What is Construction Bidding Software?
Construction bidding software are digital tools that help organizations streamline bidding activities, such as bid preparation, advertisement, submission, and analysis.
In the early days of construction bidding software, platforms may have come on a CD-ROM or even a floppy disk, and were mainly used to assist in the preparation of an electronic bid file. Digitizing the information that would normally be handwritten into substantial paper bid packets helped assist with standardization and error-reduction.
Today, much construction bidding software goes beyond the tasks of bid set-up and organization. Thanks to secure encryption technology, online signature verification, and of course, the handy dandy internet, these bidding platforms are also competitive hubs where vendors find work and submit bids. Let’s dive into the areas that construction bidding software assists in for vendors and construction agencies alike.
The Core Functionality of Construction Bidding Software
Online Bid Advertising & Submission
At their core, most modern construction bidding software platforms are a place for agencies to post work/supply opportunities and vendors to bid on those opportunities. Typically, the agency will post project details to an online bidding platform, leveraging time-saving features like templates or drag-and-drop editors. From there, vendors will be able to submit secure bids to these projects, often by paying a small fee. There are a few key benefits to this process:
- Digital bid forms help prevent errors but disallowing incomplete submissions
- The ability to submit bids online saves on paper, time, and travel/weather delays
- The fee that vendors pay to submit is often dwarfed by courier costs for manual delivery
Remote Bid Opening
Construction bidding software allows bids to be opened and awarded without the need for a public gathering. Not only is this convenient for everyone involved, in a post-COVID world, it allows for safer bidding environments.
Bid Tabulation & Reporting
Most construction bidding software will automatically tabulate bids in an Excel spreadsheet when it’s time to award the winner. Not only does this save large quantities of time spent manually tabulating bids, it simplifies the process of analyzing and reporting on bids.
Record-keeping & Dispute Resolution
If you’ve experienced the world of construction project bidding, you know how intense and competitive it can be. Construction bidding software helps protect agencies from risk with a complete record of bid submission timelines. If a bid packet is incomplete, platforms will often automatically disqualify them from being the apparent low bid. While disputes may still arise, no one can argue with cold hard data for long.
Data for Future Estimates
With all historical bid information stored in one system, organizations that are trying to understand costs for labor, quantities, etc. can rely on the information in their bidding platform to inform estimates at a deeper level. Data from bidding software can also be analyzed to identify market trends and potential collusive activity.
Why Should I Use Construction Bidding Software?
If you’re encountering challenges with your construction bidding process, construction bidding software can help. Organizations typically make the transition from paper, spreadsheet, or email-based bidding to an online bidding platform for one of the following reasons:
- Your organization is trying to go paperless
- Your organization is encountering issues with lost, incomplete, or non-compliant bids
- Your organization is spending countless hours on bid analysis and awarding
- Your organization is located in an area where inclement weather often affects bid delivery
- Your organization wants all project data to be digitized from start to finish
Of course, there are plenty of other reasons an organization may decide to adopt construction bidding software. Sometimes, it’s even mandated by a federal, state, or county authority. Regardless of the reason, organizations that adopt construction bidding software rarely look back. To learn more about construction bidding software that may work for your team, explore Bid Express.
