Compare bids and award

Pull up the tender record, verify the bidder list against who was actually invited, and check that every return prices the same issued schedule and the same drawing revision.

Why: Bidders working from an earlier drawing set or a trimmed schedule are not competing on the same job. Nailing the common baseline now is what keeps the whole comparison downstream honest.

Set the returns out column by column, then push every qualification, exclusion and provisional sum back into the price so line rates read against each other. Mark the gaps where a bidder simply left scope out.

Why: The lowest headline number often belongs to whoever forgot the most. Once the missing builders work and the daywork assumptions go back in, the genuinely keen bid is usually a different one.

Write up the recommendation: the levelled spread, coverage against the full scope, any commercial or programme risk, and the bidder you would appoint with the reasoning set beside the figures.

Why: An award gets second-guessed by a director, an auditor, or the losing bidder. A short paper showing both the math and the judgement behind the pick closes that conversation before it starts.