1、1 中文 3078 字 Bidding related knowledge and documents comprising the contract 1. Public and private sectors Bidding practices of the public and private sectors of the industry differ tremendously .The term public in this context means that the construction work is financed by public funds in the form
2、of tax dollar or the proceeds from the sale of municipal , state, or federal bonds. Public and private work have different bid rules. Public construction contracts are advertised and let in accordance with the bidding statutes and other legislatively mandated rules of the particular governmental ent
3、ity that is paying for the instruction work .For instance, when the work is financed with federal funds, the laws and regulations promulgated by federal agencies and bodies govern the process of advertising and awarding construction contracts. Similarly, state, county ,and municipal governments have
4、 statutes and regulations that govern when their funds are used to pay for the cost of the work .In addition ,special governmental or quasi-governmental bodies such as sewer or rapid transit districts are often established by special enabling legislation .The enabling legislation usually provides de
5、finitive rules for advertising and awarding the construction contracts required to carry out the mission of the particular special body involved. Unlike public owners , private owners can establish whatever rules that they want. They also can change the rules at will with the result that these rules
6、 are not necessarily observed .Although the public owner has the ability to set particular rules and to change them by issuing an addendum to the bidding documents ,the power is severely regulated .A bid document addendum is a modification to the bidding documents formally issued by the owner to all
7、 holders of bidding documents before bids are received .In the public sector ,there must be a reasonable time period from the issue date of the last addendum issued and the date of the opening to ensure that all bidders have sufficient time to reflect properly the import of the addendum in their bid
8、s .Bidders are required to list on the bid form all addenda received for their bids to be considered responsive .Failure to list addenda may result in the bid being rejected. In the private sector anything can happen , whereas in the public sector the result will usually be that the job will be awar
9、ded to the lowest “responsive” and “responsible” bidder .These terms have important special meanings that will be discussed later in the chapter. 2. Public Bidding Statutes The requirements of the federal, state ,and local bidding statutes and resulting regulations make the outcome of the bidding pr
10、ocess in the public sector very predictable compared to the private sector .The purposes of public bidding statutes are: 1. To protect public funds .In other words , bidding statutes are designed to ensure that the public pays the minimum possible price for construction work determined by open compe
11、titive bidding . 2. To protect and ensure a continuation of the free enterprise system upon which the political and 2 economic structure of the United States is founded. The public bidding statutes are stringently written and enforced to ensure that public sector construction contracting remains hon
12、est .Increasing ,those who violate the rules find themselves subject to both civil and criminal liability .Errant construction companies have been assessed large fines and their owners or officers sent to prison along with corrupt public officials who have been caught ,tried ,and convicted of violat
13、ing the public trust. 3.Bidding Documents The first category ,bidding documents ,normally begins with an advertisement ,originally discussed in Chapter 1.The back section of contemporary industry periodicals ,such as the Engineering News Record ,contains a plethora of bid advertisement identifies th
14、e project for which bids are desired ,the owner ,the time and place of the bid opening ,and instructions to potential bidders on how to obtain a full set of contract documents. The second document in the bidding group is usually the Invitation for Bids (IFB) or, sometimes , a Request for proposal (R
15、FP). The federal government and some other owners use the IFB when bidders must strictly conform to the drawings and specifications and the RFP When bidders may propose variations for the project .Both typically include the following: A description of the contract work The identity of the owner The
16、place , date , and precise time of the bid opening The penal sum of the required bonds (bid bond , performance bond ,and labor and material payment bond ) A description of the drawings and specifications , their cost ,and where they may be obtained The length of time after bid opening that bids will
17、 be deemed good (duration of bids) Rules regarding the withdrawal or modification of bids and late bids Information regarding any planned pre-bid conferences and pre-bid site inspections Particular requirements of law of which the owner wants bidders to be aware Any special instructions, other requi
18、rements , or other information that the owner wants to point out to bidders. In addition to the IFB or RFP ,the contract document may also contain a sector called Instructions to Bidders .When used this section is an adjunct to the instruction portion of the IFB or RFP .Sometimes all necessary instr
19、uctions are con contained within the IFB or RFP ,and there is no separate instructions to Bidders section .More logically ,the Instructions to Bidders is a separate document ,and the IFB or RFP contains all of the other necessary but non-instructional information that a bidder needs. In every case ,
20、 the contract documents contain the Bid Form. .Bidders complete this document ,sign ,seal .,and turn it in at the appointed place ,prior to the deadline set for the submittal of bid .The fully executed Bid Form constitutes the “offer” element necessary for contract formation ,discussed in Charter 2.
21、 Note that the Bid Form must be completely filled out ,signed, and sealed ,all the accordance with the IFB or RFP and the Instructions to constitute a responsive bid .The 3 contents of the Bid Form usually include the following: 1. A definitive statement of the general terms and conditions of the of
22、fer .This statement is normally unilaterally determined by the owner and is preprinted on the form. 2. The format of the commercial terms applying to the offer . Again ,this format is normally determined unilaterally by the owner either as a single lump sum total price or as a schedule of bid-term p
23、rices .In the first case ,the bid form contains a single blank space in which the bidder is instructed to enter a single lump sum price for the entire project .In the second case ,the form contains a numbered series of all bid items for the project ,each consisting of a description of the work for d
24、iscrete parts of the project and either blanks for unit price extension and lump sum price. With either a single lump sum format or a schedule-of bid-items format ,the bidder fills in the blanks for defining the precise commercial terms of the bid. 3. Supplementary information that the owner may wan
25、t to know about the bidder .This usually consists of information about the bidders financial strength and past experience. Additional Information for federal bids The bid form for federal contracts contains a number of “Certifications and Representations” in affidavit form , such as non-collusion an
26、d non-segregated facilities affidavits , required to comply with federal law. 4. Affirmative action requirements for public project. Bid Forms for public project usually require written goals and timetables for meeting the requirements of equal opportunity legislation and minority business enterpris
27、e/ women business enterprise requirements. 5. Bid security. Finally , the Bid Form must contain the required bid security, usually in the form of a bid bond issued by an approved surety. Sometimes , a certified check must be presented for the bid security. Oddly enough , private sector bids often re
28、quire much more supplementary information on the Bid form than do public sector bids. And , among public projects, Bid forms for federal contracts usually require less supplementary information than the average. A final interesting point concerning bidding documents is that the AIA approach excludes
29、 the bidding documents form the contract .Article 1 of AIAA-201 , General conditions of the contract for Construction ,state. The Contract Documents do not include Bidding Documents such as the Advertisement or Invitation to Bid ,the Instructions to Bidders ,sample forms ,the Contractors Bid or port
30、ions of Addenda relating to any of these ,or any other documents unless specifically enumerated in the Owner-Contractor Agreement. 4. General Condition of contract The second section of the documents that normally comprise the contract is the General Conditions of contract ,often referred to simply
31、as the General Conditions ,or sometimes, General Provisions .Here are found very definitive statements ,clause by clause of all general terms and condition that govern the performance of the contract work .In the case of the federal government and other agencies that frequently contract for construction work, the general concept of this section of the documents is to
