Many building companies rely on government construction contracts as their sole source of revenue, while others are going to bid on a mixture of public and personal opportunities. There are lots of exemptions and regulations governing public construction contracting.
While a comprehensive list of all of the regulations and statutes for all of the national, state, and local agencies are almost impossible to compile, there are a number of common requirements and practices that almost all agencies follow. Take a look at a couple of things to bear in mind when bidding on government construction contracts.
Competitive Bidding
For most public building projects, price is the deciding factor in awarding a contract. The most typical project delivery process is the Design-Bid-Build method where general contractors bid on the job after an architect is already chosen and completed the specifications and plans.
Projects must then be promoted, using an Invitation for Bids or Request for Proposals, in a local paper or by electronic means, usually on the agencs site, for a fixed number of days ahead of the bidding date.
General builders take sub-bids from trade contractors and submit a bid to create the project for a set cost. General contractors must submit a sealed bid or proposal from the bidding date, at which time they're generally opened and read aloud.
A responsive bid means that it has fulfilled all of the legal requirements and substantially complies with all the bid specifications.
Enables you to perform pre-auction homework
The majority of the online auction sites enable you to examine the items a couple weeks before the bidding begins, giving you a opportunity to make a wiser decision and maximum bid. You can do appropriate research of these items, a lot, as well as the profile of vendors. In return, adds more efficacy in the buyes procurement proccess. Some people frequently complain that although the things are pre-acknowledged and exhibited prior to the auction, the biggest drawback they may encounter while purchasing through online auction portals isn't knowing who they are bidding against. But, all they have to realize is how this situation actually helps them have a sharper pen with the actual price, ist it?
Rules for using the CMAR approaches vary. In North Carolina, it's allowed only after the public entity has decided that CMAR is in the best interest of this project. The CMAR may not self-perform some of their work on the project except in some rare cases like not getting any bids for a subcontract.
A number of the contract methods utilized other than lump sum and GMP include unit cost, cost and fee, and incentive contracts. When these methods aret as common, they are used sometimes so is a good idea to get familiar with what they entail in the event that you ever encounter one as a part of your bid/no-bid decision making.
Pre-Bid Meetings
Often on public building projects, the operator will maintain a pre-bid meeting or site visit to permit contractors and subcontractors to acquire a better understanding of the job requirements. These are terrific opportunities to ask questions regarding the bidding or site conditions in addition to network with trade builders or general contractors interested in bidding on the project.
Failing to attend a compulsory pre-bid meeting means you aret qualified to bid on the job and bureaus frequently use the attendance lists to send out addenda to the bidding or bidding documents. Is always a good idea to attend pre-bid meetings when they're offered, no matter whether they are compulsory or not, so as to submit a better bidding.