Construction procurement is complicated. There are countless legalities and written and unwritten conventions that can cause headaches for even experienced procurement officials.

We spoke with John Davies, the president & CEO of John G. Davies, Architect, Inc., and a specialist in the preparation, application and interpretation of various forms of construction and consulting contracts, about best practices for calling bids and awarding tenders. Here are his recommendations.

Use standard forms of contract.

Your first choice for construction contracts and guides should be those issued by the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) and the Canadian Construction Association (CCA). CCDC documents in particular are nationally upheld standard forms of contract that have been unanimously approved by the groups representing Canada’s owners, architects, engineers, contractors and specification writers.

Choose the right method of delivery.

Let your project dictate the method of delivery you choose. Methods such as unit-price arrangements, stipulated-sum arrangements, design-build or construction management each have their own pros and cons. Evaluate carefully according to your project scope, budget, schedule and tolerance for risk.

Include supplementary conditions sparingly.

CCA and CCDC documents were created to be as comprehensive as possible, but no two projects are ever the same. Where there is a need to include supplementary conditions, such as for administrative purposes, exercise caution. Supplementary conditions often add complexity. Be careful how you use these conditions to re-assign risk.

Prequalify contractors.

You want to know your project is being bid only by experienced and qualified contractors—not just any company. Use the CCDC 11 – 2018 Contractor’s Qualification Statement to find those contractors that have the background and proven success in the field of the building you need constructed. Davies recommends shortlisting and inviting three to five bidders to bid on your project.

Go out to bid.

Your instructions to bidders are critical. Set clear expectations of what you require from bidders, include general conditions of the contract, bonding requirements, and the exact time and location to which bids must be submitted. Once you receive each bid, stamp it with the time at which you receive it, and reject any that arrive late.

Analyze the bids.

Davies advises opening bids publicly. Owners that read out the names of the contractors, their prices and any proposed schedules (if that is a principal consideration) are generally viewed to be more transparent than those that open bids behind closed doors. As you analyze bids, be sure that all bids are compliant.

Award the job.

Awarding the contract carries its own set of complications and conventions. For example, if you pre-qualified bidders, you are custom-bound to award the contract to the lowest bidder; if you did not, you may award the project to any compliant bidder that you deem appropriate—provided the approach you used to award the contract meets the legal standard for fairness.

Of course, each step in this process is more complicated and nuanced than it appears here, but these are the basic principles of calling bids and awarding tenders on conventional construction projects.

Learn more about standard construction forms and documents for calling bids and awarding contracts at www.ccdc.org.