Despite the growing popularity of eTendering/eBidding software systems in the public sector, many landscape architects and civil engineers in private industry have yet to make the change. In this article we will examine some of the advantages and reasons why this is the way of the future!
Bid Comparison & Incomplete Bids
After the bids are received, how long does it take you to create a clean and informative bid comparison document? Did you say longer than 10 seconds??? (Apologies here, we don’t mean to brag) Also, how many of your contractors submitted half-baked estimates or missing pricing because they “need more time” (or didn’t even look at the tender until 2hrs before the deadline)? A good eTendering system provides a mechanism for gracefully handling these situations. You can use placeholder prices to get an apples-to-apples comparison even with missing prices so your clients can get a reasonable expectation on cost even if there are problems with the bids.
Bid comparison documents are generated automatically upon tender close and professionally formatted to send directly to a client without modification.
Addenda & Contractor Questions
Has a bidder found a mistake or have a question about your tender? A good eTendering system will have a mechanism for handling these situations that include automatically generating addenda based on questions that the contractors have submitted through the system. There is no longer any reason to send these by mail or even by email. eTendering systems will have built-in acknowledgement so you know which contractors have read the addendum and which ones have not. This gives you a defensible position when contractors submit the wrong pricing because of a change. Also, you’ll ensure you never miss another question!
Convenient & Cloud Based
Everyone benefits from an e-tendering system that’s cloud based. Data is stored in a secure offsite location where it is backed up regularly. So you don’t need to worry about losing data in the case of computer problems. Cloud-based systems are also accessible from any location and you can receive email notifications on your mobile phone so there’s no need to ever miss another deadline.
Contractors can also view tenders and bids through convenient mobile apps, which means they can get back to you in the field or in the office.
Transparency, Integrity, and Security
As a land developer or other project owner, you want to objectively select a contractor based on criteria that matter. You look for a good balance of reputation, price, and workmanship for your $10,000,000 project; not simply the contractor who happens to bar-hop with your consultant on Friday nights. Any good eTendering system will ensure that no bids can be viewed before the submission deadline. As a consultant, this ensures complete transparency between consultants and owners; it increases trust and trust is what gets you the next project.
Some eTendering software systems, such as ContractComplete even support on-disk bid encryption during the tendering process for an added level of bid security. While this often goes beyond necessity, it can help assure apprehensive contractors that they are using a secure system that guarantees that their bid is safe.
Save on Paper & Postage
There are several advantages to using an eTendering system, but an obvious one is cost. There is no need to pay for premium shipping options to ensure that your contractors receive the tender package at the same time or even request that they come pick up a fender package. Sending your files digitally allows for us all to save paper and lower our footprint.
As a consultant, your contractors will be happy too. They won’t need to deliver their completed tendering packages and will be able to submit their bid at any point before the deadline without chasing after the FedEX truck at 11am the day of the deadline. Some eTendering systems also allow contractors to accept or decline a tender so you’ll know whether you need to invite more contractors to bid (and save several phone calls in the process).
At ContractComplete, we strongly believe in saving our users time. Time cannot be created, but we can save some for you! All it takes is a minor investment and a little bit of video training and you’re off to the races! We know it’s important that our users have high quality, easy to use software that generates beautiful documents. Ask for a demo today and start reaping the rewards within a month. Your first tender is free!
