1. Before you go to market
Most tender problems are created before the tender is issued.
- Building confirmed, or a shortlist of candidate floorplates
- Headcount and department list, with a growth assumption stated
- Target occupation date, with any immovable dates identified
- Budget envelope agreed internally, even as a range
- Internal approval route mapped: who signs design, who signs cost
- Landlord requirements and base-build information requested
2. The documentation you issue
Issue one scope structure and require all bidders to price against it. If the bidders restructure your breakdown, you lose comparability.
- Scope of works with areas and specification level defined
- Drawing set at a consistent stage for all bidders
- Finishes and specification schedules
- Pricing schedule in your structure, not theirs
- Required assumptions, exclusions and provisional items format
- Programme requirements and access constraints
3. What to evaluate
Score the submission on how it behaves under pressure, not on how it looks.
- Scope comprehension and completeness against your structure
- Quality and specificity of assumptions and exclusions
- Proposed sequencing and site supervision arrangement
- Change control process and reporting cadence
- Quality control method and inspection points
- Named team and their actual availability for your dates
4. Contract and commercial controls
Agree the mechanics before mobilisation, not during the first variation.
- Change instruction format and approval threshold
- Valuation and payment cycle
- Programme milestones and reporting dates
- Retention and defects liability arrangement
- Escalation route when a decision is blocked
5. During delivery
Consistency of reporting matters more than its volume.
- Progress against programme at the agreed cadence
- Open change register with cost and time impact
- Quality inspection records at each stage
- Risk register reviewed, not just maintained
- Site access, safety and working-hours compliance
6. Handover and closeout
The handover pack is what your facilities team lives with for the next several years.
- Completion walk-through and agreed snag list
- Snag close-out record signed off
- Operating and maintenance information from trades
- Warranties where issued
- As-installed documentation for the delivered works
- Defects liaison route and contact
If you are preparing a project of this kind, send us the outline and we will respond with a view on scope and sequence.