Masonry Magazine April 1999 Page. 30
Speaking of bid alternates, a common mistake is to take their importance too lightly during the bid process. Alternates are very common in bid packages and many awards are decided on a combination of the base bid and any manner of alternate scenarios that may be concocted. With bid deadlines fast approaching, it can be quite tempting (and human) to focus on the base bid, and pay less attention on the alternates. In extremely hot times (or with many alternates), you may also find yourself taking a "conservative flyer" - otherwise known as a "guestimate" at the alternate price. The problem of course is that this could cost you the job, so try to stay calm and address them as completely as possible or (if possible) complete them early on, so you're not wrestling with them at bid time.
Addenda
Addenda are changes in the bid documents that happen after the bid documents have been let out to those quoting the project. Generally, addenda are generated by the architect as the result of questions and clarifications flushed out during the bid process by those firms doing the bidding. If your bid proposal doesn't include all addenda, it may not be complete or accurate. It's not uncommon for addenda to come out deleting/adding an item(s) to your scope of work. By missing these (often significant) changes, you lose all coming or going. If you miss something that should have been added, you either A) eat it or B) argue it out with the CGC not fun either way. If you miss something that should have been deleted, you're quote is probably high because your competitors don't have it in their proposals.
At some point in time, the CGC will probably ask you to break down your bid into component numbers or submit your bid earlier than the bid day and time. If this happens to you, don't get defensive or paranoid. As a matter of fact, be as helpful as possible. This is another one of those "trust-building" things (you want as many of those as you can get !). Don't fall into the trap of becoming overly concerned about being "shopped" (your number leaked to the streets) by the CGC. This is small-minded thinking and simply doesn't happen as much as most people think. Contrary to popular belief, most CGC's are quite ethical when it comes to keeping your number a secret. Of course there are some bad apples, but do you really want to construct your methods around a minority.
But (as much as we'd like to think so) it's not just the ethics that drive the decision to keep quiet. It's also good business. We're not idiots. We know if word gets out that we've been spreading numbers to competitors, our sub and supplier bids (our life-blood) will dry up. The logic is straight-forward enough:
No bids
No competitiveness
No work
No money
No CGC
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