17607_PMAA_Authority_June_2024

municipalauthorities.org | 19 roles in how much time should be provided. For small, straightforward projects, the baseline minimum periods may be fine. However, if it is a large, complex construction project and bidders do not have adequate time to understand the full scope and commitment they are assuming by submitting a bid, they typically have two choices: inflate their prices or walk away. Neither of those options is necessarily beneficial to an authority looking to attract as many competitive bids as possible. While there are no set rules for the “correct” amount of time, a minimum of 15 to 20 days from advertisement to the due date and a minimum of five days between the due date and issuance of final addenda will typically yield better results than simply following minimum requirements. Don’t forget that if you are using outside funds, such as grants and/ or loans, your funding agencies may have timing requirements that exceed what’s typical for you. Don’t jeopardize those funds by assuming your normal timeframes will be OK. Proximity Alert Geographically close authorities often work with the same group of contractors in their region. So, when you bid out similar projects at the same time, it is more than likely you are competing for their time and resources, leading to the possibility that each may receive fewer bids. Discussing your projects in advance with other agencies and bidders may help promote timing that benefits everyone. Who knows, these discussions could even lead to a more collaborative approach that leverages economies of scale by bidding projects jointly. Pre-Bid Meetings Yes, pre-bid meetings can be important and beneficial when dealing with more complex situations, such as congested utility space, difficult traffic and pedestrian controls, and the coordination of multiple prime contractors. However, if a pre-bid meeting is mainly used to determine project interest or for bidder filtering, owners and consultants should re-examine the benefits of that approach. From late winter through late spring, local contractors may be pursuing up to 10 or 20 potential opportunities at a time. Remember, too, that contractors continue to face labor and staffing challenges. Therefore, dedicating time and resources to simply show interest could be viewed as a waste of their time if there is no tangible value. Unless unique circumstances warrant otherwise, you may want to make meetings “highly encouraged” and place the responsibility on bidders to determine their need to attend. Keep in mind that if only one bidder shows up, that bidder may not have an incentive to price competitively since it appears the authority's choices are limited. In a world where authorities can struggle to attract bidders, deliberately putting up obstacles that have no bearing on a contractor’s capabilities might not be advantageous. You Can’t Always Get What You Want Another element to consider involves including pricing options for alternates, adds, or deducts for certain items. This can be especially useful if you have submissions where scope items could be interpreted differently, or you want to show bidders that you understand some variables may occur that could affect pricing. Since this indicates your willingness to negotiate reasonable change orders, bidders are less likely to inflate pricing as a preventive measure against rejected change order requests. One way to sort out these variables is to conduct a constructability review before advertising and releasing a bid. This will help identify areas that may look good on paper, but might not translate cost- effectively in the real world. Putting it All Together Unless you feel your organization’s procurement process needs a complete overhaul, it’s probably best not to tackle too many new ideas at once. Rather, you should determine which areas you are already doing well and spend time focusing on improving in others. By taking a strategic look at all the elements that affect your procurement process, you may find that it can be very manageable to achieve measurable successes with very little effort. If you aren’t quite sure where to start, begin with baby steps: Identify one thing you wish was better about your procurement process and begin framing why and, more important, how it should be improved. Even the smallest successes can create the positive momentum needed to begin a long-term trend in evolving your organization to meet today's needs. S About PennBid A PMAA endorsed program, PennBid streamlines the sealed bid management process with a state-of-the-art, web-based platform that saves considerable time and resources for public agencies. Provided at no cost to authorities and design firms, PennBid leverages deep vendor pools while dramatically reducing costs for producing documents, advertising, and performing other time-consuming tasks. By promoting a “best-practices” approach to procurement, PennBid allows authorities to focus their energy on better data collection and decision-making. For more information or to schedule an overview of the program, visit pennbid.net.