Question

You are making a decision between three (3) competing bids for a new road construction. Describe and discuss the engineering decision making tools that you might employ to help you decide on the best proposal.

Answer 1

Selecting the best proposal is one of the most  challenging step in a construction project.Construction proposal or a bid or a tender is the first introduction of a contractor.In case of a road construction if the approval from all the concerned authorities is obtained then the next step is inviting tenders or proposal for the respective project.This may done mainly through newspapers.There will be deadline for the tenders to be submitted.Some factors have to checked and thorughly studied before selecting a proposal.Because even a very small mistake in selecting the proposal will affect badly the construction project.Especially in the case of road construction it should be more carefully studied before selecting.There are certain points have to be checked and studied before accepting one proposal.Let's discuss about what all are those points.

Proposal should be precise and should contain all the necessary informations and specifications for their portion of jobs.There is no use in making lengthy proposals,if it doesn't contain the key details.Mainly the proposal should describe the company's or contractor's vision for the project at hand and how the company works to make that vision into reality.That is more important.Some contractors does not have that much efficiency in preparing proposals but if the proposal is precise with all the necessary details which is included in their final estimate it can be accepted.If the proposal have too much of errors that is not accepatable.Proposals should be well written,cover all the specifications of the work.Some contractors or companys work with a small office or limited number of workers but they are specialised in road construction.They are better than one with large office buildings and large number of workers but extend an average quality work.

Proposals should contained detailed budget of the work.It is not the ultimate deciding factor but it is one of the main important factor in the selection of a construction proposal.It is not an important thing that how high or low budget is quoted in the proposal.Instead of that the presentation of the budget and allocation of prices for various construction stages is important. Apart from all that there is an extra weightage for the overall budget.Because it shows that how the contractor conceived the project and how he is knowledgeable about the project and current price changes and technologies in the construction industry.During the planning stage itself we calculate the a rough total budget that is needed for completing the constrution.So make sure that the budget in the proposal matches with our budget.Do not select the proposal with too low budgets because for reducing the budget they will use low quality construction materials this will eventually lead to the failure of road construction.The quality of the construction materials and the experience of the workers under the contractors is also important.

The references that the company or the contractor given in the proposal have to checked and verified correctly so that to ensure their quality of works.Quality of work is the main thing.EMR (Experience Modifier Rate) of the company have to analysed.EMR is a number given by the insurance companies for each construction a company depending upon the past injuriesin their construction projects andf future risks.It is better to select a company with low EMR rate to reduce the future risk in construction.Verify that if the company have all the necessary certifications,licenses and proper insurance coverage to avoid yhe unnecessary legal disputes in the future.

A proposal is accepted only after checking all these necessary points to ensure the succesfull completion of the road construction.