How to complete a post tender review

By going through a post tender review process, the onsite project is reviewed to maximise profitability of the work secured and to ensure all the downstream project data reflects the onsite reality, rather than the assumptions made when tendering.

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Reasons for going through a post tender review

Comparing assumptions with site realities and making updates to reflect this.
Making informed adjustments to waste, inflation and contingency allowances.
Obtaining best buying rate quotes and re-pricing the scope of works based on chosen suppliers and contractors.
Agree the onsite project budget before procurement takes place.

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Start a post tender review

View the projects list in the black menu.
Select the 'Project Hub' button for the relevant project, this takes you to the blue menu which holds information and menu options when working onsite with your live project.
From the ‘Project Hub’ page, click on the work package you want to review from either at the top of the page or under the 'Package progress' graph.

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Rate build up - adjustments

From the 'Assessment overview' page, click 'Rate build up'.
Expand each product and make the adjustments from what has been allowed at tender to actual figures of what you need to build the project onsite.

This may include:

Ensuring the right materials are selected in the right lengths, sheet, pack sizes, etc.
Adjusting the consumption allowances, contingencies and waste to reflect what you actually need onsite.
Making sure the correct labour activities are selected and allowed for in the correct amounts.
Applying actual quotes, in place of any guesstimates or 'gut feels' made at tender.
If, as part of your material quote you were able to get the supplier to commit to holding their prices for the duration of the project, you can now omit any inflation allowance that you had made at tender.

Adjustment work both ways where savings can be identified but also there may be instances where you need to make changes to your rates which were not included for at tender. If these changes cannot be charged as actual variations, then the changes should be made to your existing rates to provide a true cost for delivering the true tendered scope.

Examples of these types of adjustments are:

If plastering had been allowed for the full height of a wall but a ceiling was intersecting it onsite, a saving could be made from the rate for plastering above the ceiling line.
If branded materials had been allowed at tender, but the construction specification only refers to performance criteria, then swapping for unbranded alternatives to get a cheaper price.

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Bill of quantities - measures

Once you have reviewed all the products in your rate build up and are happy they reflect what your actual plans, move onto the bill of quantities.

To update the quantities, check the site measures and construction issued drawings.

If your contract is on a re-measure and quantities have been updated in the onsite bill of quantities, the package price will be updated accordingly in the 'live' package price column within the 'assessment overview'.
If your contact is on a lump sum basis and the quantities have been updated to reflect the onsite project, the package price will remain the same.

Regardless of the contract type, review the quantities to ensure all your onsite projections are accurate. What you can / cannot charge your client for are commercial and contractual consideration, but operationally you need to provide what was agreed, so ensure this is as accurate as possible.

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Quote requests

Once the rates and the bill have been updated from tender assumptions to site realities, quote requests can be sent to suppliers / contractors to obtain best and final prices for the chance to secure contracts on the project.

Click 'Assessment overview'.
Click 'Assessment actions'.
Choose 'Generate materials or labour rates or supply & fit quote request'. These requests will be quantified and project specific and should be emailed out. Upon receiving completed quotes back from the supplier / contractors , you will need to 'import quote' from the 'Resources' menu.
Back in the onsite rate build up, click the appropriate 'Materials', 'Labour' or 'Supply & fit' button and then click 'Apply quote'.
Select the relevant quote from the list and click the 'Apply' button.

To pick the lowest price from a number of different quotes, tick the ‘Only where cheaper?’ box. If you want to apply an entire quote regardless of whether some individual items may be cheaper from others, do not tick this box.

This process updates the costings for the package with the prices / rates you are going to actually pay from the supplier / contractor.

Chalkstring will notify you that it is making all the necessary changes to the assessment, which may potentially contain hundreds of individual material or activity items amongst the product rates. This may take a few minutes.

Clicking the refresh button in your browser can force this through faster if you are in a hurry.

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Quotes and guesstimates

Individual quotes can be applied to materials, labour and S&F by clicking the 'change price' icon for that item. Choose a valid quote from the list or if required, add a guesstimate.

If you do not select a supplier from the drop-down list, the guesstimate is treated like a 'gut feel' guess and cannot be used downstream to place orders. If a supplier is selected from the list, this is treated as a verbal quote, and will allow orders to be placed at this price. Therefore, only select a supplier if you are sure that supplier will honour this price as a verbal quote, as Chalkstring does not hold any quote data to substantiate the price if they subsequently query an order or invoice.

Once you have established your product(s) cost base, your contract scope overhead and profit margins will automatically recalculate from the agreed tender price for each product. Return to the 'Assessment overview' to view the financial effect of any changes to your own cost base and in turn your projected margins.

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How to complete a post tender review

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