Construction Bid Administration and Management: Streamlining Your Construction Process

The bidding phase is critical in both new construction and renovation projects. A&I’s construction bid administration and management service handles this process with precision. If mismanaged, the bidding phase can lead to legal complications and costly delays before construction even begins—issues our expert team helps you avoid, saving time and money.

Saving Time for Potential Bidders

A&I has simplified this process with our innovative Planroom, which is designed to make project details easily accessible to potential bidders. Whether you’re a General Contractor, Engineer, or Subcontractor, our automated plan holders list provides invaluable insights. The A&I Planroom is free for potential bidders to access—create a username and password for quick login anytime. It’s your one-stop solution, with many projects offering free digital links for quick download.

Bidders have praised our Planroom for its user-friendly design, helping them quickly access vital information such as job walks, addendums, notices, and the latest plan holders’ list. This streamlined approach allows bidders to determine if a project fits their company without wasting time.

Peace of Mind for Project Owners and Managers

A&I’s construction bid administration and management service offer a personalized, detail-driven approach for project owners, architects, engineers, and administrative staff. Our expertise in the AEC industry means we become true partners in your project, ensuring all documentation is meticulously reviewed, formatted, and uploaded to our A&I Planroom.

We also help craft clear, actionable instructions for bidders, smoothly guiding them to the necessary documents. Our team can work with you to determine the best approach for distributing bid documents, whether by setting document fees or offering free digital links to encourage broader participation.

At A&I, we pride ourselves on consistent communication and careful coordination, ensuring your bidding process is efficient and error-free—so you can move forward confidently.

Bid Administration Team: Personalized and Consistent Support

At A&I, our construction bid administration and management service recognizes that each project has unique demands. To ensure seamless coordination, we assign a dedicated support team to handle every aspect of bid document distribution and plan holder management. Our team collaborates with you to create a tailored solution that meets your project’s specific needs. Acting as an extension of your staff, we actively monitor the plan room, respond to email requests and phone inquiries, distribute addenda, and assist with advertising the bid.

With A&I, you get 24/7 access to all bid documents and project information via our Planroom. Whether your project is an open public bid or requires password protection for private access, we adapt to your needs and ensure flexibility throughout the process.

Project Document Distribution: Fast, Reliable Access

A key feature of A&I’s construction bid administration and management service is the quick and secure distribution of bid sets through our Planroom. Registered bidders can easily log in, place orders, and receive digital downloads or printed copies of bid documents. We offer flexible delivery options, including in-store pickup, A&I delivery service, GLS, UPS, and FedEx.

Regarding addendums, our system automatically distributes updates to all registered bidders and plan holders based on the project’s criteria. We stay vigilant with important deadlines, such as the 72-hour rule for public bids. In the event the public entity issues material changes, additions, or deletions to the invitation for bids near the date and time initially set for bid opening, the public entity must extend the date and time for bid opening, and it must be extended at least another 72 hours, so bidders have a fair chance to review and amend their cost using the new information.

Why Outsource Bid Administration to A&I?

Expertise and Longevity in the Industry

Outsourcing bid management tasks to A&I’s construction bid administration and management service frees up your professional staff, allowing them to focus on higher-priority responsibilities. By entrusting A&I with the clerical and administrative burdens, owners avoid the risk of overworked staff overlooking critical details—a common issue with tight deadlines. Our team monitors every aspect of bid document distribution during business hours, relieving your staff from handling phone calls and emails and ensuring the timely release of documents and addenda.

Many owners have found that with A&I’s support, they can process more bids in a shorter time frame, thanks to our dedicated service. In industries where deadlines and DSA-mandated schedules are non-negotiable, our contribution is crucial in ensuring projects stay on track. While it’s hard to assign a tangible value to the time and effort we save, the cost of missing deadlines can be substantial—and A&I helps you avoid that risk.

Indexing and Publishing the Project Bid Documents: Excellence in Organization

A&I takes pride in the organization and accuracy of every project. As part of our construction bid administration and management service, we coordinate with your team to gather all necessary project bid documents for indexing and publishing in the A&I Planroom. This process typically includes the RFP, Bid Forms, Plans, Specifications, General Conditions, Soils Reports, and Addenda.

We meticulously compile essential information such as the Project Name, Primary Contact, Notification Recipients, Bid Due Date, and Job Walk Schedule, making these details readily available to all Plan Room visitors. Ensuring that complete sets of bid documents are accessible to bidders is crucial to avoid miscommunication and inaccurate bids. Partial document sets can lead to errors, as missing reference materials may contain vital details that affect the overall scope and cost of work.

The A&I team also tracks plan holders and bid document distribution, ensuring that every bidder is informed of new documents as soon as they are released. This real-time tracking updates all registered bidders via email, resulting in a smooth and successful bid process.

The Project BID BLAST: Reaching the Right Bidders

One of the unique services offered by A&I’s construction bid administration and management service is our “BID BLAST” — an exclusive tool that helps advertise your project to a targeted list of potential bidders. Once a Notice Inviting Bids (NIB), Request for Quote (RFQ), or Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued and published, our team steps in to ensure everything is correct before it goes to print. Sending us the NIB beforehand allows us to review it for accuracy, reducing the risk of costly corrections after publication.

Our “BID BLAST” takes this a step further. We create a comprehensive email synopsis of the project bid opportunity and send it to a master list of contractors, engineers, specialists, and subcontractors. These targeted emails reach between 100 and 250 qualified bidders, offering them essential project details and guiding them directly to our A&I Planroom, where they can view, purchase, download, or print bid documents and plan holders’ lists.

This service generates considerable interest in projects and leads to higher bidder turnout. As part of our overall construction bid administration and management service, the A&I team also sends out pre-conference reminders and bid opportunity notices to keep the momentum going, ensuring maximum exposure and participation in the bidding process.

The Future of Bidding in Construction

Embracing the Digital Era

The construction bidding process is evolving, driven by technological advancements, industry practices, and the push for greater efficiency. The digitization of the industry, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led many cities and organizations to favor digital files over traditional hard copies. While the days of printing plans for every subcontractor are fading, this transformation opens new opportunities for companies like A&I to focus on other strengths and services.

Project owners, government agencies, and organizations now gravitate toward companies with robust software platforms and electronic systems to manage the bidding process. This shift has streamlined communication, increased contractor accessibility, and significantly reduced the administrative burden on staff. Digital Plan Rooms enable bid information to flow seamlessly, reaching a broader audience of potential bidders and making the process more efficient for everyone involved.

At A&I, we have embraced this digital revolution by launching our new A&I Planroom. While the platform allows bidders to access information independently, our dedicated team continues to manage the essential behind-the-scenes tasks. We ensure constant communication with project owners and staff, sending timely reminders and updates while maintaining a well-organized system.

Though our team fully adopted the digital approach, we remain committed to delivering the personal, responsive customer service that A&I is known for. As the industry changes, one thing remains constant: excellent customer service never goes out of style.