KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND BUILDING ENGINEERING

TCBE 4104: ESTIMATION AND TENDERING

MARTIN IRUMBA

17/U/15132/ECD/GV

ASSIGNMENT NO.1

Q1: Kyambogo University has allocated funds to be used for the acquisition of services from potential
providers for the supply, installation and maintenance of Building Information Modeling software for
the department of Civil and Building Engineering for the year 2019/2020. The procurement No. is
KYU/BIM/2019-2020/000542. BIM software will allow Engineers in the department to transform
plans, blueprints, drawings and PDF files into models with clean layers, rich details and references.
Design an Invitation for Bid (IFB) limited to not more than four (4) bidders; conducted in accordance
with the Restricted international bidding procedures contained in the Public Procurement and Disposal
of Public Assets Act, 2003. Relevant assumptions are allowed.

Q2: Appraise any two methods of tendering commonly used in the construction industry.

DATE OF SUBMISSION: September 09, 2019

Q1.

KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND BUILDING ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND BUILDING ENGINEERING BLOCK, HARLOW ROAD,

P.O. BOX 1, KYAMBOGO

KAMPALA - UGANDA

INVITATION FOR BIDS UNDER RESISTRICTED INTERNATIONAL BIDDING PROCESS FOR THE
SUPPLY, INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING SOFTWARE FOR

THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND BUILDING ENGINEERING UNDER PROCUREMENT NO.

KYU/BIM/2019-2020/000542 FOR THE YEAR 2019/2020

1. Kyambogo University has allocated funds to be used for the acquisition of services from potential providers
for the supply, installation and maintenance of Building Information Modeling software for the department
of Civil and Building Engineering for the year 2019/2020.
2. The Department of Civil and Building Engineering of Kyambogo University now invites sealed bids from
the following eligible and qualified firms for the supply, installation and maintenance of BIM software,
having successfully gone through the prequalification stage:
a) Autodesk BIM 360
b) Tekla BIMsight
c) Navisworks
d) AECOsim Building Designer
3. The delivery period is October 10th, 2019.
4. Bidding will be conducted through the RESTRICTED INTERNATIONAL BIDDING procedures as per
the PPDA act and is RESTRICTED to the firms listed above.
5. Interested eligible bidders may obtain further information from The Department of Civil and Building
Engineering of Kyambogo University, Head of Department Office with Martin Irumba, the secretary or on
the department website www.kyu.ac.ug/dcbe and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given
below from 08:00Hrs to 16:00Hrs
6. Qualifications requirements include: ability of supply, run, install and maintain the BIM software and
written proof that document previous undertaking of the same. A margin of preference for eligible
national contractors through Joint Ventures SHALL be applied.
7. A complete set of Bidding Documents in English may be purchased by interested bidders on the submission
of a Written Application to the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee of USD 2000. The
method of payment will be direct deposit to account NO. 170510015132 at DFCU Bank, Kyambogo
 Branch. The Bidding Documents will be taken by the bidder on purchase. Documents SHALL NOT
delivered by email.
8. Bids must be delivered to the address below at or before [Insert the time and date]. Electronic bidding
SHALL NOT be permitted. Late bids will be rejected. Bids will be opened physically in the presence of the
bidders’ representatives who choose to attend in person or on-line at the address below at 14:00 Hrs. GMT
on September 09, 2019
9. All bids SHALL be accompanied by a BID-SECURING DECLARATION OF UGX 250 MILLION (TWO HUNDRED
FIFTY MILLION UGANDAN SHILLINGS)

10. The address referred to above is:

Office of The Head of Department

Department of Civil and Building Engineering

Kyambogo University

P.O. Box 1, Kyambogo,

Kampala – Uganda

Martin Irumba

Department Secretary
Q 2.

A tender is a bidding process that is open to all qualified bidders and where the sealed bids are opened in public
for scrutiny and are chosen on the basis of price and quality. The three more common tendering methods are open
tendering, selective tendering and negotiated tendering.

Open Tendering

Open tendering is the most common amongst the three methods as it is basically a free-for-all method for any
contractors interested to tender for the job. It starts with an advertisement being published publicly via newspapers,
websites and various other mediums. The advertisement contains information such as type of job, location of site,
location of collection, closing date of tender, document fee and tender deposit. Upon collection of the tender
document the contractor will have to fill up the rates of all the materials required for the construction project.
After the price has been determined, the completed tender document shall be submitted to the employer at the
appointed location together with a tender deposit stated in the advert.

The employer together with 1 or 2 consultants will open and record all the tender documents submitted. Out of all
the tender documents submitted only one contractor will get the job, so the employer has to make a decision on
which contractor should get the job. It is the consultants’ job to evaluate each individual tender and come out with
a report which shows the recommended choice of tender.

The merits of Open Tendering include:

It is open to all qualified bidders. Having a project available to all contractors has a higher tendency to find new
promising contractors which can satisfy the cost to quality to time ratio of the employer.

Open tenders also provide a larger variety of options to choose from which doesn’t limit the composition of the
project.

No favoritism as every participant has an equal chance of getting the project and is not bias to any single tenderer.
This not only allows new firms to enter the market but also promotes professional etiquette.

It is highly competitive which forces the contractors to submit competitive prices to obtain the project. This can
prove to be advantageous for the employer in getting value for money.

Disadvantages of open tendering include:

High cost of tendering: The number of copies of tender will have to depend on the number of participants
tendering.

Open tendering being the method with usually the most tenderers, cost of tendering is generally higher.

Novice contractors: One of the risks of possibly selecting a new and unknown contractor is higher with open
tendering method.

The contractor may also potentially not have the sufficient experience for the job at hand.
Underpriced tenders: Since all the contractors are trying to beat each other’s’ prices for the tender, employers
need to be careful of underpriced tenders. Underpriced tenders may include low quality materials, poor quality of
works and other factors to cut corners.

Long tender process: Open tender is generally longer since it calls all possible contractors to tender and upon
submission of tender it requires the consultants to go through every single one of the tenders which is very time
consuming.

Leading suppliers may not tender: procurement guidelines only allow suppliers who actually tender to be
considered for a procurement decision. If leading suppliers are not considered, the purchaser may end up buying
inferior product or service.

Barriers to communication between supplier and customers: When making significant purchases, frank and
open communication between potential supplier and customer is crucial.
Competitive bidding is not conducive to open communication; in fact, it often discourages deep dialogue because
in many cases all discussions between a bidder and the purchaser must be made available to all other bidders.

The cost-plus phenomenon: There is a bear-trap in the purchase of goods and services on the basis of price tag
that people don't talk about. To run the game of cost plus in industry a supplier offers a bid so low that he is almost
sure to get the business. The supplier is extremely obliging, but discovers that these changes will double the cost
of the supply. The supplier runs the risk of making a loss on the contract.

Use of poor-quality materials or labor: A supplier going through open bidding game may come under pressure
to keep costs down to ensure he gets a satisfactory profit margin. One way a supplier can lower costs is by using
cheaper labor or materials. If the cheaper labor and materials are poor quality, the customer will often end up with
inferior, poor quality goods or services.

Safety shortcuts: Another area where suppliers may be tempted to lower costs is safety standards. Safety costs
can run away with a contract. Cutting down on safety costs is a sure way to keep the bidding price low.

Insufficient profit margin to allow for investment in research and development, new technology or
equipment: Competitive bidding can force a supplier to accept a slim profit margin. These low margins result in
a supplier having little money to spend on research and development, new technology and equipment.

Selective Tendering

It is also called Single stage selective tendering. Single stage selective tendering starts off where the employer
invites a few known and reputable contracts to tender for the job. The contractors are not obliged to accept this
invitation but will be blacklisted if they do so by the employer. The number of contractors involved ranges from
5-10 participants. Upon accepting the invitation, the contractors will purchase a copy of the tender document and
fill in the rates of all the materials like in an opening tendering method. The completed tender documents are sent
back to the employer to be opened and recorded together with the consultants. The consultants will then evaluate
each of the tender documents and come out with a report of the recommended choice of contractor.

Two stage selective tendering Two stage selective tendering starts off where the employer chooses a few
contractors by pre- qualification. Other criterions also include management of projects at hand, quality of
workmanship, type of company and reputation. After a hand-full of qualified contractors are picked, they are
invited to participate in the tender. Similar to single stage selective tendering, they are not forced to accept this
invitation but are blacklisted by the employer if they do so.

The number of contractors involved in the pre-qualification can reach up to 20 participants that will then be
knocked down to the default 5-10 tendering participants. The interested contractors will then purchase a copy of
the tender document and fill in the rates of the project. Upon completion, the completed tender document will be
sent back to the employer to be opened and recorded together with the consultants.

The consultants will evaluate each one of the tender documents submitted and come up with a report of
recommendations for the employer. Usually the employer will abide to the recommendation. Once the contractor
is selected, the contract document is made and sent out to all parties involved. Construction can begin at this point.

Advantages are:

Better quality of workmanship: Since the average quality of workmanship has been raised it is natural to expect
better than quality of workmanship than compared to open tendering method.

Simplified tender evaluation: The contractors participating are all reputable contractors so the quality of
materials and workmanship will only differ slightly, hence consultants can just focus on the price of which these
services come at.

Shorter tendering process: Less contractors involved means less time spent on evaluating tender documents and
better management of the tendering process.

Low cost of documentation: Less tender documents are required to accommodate the participating contractors
this lowers the printing fee.

This method also allows for the consultants to know the exact amount of copies of tender documents to print
which isn’t the case for open tendering.

Disadvantages include:

High price: Since the average quality of materials and workmanship is higher than the open tendering method,
the price of the project is bound to rise. This is also because it is not as competitive as there are lesser contractors
tendering for the job. Employer incurs resources Preparing the list of contractors for pre-qualification requires for
the contractor to make his own list using his own resources and means to do so.

Reduction of competitiveness: The act of selecting among the firms leads to the subsequentially decline in the
level of competition among the bidding firms.

High tenders: the method culminates into the high pricing of the tenders as a small number of firms are selected
for the undertaking of the works.

Accountability: The process of accountability is harder to demonstrate than in open tendering process since
marking subjective qualification criteria is open to interpretation.

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