Post-Tender Negotiation & Award
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors, Main Contractors & Clients10 working days
For bidding or letting work
I build the negotiating position, set the target and walk-away point against your stated limits, take the items in order, record every movement and confirm what is agreed in writing the same day. This is the gap between the recommendation and the order.
The problem
After tender analysis, a comparison figure can be mistaken for an offer and the meeting can begin without a settled limit, sequence or record of what remains live. On the buying side that blurs the position with the tenderer being appointed; on the bidding side it can concede a price somebody else levelled without defending what was submitted. Movements are discussed, remembered differently and left for later confirmation.
The solution
I build the position from the ITT, addenda, live qualifications and exclusions, tender validity and your negotiating limits. Target and walk-away positions are set before the meeting, then the items are taken in order and every movement is recorded. The agreed price is reconciled to the price actually submitted, not to a levelled comparison figure that no party offered, and the agreement is confirmed in writing the same day.
A levelled comparison figure is not a price anybody has offered. What is agreed in a meeting and not written down that day is not agreed.
What you receive
A written same-day record of the position agreed, with every movement recorded and the agreed price reconciled to the price actually submitted. On the buying side, the position settles with the tenderer to be appointed. On the bidding side, it defends the price somebody else has levelled.
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 the position and your limits
You set out whether you are buying or bidding, the position now and the limits within which an agreement may be made.
You send the tender record and live commercial position
The list below gives the negotiation the ITT, addenda, live qualifications, values, validity and stated limits it needs.
- A
The position as it stands
EssentialWithout it: There is no starting position, so nothing can be built
Where to find it: On the buying side, the levelling schedule and recommendation, from the relevant service if this practice produced it. On the bidding side, the buyer's queries or levelling questions together with the price you submitted, and the relevant service report where one was produced, because its findings are the position the price is defended from.
Why I need it: It is the thing being negotiated from
- B
The ITT as issued, with every addendum
EssentialWithout it: Movements are tested against the original pack when the pack has moved, so an item already resolved by addendum is negotiated again
Where to find it: The enquiry email or the portal download, unedited, plus every addendum in the order issued.
Why I need it: What the price was built to answer, and what has changed since
- C
Every qualification and exclusion in play, priced
EssentialWithout it: Items go on the table with no value, so what is given and what is got cannot be compared
Where to find it: The submissions themselves, and the qualifications schedule from the relevant service where that ran. Where a value has not been put on an item, say so and it is priced.
Why I need it: They are the items being traded, and an unpriced item cannot be traded
- D
The tender validity period and its expiry date
EssentialWithout it: There is no way to know whether the price being negotiated still stands
Where to find it: The ITT itself, on the invitation letter or the covering instructions.
Why I need it: It is the hard edge on the whole service
- E
Your negotiating limits
EssentialWithout it: I cannot set your commercial limits for you; you must confirm them before negotiation
Where to find it: Ask directly: the figure they will go to, the items they will not concede at any price, and who on their side may agree what. Put it in writing and have them confirm it.
Why I need it: The target and walk-away position are yours to decide
- F
The scope and exclusions document
ImportantWithout it: A movement that is really a scope change is recorded as a price change
Where to find it: The enquiry pack, from the relevant service where this practice assembled it.
Why I need it: The boundary every movement is measured against
- G
The programme the price is attached to
ImportantWithout it: A movement in the programme is agreed without its price consequence being stated
Where to find it: Your current accepted programme, or the tender programme if the works have not started.
Why I need it: Prelims and resourcing move with the period, and a period change is a price change
- H
The form of subcontract or contract intended
ImportantWithout it: A qualification that amends the contract is traded as though it were a price item
Where to find it: Your buying department's standard order or subcontract template, with whatever amendments you normally apply.
Why I need it: Some qualifications attack the terms rather than the price, and those are settled differently
- I
The priced pricing schedule behind the price being negotiated
ImportantWithout it: An item with no supplied value and no adjustment from the tender comparison has no rate source for pricing
Where to find it: On the buying side, send the recommended tenderer's own full priced schedule as submitted, not just the summary. On the bidding side, send the priced schedule you submitted.
Why I need it: Provides the tenderer's own rates for an item that has not been valued in the return or adjusted during comparison
- J
The other tenderers' priced returns. Buying side only
ImportantWithout it: An item the tenderer did not price anywhere has no alternative tender rate to draw on
Where to find it: The tender returns as collected on the closing date, from the relevant service where this practice levelled them. On the bidding side this input does not exist and is not asked for: a bidder does not hold the other returns, and this alternative rate source is unavailable to them.
Why I need it: Provides a traceable alternative rate where the tenderer's own schedule contains no rate for the work
- K
The budget or allowance for the package
ImportantWithout it: The review's budget test cannot run, so a walk-away above the budget is discovered after the negotiation rather than before it
Where to find it: Your cost plan or the allowance held by whoever authorised the package. If I already hold it from the earlier tender review, identify that version. A provisional amount is useful; send its date and build-up where they exist.
Why I need it: Checks the compared totals against your budget and identifies a walk-away position that already exceeds what you can spend
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 build the negotiating position
I establish the tender position, the items still live and the relationship between the submitted price and the matters to be discussed.
I set the target and walk-away point
I set the target and walk-away point against your stated limits before any movement is made.
I take the items in order and record every movement
Each item is addressed in sequence and every movement is recorded, so no concession is detached from the point it was made against.
I reconcile and confirm the agreement
I reconcile the agreed price to the price actually submitted and confirm in writing that day what has been agreed.
I hand over the confirmed negotiation position
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.
