Here’s a variation on a theme for two stage tenders………..
How many have you been used to the traditional way of two stage tendering, simply price the prelims and give a percentage for profit and overheads.
Well maybe no more.
How many of you have seen this, or variations on this of late? Two stage tender, first stage is for the usual priced aspects of prelims, overheads and the like but now here’s the twist….
A large element of the project is to be priced and fixed at the first stage.
Other elements are to be budget costs, although in reality a design does exist and is provided with the tender documents.
I’ve seen this twice in the last month having never seen this before.
What do you think to this, a good way forward?
Is this the start of clients being able to avoid getting the run around after months of negotiations with a contractor only to find their budget has been blown?
Or is it something Contractors will shun viewing it as a risk not worth entertaining in the current economic climate for them?
Oh and by the way it’s a design and build project too, but you guessed that anyway.
Derek Mynott's Blog 
I’ve seen it a few times over the last couple of years. Usually, the clients/pQS want to fix the price of the first few packages such as piling, groundworks and frame (and envelope sometimes) which forms a large proportion of the contract value and is inherently where a major proportion of the risk is. We tend to steer away from these as it is sort of ‘single stage by the back door’ rather than a ‘hybrid two stage’. It can work, as long as the client is prepared to pay the contractor a reasonable risk allowance which is where the problems begin!