In the case of tenders not based on bills of quantities, the scope for detection of errors, etc. is limited and correction of any which are discovered is usually a straightforward matter of adjusting any erroneous rates, with the contractor’s agreement.
If a lump sum tender based on drawings and specification only shows a breakdown of the total and this contains arithmetical errors, then correction should be done in a similar way to that described for bills of quantities, so far as is applicable.
Two alternative ways of dealing with errors in bills are recom- mended by the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT).1 The first is the
traditional procedure of informing the tenderer of the errors and asking him whether he wishes to confirm his tender, notwith- standing the errors (which may be favourable or unfavourable to him), or whether he wishes to withdraw it. This procedure accords with the basic principle of the law of contract whereby an offer is made to provide goods and/or services for a certain consideration and the offerer may withdraw his offer at any time before its acceptance. The recommendation of the JCT is that this method of dealing with errors is inappropriate for two stage-selective tendering and possibly partnering arrangements, and in these instances the client may be advised to consider adopting the second alternative.
The second course of action is to inform the tenderer of the errors and to ask him whether he wishes to confirm his tender, notwithstanding the errors, or whether he wishes to correct genu- ine errors. If he chooses to correct his errors and the revised ten- der sum is then higher than the next on the list, then his tender
will be set aside and the lowest one will be proceeded with in a similar way instead.
It should be noted that the term ‘genuine errors’ means inad- vertent arithmetical errors and patent pricing errors, as defined earlier. It does not include errors, which the estimator may have made in the build-up of a bill rate or price. The provision for the cor- rection of genuine errors does not give the contractor the opportu- nity of increasing any rates or prices that on reflection he realizes are too low, nor of pricing any items which were intentionally left unpriced.
One reason why the second alternative has been introduced is that, because of the large sums involved in most construction pro- jects, it is in clients’ interests to allow the correction of such errors as have the effect of increasing the tender sum, if to do so leaves the tender still in the lowest position. The contractor will be hap- pier and the client will be paying a lower price than if the con- tractor felt he had no alternative but to withdraw. In any case, it is not in the client’s interest to have a discontented contractor from the start of the contract, who feels that he is beginning the con- tract with an expectation of a reduced profit. However, it must also be acknowledged that the adoption of the second alternative could allow a contractor to manipulate the situation to his advantage.
The JCT recommends that it should be decided from the outset which of the alternative methods of dealing with any errors will be used, and this decision will be communicated in the prelimin- ary enquiry to tenderers, the formal invitation to tender and the Form of Tender.
When the contractor elects to confirm his tender, his errors must still be dealt with so that the priced document is arithmetic- ally correct and consistent throughout. This is so that when the rates and prices are used subsequently, difficulties that would otherwise arise will be eliminated (see p. 90, under the heading ‘Examination of selected tender’). The correction of errors must, of course, be done in consultation and agreement with the contrac- tor. The surveyor will normally draw up a list of errors, etc., which he will agree with the contractor, and the surveyor will then amend the priced document accordingly.
The procedure for the correction of errors in bills is as follows: (a) If the original text has been altered without authorization, the
(b) All errors of the kinds described earlier (i.e., arithmetical and patent pricing errors) should be corrected and the corrections carried through from page totals to collections, from collec- tions to summaries and from summaries to general summary. The incorrect amounts should be ruled through with a single line and the correct ones written above, neatly and clearly. (c) A sum, equal to the net amount of the aggregated errors,
should be inserted on the General Summary immediately before the final total as an addition or deduction, as appro- priate. This will have the effect of adjusting the corrected bill total to the amount stated on the Form of Tender (which, it should be noted, in some instances may not be the same sum as the original total of the bills).
This net addition or deduction equal to the errors is, in effect, the aggregate of adjustments to every rate and price in the bills, exclud- ing any contingency sum, provisional sums and Preliminaries (if deducted). Accordingly, any subsequent use of a rate or price from the bills or of one based upon rates or prices in the bills must be sub- jected to an equivalent adjustment. To facilitate this, the balancing sum (i.e., the net amount of the errors) is calculated as a percentage of the value of the builder’s work. The contract copies of the priced bills should be endorsed with a statement that all the rates and prices (other than contingency and provisional sums) are to be con- sidered as increased or reduced (as appropriate) by that percentage. The example in Figure 5.2 illustrates how the process may be affected.
All surveyors do not agree on what constitutes ‘builder’s work’ for the purpose of calculating the adjusting percentage referred to in the last paragraph. The JCT says that in addition to the fixed sums mentioned above, the value of Preliminaries items should also be excluded. Turner2does not agree, taking the view
that the latter are just as much the contractor’s own prices as those applied to measured items. This seems a reasonable view, particularly as arithmetical errors may occur just as easily in the Preliminaries as in the measured sections of the bills.
In the calculation on page 98, the Preliminaries have been deducted from the contract sum in accordance with the JCT advice. The bills were those submitted in support of the tender for the con- tract described in Appendix A, in which the corrected amounts are shown in the Summary of Bill No 3 and in the General Summary.
List of errors in priced bills submitted by Beecon Ltd
Page no. Item Type of error Effect of error on
ref. total of tender
Increased Decreased by by £ £ 25 – Page total 300.00 30 – Page total 18.00 48 C Item extension 195.60 79 – Page total transferred
incorrectly 1.35
86 L Item extension 56.50
103 D Item extension 460.00
140 – Page total 1,500.00
General Page total transferred
Summary incorrectly from p. 141 54.00 General
Summary Sub-total 30,000.00 Form of
Tender Total rounded down 272.75
31,009.60 1,848.60 1,848.60
Net amount of errors 29,161.00
The following pages show how the error in item D on p. 103 of the bills was dealt with and the consequential correction of totals, also the corrections to the Summary and General Summary of all the errors listed above. On the General Summary is shown the sum added to balance the net error and also the endorsement. The adjusting percentage referred to in the endorse- ment has been calculated thus:
This calculation should be shown on the General Summary page in a con- venient position or on the facing page.
29,161
1,418,839.00 (126,507.00 50,688.00 24,297.17) 100 2.395%
L40 GENERAL GLAZING
STANDARD PLAIN GLASS £ p
OQ quality sheet glass
A 4 mm Panes, area 0.15–4.00 m2to wood
}
with bradded wood beads. 71 m2 17.85 1,977 35
B 4 mm Ditto but bedded in glazing
}
60 m2 25.98 1,558 80compound.
C 4 mm Ditto, area not exceeding 0.15 m2
}
(In 110 nr. panes). 16 m2 29.01 464 16
D 4 mm Ditto, area 0.15–4.00 m2to metal
}
1,195 08with mastic and spring glazing clips. 46 m2 25.98 1,655 08
Rolled glass, pattern group 2
E 3 mm Panes, area 0.15–4.00 m2, to wood
}
with bradded wood beads. 20 m2 25.13 502 60
Rolled Georgian wired rough cast glass F 6 mm Panes, area 0.15–4.00 m2, to wood
}
with bradded wood beads. 48 m2 42.25 2,028 00
Rolled Georgian wired polished plate glass
G 6 mm Panes, area 0.15–4.00 m2, to wood
}
with bradded wood beads 17 m2 54.53 927 01
H 6 mm Ditto, area not exceeding 0.15 m2,
}
ditto (In 140 panes). 20 m2 54.86 1,097 20
GG quality clear plate float glass J 6 mm Panes in sliding hatch doors,
475 mm wide 570 mm high, ground
}
on all edges,1 nr. ground and shaped
finger grip sinking. 20 nr 28.57 571 40 10,321 60 Carried to Collection £10,781 60
103
L40 GENERAL GLAZING (CONT)
STRIPS FOR EDGES OF PANES £ p A Glazing strips as described to edges
}
of 3 mm glass. 188 m 1.08 203 04
B Ditto but 4 mm glass. } 320 m 1.08 345 60 C Ditto but 6 mm glass. } 406 m 1.08 438 48 Carried to Collection £ 987 12 COLLECTION £ p Page 93 2,560 20 ” 94 825 74 ” 95 1,317 09 ” 96 2,150 65 ” 97 5,792 20 ” 98 1,746 51 ” 99 3,107 26 ” 100 2,329 15 ” 101 2,834 21 ” 102 2,244 77 10,321 60 ” 103 10,781 60 ” 104 987 12 36,216 50 WINDOWS/DOORS/STAIRS Total Carried to Summary £ 36,676 50
104
Bill No. 3 – Shops and flats Summary Page £ 181,837.93 26 Groundworks 182,137.93 184,537.67 33 In situ concrete 184,519.67 44 Masonry 155,400.25 69,930.48 69 Structural/carcassing metal/timber 70,126.08 32,051.34 79 Cladding/covering 32,049.99 64,103.00 92 Waterproofing 64,046.50 125,291.63 104 Windows/doors/stairs 125,751.63 109 Surface finishes 52,447.88 112 Furniture/equipment 13,598.22
116 Building fabric sundries 32,051.36
121 Disposal systems 29,137.62
124 Piped supply systems 21,045.45
129 Mechanical heating 84,214.65
134 Communications/security/control 22,325.56
136 Electrical services 32,051.79
140 Transport systems 71,235.00 1,171,259.83 Total carried to general summary £ 1,172,139.58
141
General summary Page £ 15 Bill No. 1 Preliminaries/general conditions 126,507.00 19 Bill no. 2 Demolition 5,531.00 141 Bill no. 3 1,171,259.83 Shops and flats 1,172,193.58
147 Bill no. 4 40,556.00 External works 39,056.00 151 Bill no. 5 Provisional sums 50,688.00 1,394,541.83 1,423,975.58 Add for:
Insurance against injury to persons
and property as item 5C 10,000.00
All risks insurance as item 5C 12,920.17
Water for the Works as item 13A 1,377.00 1,418,839.00 Add to adjust for errors 29,161.00 1,448,000.00 Total carried to form of tender 1,448,272.75
All rates and prices herein (excluding preliminaries and provisional sums) are to be considered increased by 2.395%
Signed ... Signed ...
152
Where there is only a small mathematical error in the tender documents, for example, a few hundred pounds on a £5 m project, some surveyors adopt a pragmatic approach to the adjustment. With the agreement of the contractor, the error adjustment may be accommodated within the Preliminaries bill. The price of one or two preliminary items may adjusted by the total of the error, the Preliminaries bill would then be recalculated so that the con- tract sum in the bill of quantities is correct and in accordance with the contractor’s original tender figure.
References
1. JCT, Series 2, Practice Note 6 Main Contract Tendering (London: RIBA Publications, 2002), p. 10.
2. TURNER, DENNIS F., Quantity Surveying Practice and Administra-
Under the general law of contract, when a party makes an offer to provide goods and/or services for some certain consideration and the party to whom the offer is made accepts it, then, provided it does not involve any illegal act, a contract which is enforceable at law exists. This is no less the case in the construction world than in any other sphere of business or industry. The offer is made by a contractor who tenders to carry out specified construction works in return for a money payment and upon the acceptance of that offer by the client promoting the project, a binding contract comes into being.
It is desirable that the client’s acceptance should be in writing and that it should be given as soon as possible after receipt of ten- ders. If there is any appreciable delay of, say, one to two months or more, then it will be necessary to obtain the contractor’s confirm- ation that his price still stands or what the increase in his price is, due to rising costs.