Bid Risk & ITT Review
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors10 working days
I read everything the bid is bound by, identify departures from your normal position, split the risks into what must be priced, qualified or cannot be carried at any price, and make a bid or no-bid recommendation. The review happens before pricing, while a question can still change the information the price is built on.
The problem
An ITT is often read for the scope and priced before the documents it incorporates, the amendments and the departures from the bidder's normal position have been understood. A risk then surfaces after the query deadline, when it can only be qualified rather than answered, or after the price has absorbed something no one chose to carry. The bidder is left responding to a closed question rather than deciding what the bid can safely contain.
The solution
I read the full ITT and every document it incorporates, including addenda and the proposed terms, against your normal position. Risks are separated into those that must be priced, those that must be qualified and those that cannot be carried at any price. I draft and submit the tender queries before the query deadline, then bring the remaining position together in a bid or no-bid recommendation.
The query deadline is usually two or three weeks before the tender return. A risk found after it closes can only be qualified rather than answered, so this work has to happen early.
What you receive
A bid or no-bid recommendation founded on the complete ITT, its incorporated documents, departures and risk position, with tender queries drafted and submitted before the query deadline. The risks left in the bid are identified as items to price, qualify or refuse to carry.
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 bid and its deadlines
You set out the opportunity, the query deadline, the return deadline and the position you need to test before pricing starts.
You send the ITT and the documents it refers to
The list below gives the review the complete question, its terms and the deadlines that govern what can still be asked.
- A
The ITT in full, with every document it refers to and every addendum
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to review, and a document incorporated by reference is exactly where the onerous terms sit
Where to find it: The enquiry email or the portal download, unedited, plus everything the covering letter lists.
Why I need it: It is the thing being reviewed, and what it incorporates binds as much as what it says
- B
The proposed contract terms, with amendments
EssentialWithout it: The standard form is reviewed instead of the contract, and every amendment, which is the whole point, goes unread
Where to find it: Usually a schedule of amendments or a marked-up form appended to the ITT. If the ITT names a form and attaches nothing, say so, because that is itself a query.
Why I need it: The amendments are where the risk transfer happens
- C
The query deadline and the return deadline
EssentialWithout it: There is no way to know how long questions can still be asked, which is the one irrecoverable clock here
Where to find it: The ITT itself, on the invitation letter or the covering instructions.
Why I need it: The service is worked back from the earlier of them, and one of them cannot be recovered
- D
Your normal positions: what you qualify, your PI cover and exclusions, and the terms you pay your supply chain on
ImportantWithout it: Terms are measured against a market norm rather than your actual position, so the report identifies what is unusual in general rather than what matters specifically to you
Where to find it: Your last few submissions will show what you normally qualify. Your broker holds the PI schedule. Your own standard subcontract or order shows your supply chain terms.
Why I need it: A departure is only a departure from something
- E
What else you are bidding, and what you have resourced
ImportantWithout it: The recommendation rests on the terms alone, when the commonest good reason not to bid is having nobody to run the job
Where to find it: Whoever keeps your bid list. A rough answer is enough: how many live bids, and whether this one has a name against it.
Why I need it: The bid or no-bid recommendation is partly a capacity question
- F
Drawings and specification
ImportantWithout it: Scope risks are read from the written scope alone, and a mismatch between what is drawn and what is described goes unseen
Where to find it: Whatever came with the enquiry. Incomplete is expected at this stage.
Why I need it: What is actually being built, and whether the scope matches the terms
- G
The package value you expect to be bidding to, and the tender programme period in weeks
ImportantWithout it: Neither can be computed. The payment period is described rather than costed, and the damages rate is stated in pounds per day with no proportion against the package to weigh it by
Where to find it: Your own estimate, because no price exists yet: this service runs before pricing. A round figure is enough and it is adopted as yours and attributed as such, never derived here. Where the ITT states a budget or a value band, say so and give both. The programme period is in the ITT, the preliminaries or the tender programme.
Why I need it: Both arithmetic passages in this service run off them: the funding gap and the damages proportion, which are the two most quoted figures in the report
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 read the bid documents and departures
I read everything the bid is bound by, including every incorporated document, addendum, proposed term and departure from your normal position.
I sort the risks by the action they require
Each risk is identified as one that must be priced, must be qualified or cannot be carried at any price.
I draft and submit the tender queries
I put the questions needed to resolve the bid position in writing and submit them before the query deadline.
I make the bid or no-bid recommendation
I bring the document review, risk position and outstanding questions into a recommendation before the bid moves into pricing.
I hand over the bid risk 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.
