The number and nature of the tender documents used will vary depending upon the procurement route and the type of contract chosen. They will include some or all of the following.
Conditions of the contract
This document sets out the obligations and rights of the parties, and the detailed conditions under which a subsequent contract will operate. If a standard form, such as the JCT Form, is used it will not be sent out with the invitation to tender, it being assumed that the tenderers will have a copy or can readily obtain one. The clause headings will, however, be listed in the first (Preliminaries) section of the bills of quantities and/or specification.
Bills of quantities
Since the 1990s, the use of bills of quantities has seen a steady decline and these days they are most likely to be used for lump sum contracts of more than say, £100,000.6Tenderers should be
sent two copies of the bills,7one for return to the architect or sur- veyor with the tender, the other for the contractor to keep as a copy of his submitted prices. If the tenderers are not required to submit priced bills with their tenders, only one copy need to be sent to them initially. A second copy will then be sent at the time of requesting submission of the priced bills.
Specification
In the case of a traditional procurement route, utilizing a lump sum contracts without bills of quantities, a detailed specification will be supplied to tenderers. Sometimes a specification will be supplied in addition to bills of quantities where they are used, but this is exceptional nowadays. A specification may be in a form for detailed pricing.
Schedule of works
As an alternative to a specification in the case of ‘without quanti- ties’ contracts, tenderers may be supplied with a Schedule of Works. This lists the work comprised in the contract under appropriate headings. The tenderers may be required to price the schedule.
Drawings
Normally, general arrangement drawings will be provided, showing site location, position of the building(s) on and means of access to the site and floor plans and elevations. Tenderers are not normally given working drawings as they are not considered to be necessary for pricing purposes, full descriptions of the work being incorporated in the bills or specification. Tenderers are informed, however, that they can inspect drawings not supplied to them, at the architect’s office.
Employer’s Requirements
Where a client wishes the contractor to have a design input on the project, perhaps by using a design and build procurement route or using an alternative route which contains a contractor’s design input, it will be necessary for the client to clearly set out his require- ments to enable the contractor to produce a suitable design. The JCT refer to this document as the Employer’s Requirements.8There is no standard form of employer’s requirements but the JCT Practice Note provides advice as to the content and detail that should be included. The purpose of the form is to provide tendering contractors with a clear idea of what the client wants in the way of a building, e.g., type of structure, function, size, accommodation, quality, aes- thetics, costs in use requirements, etc. The actual detail provided in the form can vary considerably depending upon how the client wishes to use the design and build process. The form may contain only basic information as to the required function of the building, thereby allowing tenderers a free rein regarding their design pro- posals. Alternatively a client may have very clear ideas about his requirements, in which case the form may contain a full scheme design prepared by the client’s architect, and the tenderers would be left with the task of developing the working drawings and being responsible for delivery of the scheme design. Some of the items identified by the JCT for possible inclusion in the Employer’s Requirements are:
1 The current state of planning permission and who is respon- sible for obtaining permissions where consent has not yet been received.
2 A statement as to the function of the building(s).
3 A statement of site requirements, e.g., site boundaries, use of site, ground conditions and availability of services.
4 The level of design, structural and specification detail to be provided by the tenderers.
Contractor’s proposals
The contractor’s proposals are the contractor’s response to the employer’s requirements and will be the key document for the client to consider at the tender review. The advice provided by the JCT on
the basic content of the proposals is that they should contain the following:
1 Plans, elevations, sections and typical details. 2 Information about the structural design.
3 Layout drawings, incorporating details of services to be provided.
4 Specifications for materials and workmanship.
Form of tender
This is a pre-printed formal statement in which a tenderer fills in the blank spaces typically providing his name, address and the sum of money for which he offers to carry out the work shown on the drawings and described in the bills of quantities or specifica- tion. The JCT provides a Model Form of Tender for main contract works in Appendix C to its Practice Note 6.9
Return envelope
Each tenderer should be supplied with a pre-addressed envelope clearly marked ‘Tender for (name of project)’. This will ensure that tenders are recognized as such when received and will not be pre- maturely opened.
Tenderers should be asked to acknowledge in writing receipt of the tender documents.