by Steve VanDyke
By all accounts, the January program “It All Adds Up – A Mock Bid Competition” was a huge success. And we expected nothing less for this second iteration of a program we’d brought back by popular demand. Over 20 attendees showed up to claim bragging rights as the most accurate bidders of the night.
The premise was simple – guests formed teams and were given a “request for bids” describing a project and a partially filled out “bid form” in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Moderator Marty Helly delivered hardcopy “faxes” from sub-contractors, leaving it to the teams to evaluate whether they were complete, eligible, responsible bids. To throw a little gas on the fire, teams would receive “addenda” changing the rules and revised sub-bids changing the amounts and terms, from time to time.
This was the second time I’ve played, and the second time I’ve lost. I found it to be far more confusing than I’d imagined it to and walked away with a different perspective on what the actual estimators among us go through on bid day. Bids are seldom in exactly the format you’re expecting, leaving a fair amount of educated guessing to the GC compiling the bid.
Congratulations to the winning team “Jen’s Minions”, comprised of Jennifer Pelletier, Justin Harrington, Alexis Noel and Mark Zuffante of Nault Architects.