Investigation on Uncertainty in Construction Bid Documents

Construction bid documents contain various errors or discrepancies giving rise to uncertainties. The errors/discrepancies/ambiguities in the bid document, if not identified and clarified before the bid, may cause dispute and conflict between the contracting parties. Given the fact that bid document is a major resource in estimating construction costs, inaccurate information in bid document can result in over/under estimating. Thus, any questions from bidders related to the errors in the bid document should be clarified by employers before bid submission. This study aims to examine the pre-bid queries, i.e., pre-bid request for information (RFI), from state DoTs of the United States to investigate error types most frequently encountered in bid documents. For the study, around 200 pre-bids RFI were collected from state DoTs and were classified into several error types (e.g., coordination error, errors in drawings). The analysis of the data showed that errors in bill of quantities is the most frequent error in the bid documents followed by errors in drawing. The study findings addressed uncertainty types in construction bid documents that should be checked during a bid process, and, in a broader sense, it will contribute to advancing the construction management body of knowledge by clarifying and classifying bid risk factors at an early stage of construction projects.