Bids

SWA utilizes several bid notification services and plan rooms. Bid solicitation notifications are sent with information regarding how potential bidders may obtain prints and other information about the project. Typically, SWA will have a paper hard copy available at our office for review, or prints may be obtained from one of the plan room suppliers. If login or password information is needed for plan room access, SWA is unable to provide or share such access.

For subcontractor and supplier pricing to be properly considered, SWA needs to receive all bids, proposals, and revisions prior to the published bid time. The bid process and consideration of pricing takes several minutes to verify information and compare with potential competitors. This time to review allows SWA to confirm that the scope of work is correct and complete. Bids received less than 10 minutes prior to the published bid time may not receive the proper review and consideration required. By submitting a proposal with such a short time to review, SWA may be forced by time constraints to submit our bid to the client with another subcontractor’s or supplier’s pricing.

As a general contractor, SWA does self-perform work for many aspects of various projects. In any situation where SWA is able to self-perform work, we will place our own competitive bid towards the project in competition with available subcontractors or suppliers. As with any competitive bid situation, the lowest responsible bidder will be given preference for the work. In some situations or particular projects, even if SWA has a lower bid for the work, in-house work-loads and schedules may necessitate that a competitor’s bid be used. In no instance does SWA utilize any subcontractor proposal to determine its own self-performed work budget.

SWA strives to provide a fair and honest bidding and proposal process. Pricing, scope of work, and other information is not shared regarding any particular subcontractor’s or suppliers proposal for the purpose of obtaining additional work or lower pricing from another subcontractor or supplier. If there is a discrepancy between competitors’ scopes of work, we may ask about separating pricing or including work only for the purpose of obtaining a more accurate and comparable scope of work. If a submitted proposal is significantly different in scope or price, we will attempt to contact the bidder for clarification and/or notification that there is a significant discrepancy and SWA will be unable to use the submitted proposal without additional correction, or confirmation of being correct.

Only after a project bid has been opened will SWA share information about pricing and if any particular bidders were high or low in relation to their competitors. SWA does not shop for bargains utilizing bidders’ pricing, and does not engage in auction or reverse auction situations.