Creating a Bid Form - Most Common Method (Base Bid as a Line Item)
Note: Included in our service, PreconSuite will create your first Bid Form or Template for you. Email your current bid form to support@pipelinesuite.com.
TIP: If you have Bid Forms that you want to use over and over, create a Bid Form Template. (See article "Create a Bid Form Template"). When you have Templates, you can use the Bid Form Wizard to automatically find the Templates per trades or bid packages to save time setting up Bid Forms on each project.
Creating a Bid Form
In this article, we will show how to create a Bid Form with line items and/or questions, where Base Bid can be included with other line items. The setting "Allow Base Bid?" should be set to "No" when using this method.
Opening your PreconTabs module: Assuming you have PreconTabs activated, click on “Bid Form” in your Project Options list. It is best to click this AFTER you have selected all your Bidders:
Opening your PreconTabs module: Assuming you have PreconTabs activated, click on “Bid Form” in your Project Options list. It is best to click this AFTER you have selected all your Bidders:
To create a new Bid Form within a Project, click “Add Bid Form” to the far right:
Choose from:
- Blank Bid Form
- Blank Bid Form
- Duplicate Existing Bid Form
- From Template
CREATING A BLANK BID FORM
1. Name
your Bid Form: (eg. Structural Steel).
Make sure the "Allow Base Bid?" setting is set to "No".
"For internal use only?": Set this to "No" if you want your invited vendors to fill out your Bid Form (this is the default method used by most users). Their bid responses are always kept private, viewable by your company users only.
Change to "Yes" if you want to make the vendors entries on their behalf, as if you would into a spreadsheet.2. Select the Trade(s): from your pull-down list
of all your trades on the right side of the screen.
3. Create a Category: (ie. Base Bid, Building 1, Site Concrete, Walls, etc.)
4. Create Line Items for the Category. Click the "+" button on the far right of the new Category heading.
4. Create Line Items for the Category. Click the "+" button on the far right of the new Category heading.
There are four different line item types:
a) Add Instruction: Allows you to enter text instructions with no answer box.
b) Add Line: Allows line item pricing, either lump sum or Unit Quantities with Costs (for the latter, check the box "Has Unit Quantity"). When asking for unit quantity, you may want to specify the unit of measure. For example, "Enter QTY of Carpet in Square Feet, and your cost per Square Foot".
Tip: You can enter a default Unit Quantity or default Cost per Unit, and lock that amount.
Also allows you to set the line item as Required (which means vendors cannot submit the Bid Form unless they answer the Required field(s)).
c) Add Text Line: Allows you to ask a question, which your vendor can type in an answer.
d) Add Yes/No Question: For simple Yes/No questions.
5. Editing or Deleting Line Items or Categories: Click the Pencil icon to edit a Category or Line Item, or the "x" icon to delete.
6. Add Alternate: Allows users to add Alternates below the main tabulation sheet. Your vendors can enter positive amounts for additions and negative amounts for deducts.
7. Click "Publish" when it is ready to use. A Bid Form can be edited in its same version up until an entry is made into the form by your users or one of your vendors, after which a new version will be created if edits are needed.
8. Versions: If there are more than one Version, a pull-down list of Versions will show in the upper left of the Bid Leveling screen.