Enquiry and Tender Response

The first decision is to whom to send your tender enquiry.  Here are some useful hints:

• Be sure that your selected tenderers have both the technical and financial resources to do the work.  Ask for and take up references.

• Base your list selection on sound criteria.  Do you know their work or are they recommended by someone whose opinion you trust?  Have they done similar work before?  Have you seen examples of their work and spoken to previous customers?

• If the project is large or complex, arrange pre-tender interviews to select your list from a wider population of potential contractors.  Prepare thoroughly for these interviews and decide in advance the criteria that are particularly relevant to your project.

It is important to be sure that any of the tenderers who receive your enquiry would be competent and qualified to do the work, if appointed.  If you have doubts or reservations, they should not be on your list.

The number of tenderers on a list will depend on the type of work envisaged but it should usually be between four and six.  Ideally, all tenders should be received at the same time and you should arrange for the opening of tenders to be witnessed and recorded by a third party.  Once you have opened the tender returns, price is one important factor but other matters enter into a thorough tender evaluation:

• Time for completion

• Exclusions and omissions

• Terms and Conditions of work and contractual arrangements

• Method Statements, Health and Safety policies, insurances.

• Qualifications of tender – be watchful for phrases like “budget”, “estimate”, “subject to confirmation”, “to be agreed”.  These can return to haunt you if the contractor’s performance falls below your expectations.

Following tender return and evaluation, you are ready to select and appoint your chosen contractor.  The lowest tender will usually (but not always) be successful.  If there are points that remain for clarification, you may wish to retain the second-best tender for possible future consideration.  In any event, always write to the unsuccessful tenderers to thank them for their submissions and advise them of the outcome.  A lot of time and expense is devoted to responding to tender enquiries and you may require them to tender again for other work in the future.

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