answer 2

Single stage

Two stage

Negotiated

Question 3

What is single stage tendering?

Answer 3

Invitation to tender issued to multiple contractors who bid for the works.

The bids are then analysed and scored in respect to cost and quality, before a single contractor is declared the preferred contractor.

Question 4

How does a single stage tender work?

Answer 4

• Issue tender documents to prospective tenderers
• Assessment and award
• Initiated contract for works

Question 5

When would you recommend a single stage tender?

Answer 5

• Price competition (cost)
• Traditional procurement

Question 6

What is a two-stage tender?

Answer 6

Where the tender is split into two stages
The first stage is selects a preferred contractor to develop design develop under a pre construction services agreement
The second stage is where the contractor helps develop the design and offer a price

Question 7

When would you advise to use a two-stage tender?

Answer 7

• Complex projects (buildability)
• Reduce risk
• Time constraints (overlaps design and tender period at RIBA Stage 4)

Question 8

What is negotiated tendering?

Answer 8

Effectively a single stage tender with one contractor

Question 9

When would you recommend a negotiated tender?

Answer 9

• Speed of obtaining a price (time)

Question 10

Is there any guidance for tendering?

Answer 10

RICS guidance notes
JCT Tendering notes

Question 11

What is the importance of a pre-tender estimate?

Answer 11

• Affordability
• Comparison document

Question 12

What is the risks of an inadequate tender period duration?

Answer 12

• Risk of misunderstanding
• Risk of withdrawals

Question 13

How do you deal with tender queries?

Answer 13

• Forward them to the correct person
• Collate them
• Issue back to all tenderers

Question 14

Would a lack of tender queries raise concern?

Answer 14

Yes, it could suggest that the tenderers have not fully understood the information

Question 15

How does tendering work?

Answer 15

• Preliminary enquiry
• Invitation to tender
• Assessment and award

Question 16

What is included in a pre-qualification questionnaire?

Answer 16

• Opening letter
• Project information (project, consultants, start date)
• Questionnaire (technical capability, financial standing, management structure, insurances)

Question 17

Why do we use a pre-qualification questionnaire?

Answer 17

To pre-select suitable tenderers

Question 18

What is the sufficient amount of contractors for a pre-qualification questionnaire?

Answer 18

JCT Tendering recommends 3-6 tenderers

Question 19

What happens to the contractors not selected for the tender following the PQQ?

Answer 19

• They should be informed with detailed feedback based on scoring matrix

Question 20

How long would you allow for a pre-qualification period?

Answer 20

• It would depend on the project
• More complexity may require more time
• Generally ranges between 2-4 weeks

Question 21

What is traditional procurement?

Question 22

How does traditional procurement work?

Question 23

When might a traditional procurement be suitable?

Question 24

What are the advantages of traditional procurement?

Question 25

What are the disadvantages of traditional procurement?

Question 26

What is a design and build procurement?

Question 27

How does design and build procurement work?

Question 28

What is included in Employers requirements?

Question 29

What is included within contractors proposals?

Question 30

When might a design and build procurement appropriate?

Question 31

What are the advantages of design and build?

Question 32

Who carries out the design for the contractor?

Question 33

What is management contracting?

Question 34

How does management contracting works?

Question 35

When might management contracting be appropriate?

Question 36

What are the advantages of management contracting?

Question 37

What are the disadvantages of management contracting?

Question 38

What is the key issue after a design team has been novated?

Question 39

How does Novation effect the employers right?

Answer 39

• They transfer the rights and obligations to the contractor meaning they lose their contractural relationship with the consultant

Question 40

How would you mitigate the risk of Novation and the employers rights?

Answer 40

• A collateral warranty to create a contractural link

Question 41

What is construction management?

Question 42

What is construction management?

Question 43

How does construction management work?

Answer 43

• Trade packages are procured separately
• The construction manager coordinates and supervises the trades and design team
• The client has direct contractural links with the trade contractors

Question 44

When is construction management appropriate?

Question 45

What are the advantages of construction management?

Question 46

What are the disadvantages of construction management?

Question 47

What is included in a ‘form of tender’?

Question 48

What are employers requirements?

Question 49

What are contractors proposals and what do they include?

Question 50

How would you determine the duration of the tender period?

Question 51

How long would a tender period be on a two-stage tender?

Question 52

What is serial tendering?

Answer 52

• A tender method used where the client has multiple projects and appoints a contractor competitively whilst negotiating for further projects