This week Crossrail announced that it would be delaying the award of tunnelling contracts for a minimum 6 month period. The shortlisted company’s; (Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, Vinci and Beton-und Monierbau Gesellschaft; Costain, Skanska and Bilfinger Berger; Bam Nuttall, Ferrovial and Kier; Dragados and John Sisk; and Laing O’Rourke and Bouygues.) were expecting the work to be awarded by September 2010.
Crossrail have announced that this is not a delay; but rather an indication that the construction work will be expected to begin between 2011 and 2012.
For the shortlisted companies though I expect that they can see this anything other than a delay. If successful in their bid they would be looking to add this contract to their forward order book. However they are instead facing a further period of un-certainty.
My experience of tendering for work is concentrated on the proposals I complete on behalf of our business to join preferred suppliers list. Whilst I now consider myself well skilled in tender writing and am confident that we always produce the most economically efficient commercial quote without compromising quality; I still take nothing for granted until I receive the good news.
I can totally understand why initial deadlines for feedback/awards are often pushed back. Thankfully most employers that I deal with are forward thinking and will communicate the delay and provide a new target date for feedback to be delivered. However there have been at least two occasions in the past year when I have had to proactively chase information.
When communication is not forthcoming from the employer it always causes me to doubt how a working relationship will run. If they are already going quiet on me what will they be like to deal with in challenging circumstances? As I have mentioned before any business partnership will have its tough times (take a look at my previous post on employer disagreements and disputes).
To conclude I hope that Crossrail are doing all they can to keep in regular communication with its preferred bidders. These companies have reached this stage as they have been deemed to provide the best solutions; and it would be a great shame for one of the UK’s most prestigious projects to face any company withdrawing its bid.
So what is your experience of the tender process? Are you an Estimator with thoughts on how the tender process can be improved? Or are you a Buyer or Supply Chain professional who would like to share what your pet hates are within tender documents you receive? As always I welcome thoughts from either side of the fence!!
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