(4) Price databases offer enhanced timeliness. Ensuring the accuracy of bidding control prices has always been a critical challenge for preparation teams. During the preparation process, it is essential to maintain precise control prices. If the control price deviates significantly from actual costs, it can severely impact the successful execution of a construction project. For projects involving substantial safety risks, complex construction challenges, or frequent use of new materials and technologies, preparing bidding control prices requires not only referencing local cost management department data but also gaining a deep understanding of industry market material prices and their fluctuations. This approach ensures that bidding control prices are both accurate and practical, aligning closely with current market conditions.
For provisional estimate materials listed in bidding documents, these must be strictly incorporated into the comprehensive unit price according to the provisional estimates provided. For materials without provisional estimates, prices should be derived from local cost management department data. Materials not covered by existing cost information require a thorough market price investigation. When determining market prices, preparers must exercise caution by conducting in-depth market research, analyzing price trends, comparing similar materials, and evaluating multiple factors from various perspectives to establish market-aligned prices. BIM technology, as an information-driven tool, significantly enhances real-time price accuracy by integrating instantly with building material price websites and related databases.
(5) Transparency reduces moral hazard. The owner’s goal in engineering bidding is to select a contractor capable of meeting project requirements at a competitive price, ensuring effective project completion. To simplify this process, the most common methods used are the lowest bid and comprehensive evaluation approaches. The challenge lies in making sure that the bidding prices accurately reflect the true cost of construction services, allowing reputable, qualified, and technically excellent contractors to submit competitive bids and secure contracts. The bidding process itself is a strategic interaction between the tenderer and bidders under conditions of information asymmetry. Bidders, armed with extensive technical expertise in bidding and construction, may manipulate bidding documents or conceal pricing strategies, posing significant risks to the tenderer—known as moral hazard.
During the bidding phase, information asymmetry exists between the tenderer and the employer. Bidders typically have a clear understanding of their bidding requirements but may lack in-depth knowledge of specific construction processes, investment limits, technical control points, and other relevant details. This makes it difficult for them to accurately assess the performance capabilities and reputations of competing bidders. Conversely, bidders generally only have access to basic project information and technical specifications outlined in the bidding documents. They are more focused on the tenderer’s payment capacity, investment control limits, and competitor information.
To secure bids, some parties embellish bidding documents and promote their credibility through advertising. These tactics complicate the tenderer’s task of selecting reliable contractors. Therefore, the tenderer must first establish clear technical, economic, and scheduling requirements for the project. Additionally, they must evaluate the performance capabilities of bidders. Clarifying project requirements is primarily achieved through technical means, while bidder evaluations involve expert reviews of technical and economic proposals. Both processes incur information-related costs.
In reality, the current bidding process suffers from low information completeness and widespread issues such as bidding without drawings and triple-sided engineering. BIM can help bidders access the necessary technical and economic information. However, BIM’s current application is mostly limited to the construction phase, which strays from its original intent. This delay in BIM adoption reduces the influence of BIM teams. Construction units often request numerous changes during project execution due to incomplete drawings or design errors, causing unnecessary losses to owners. While BIM is often introduced during the design phase mainly for drawing review and correction, its application during the bidding phase holds greater practical value for investment control, bid scheme development, and bid evaluation. From the perspective of the current BIM consulting market, integrating BIM at the bidding stage will not significantly increase consulting costs for owners but will advance the BIM team’s involvement to an earlier and more impactful project phase.
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