ITT Pack Assembly & Pricing Schedules
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Main Contractors10 working days
I assemble the invitation-to-tender pack for a subcontract package so the tenders come back comparable, with a pricing schedule structured to be levelled line by line and the terms included so nobody prices blind. Tenders that cannot be compared were lost at the enquiry, not the analysis.
The problem
A subcontract package goes out to three or four subcontractors as a folder of drawings, a rough scope note and a request for a lump sum by Friday. The prices come back useless as a comparison: one included the attendances, one assumed you would; one priced the whole scope, one priced what they felt like; one is a single number, one is twelve. Levelling them means a week of phone calls establishing what each price covers, and even then the cheapest number often left the most out. The fix is upstream, in how the enquiry is built.
The solution
I build the pack around a pricing schedule designed to be levelled: the works broken into lines that every tenderer prices against, so the returns compare item by item rather than number against number. Around it goes a scope description that closes the gaps subcontractors otherwise fill with assumptions, a clear statement of preliminaries and attendances, and the tender programme and key dates. The contract terms go in too, because a tenderer who has not seen the payment terms, programme obligations or damages regime will price blind or reprice on reading them, so returns are made on the actual deal. Then I run the tender period itself: every query answered as a numbered addendum to every tenderer, and the pack closed with the return arrangements confirmed in writing.
What you receive
The tenders come back comparable, which turns tender analysis from a week of reconciling apples and oranges into a levelling exercise the pack was built to support. Because the scope, the attendances and the terms were all stated up front, the returns reflect the real job, the cheapest number is cheap for a reason you can see, and the post-tender surprise where the winner discovers the terms and asks for more is designed out.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: ten working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You tell me about the package and the programme
One call on the package, who you are thinking of inviting and when you need it priced. The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
You send me the scope, the terms and your prelims position
The list below lets the enquiry be built on the real scope, the real terms and a settled division of attendances.
- A
Drawings and specification
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to price, so nothing in the pack can be assembled
Where to find it: The design team's issue, the main contract documents and your own buying schedule.
Why I need it: Defines what is being priced
- B
Written scope of works
ImportantWithout it: Tenderers each guess the boundary of the job differently, and returns stop being comparable
Where to find it: Usually there is nothing written beyond an email or a site meeting note. Send whatever you have, even a few bullet points, and Jack will draft the rest from the drawings for you to confirm before it goes out.
Why I need it: The boundary every tenderer prices to
- C
Programme and key dates
ImportantWithout it: Every preliminaries price in every return rests on a guessed period instead of a fixed one
Where to find it: Your programme software export, or whoever holds the current programme on your side. If it is still moving, say which dates are firm and which are not.
Why I need it: Sets the periods that drive prelims
Quality: dates and durations you can read periods off.
- D
Tender list
EssentialWithout it: There is no one to send the pack to, and the conflict check cannot run
Where to find it: Your buying department's contact list, or your own address book of subcontractors you use for this trade.
Why I need it: Who receives the pack, and the conflict check
- E
Form of subcontract intended
EssentialWithout it: Tenderers cannot price the risk they are being asked to carry
Where to find it: Your buying department's standard order or subcontract template, with whatever amendments you normally apply.
Why I need it: The terms tenderers price the risk of
- F
Site constraints
ImportantWithout it: Tenderers price without knowing access, hours or storage, and returns come back built on different assumptions
Where to find it: Your site set-up plan and the project's own preliminaries build-up.
Why I need it: Access, hours and storage change price and method
- G
Employer's requirements to flow down
ImportantWithout it: Obligations that should sit with the subcontractor are found later, after the price is fixed
Where to find it: Your own executed main contract or order for the project.
Why I need it: What must pass down the chain
- H
The return deadline
EssentialWithout it: There is no date to work the pack or the levelling window back from
Where to find it: The buying schedule, from the relevant service where this practice produced one, which carries this package's enquiry release date and buy-by date already worked back from the site date. Otherwise your own procurement programme, or work it back from the date you need the package let by.
Why I need it: Fixes the return date and the levelling window
- I
Measured quantities or a bill
ImportantWithout it: Quantities are derived from the drawings, which is slower and produces a second set of figures that can disagree with your own
Where to find it: Your own take-off, or the bill produced under the relevant service if this practice measured the package.
Why I need it: The pricing schedule is built on them instead of deriving them again
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
- A
I structure the pricing schedule to be levelled
The works broken into lines every tenderer prices against, so the returns compare item by item instead of number against number.
I write the scope and state the attendances
A scope description that closes the assumption gaps, with preliminaries and attendances stated so responsibility is never left to guesswork.
I bind the terms and the programme into the pack
The subcontract terms and key dates included, so nobody prices blind and nobody reprices the day they finally read the terms.
Pack Verified Before Issue
Nothing goes to a tenderer until every drawing is checked against the register by revision and you confirm in writing the subcontract form to be placed.
I issue the pack in your name and keep the register
The pack goes out to your tender list in your name, and I keep the issue register: who received what, when and by what route, with receipts chased until every tenderer has acknowledged.
I answer tender queries as numbered addenda
Every question is logged and every answer goes to every tenderer as a numbered addendum, so no return is priced on private information. Where an addendum changes a drawing or a quantity, the document is reissued at its next revision.
Every Answer to Everyone
Any question answered mid-tender is issued as a numbered addendum to every tenderer, so no return is priced on private information.
I close the pack and confirm the return arrangements
At the question deadline the window closes, and the return date, time and route are confirmed in writing to the whole list, with the addenda listed so every price confirms it includes them. The returns come back to you.
Late Returns Ruled First
No return is opened until your written position on late tenders is agreed, and it is applied identically to the whole list.
I build the pack that comes back comparable
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
The returns this pack produces are levelled and recommended on by Tender Levelling & Award Recommendation, and the winner's terms are turned into a signed order by Subcontract Drafting & Placement. Together the three cover a package from enquiry to executed subcontract.