What we did

To kick-start the development process, we visited our client’s office to meet their Managing Director and operational staff to gain a better understanding of how they operate. We conducted a thorough assessment of the client's existing tendering process, mapping out each step, from the receipt of tender documents to the final submission of the bid and price. This helped identify inefficiencies in their current approach. For example, there were no existing estimating templates set up, with documents being created from ‘scratch’ each time a new bid came in, losing any opportunities for economies of scale and transferring learnings from bid to bid. Working collaboratively with our client, we focused on four main elements of the estimating process to create a more efficient approach:

- Estimating library of plant, labour, and materials: We created an excel-based library of plant, labour and materials using our client’s rates, building a database for use on each pricing estimate. - Inclusion / exclusion template: We created an excel tick sheet that enabled our client to identify the plant, labour and material that needed to be included or excluded in each estimate. This enabled them to quickly identify what needed to be priced from their estimating library. Using the rates in the library this automatically generated an initial overall cost for the scheme, saving significant time in getting to the initial estimate. - Submission templates: We created a suite of estimating templates, including for Mobilisation, Staff Supervision, Preliminaries, Direct Works, and Demobilisation. These, along with a Tender Summary template, provide a set of documents that can be used (and tailored) for each tender. - Tender register: We created a tender register to record details of every pricing enquiry received. This will be used to keep track of current workload and outstanding tenders. It also allows our client to record the ongoing number of enquiries, tenders that have been won and lost, and feedback received. The data recorded within the register can also easily be accessed for audits.

We also worked with our client to identify the cost data from live contracts that would help ensure more robust and accurate pricing estimates, creating the following:

- A daily allocation template sheet to be used on site to record the activities carried out on a daily basis. This enables the Site Manager to record material and equipment deliveries (quantities / type / time), allowing them to keep track of what has been delivered. This, in turn, assists with the cost to complete forecast (see below). This template also captures any extra works that are instructed which are not part of the original scope, allowing collation of a change register and associated costs. - A ‘Cost to Complete’ spreadsheet that tracks and records labour, plant, and material throughout each scheme. It tracks all compensation events and keeps track of forecasted profit throughout a project. This allows robust comparison of the actual scheme cost against the tendered price, providing an evidence-based assessment of the accuracy of the original tender and allowing any lessons learned to be identified.