Every Caltrans contractor out there knows how prevalent bid protests have become over the years. They are so common now, that they are almost expected, especially on the larger lettings. There are so many moving parts when closing a bid, and some would say that it is an art. You are entering all your sub and supplier quotes into the system, pricing bid items, listing subs, monitoring your minority goal analysis…waiting until 1:15 PM to receive your first rebar and electrical quotes for a 2:00 PM close, followed by three price cuts ten minutes before the bid is due. Suddenly, your bid is highly unbalanced, you need to modify your sub list, and your DBE plan took a crazy left turn.

The bottom line is that it is easy to make mistakes, and we all make them from time to time. We try our best to put processes in place, do quality checks, cross all the t’s, dot all the i’s, but every now and then something will be missed. The key is that when we make a mistake, we need to understand if it is clerical / immaterial, or if it is a material defect that can result in a rejected bid.

There are really two main components of your bid that can be protested:

1. The Bid (Pricing, Subcontractor Listing, Bid Bond, Etc.).

2. Post Bid Documents (DBE Commitments, Confirmations, Etc.).

The pressure is on for the bid itself as the clock ticks away, and there is not much you can do after the fact. The opportunity for perfection lies in the post bid document submittal. This is our opportunity to be extremely detailed, thorough, check, double check, and triple check our work before it goes out the door. Unfortunately, we all too often still see mistakes in post bid documents that could have easily been prevented with some quality control.

Allow the Dynamic team to be your second set of eyes on post-bid documents before they get submitted to the agency, and well before your competitors have a chance to poke holes in your package to overturn award. We have trained experts who can do an unbiased review of your post-bid documents to ensure compliance with the bid instructions and contract requirements.

Let’s go be Dynamic!