Work phase 6: preparing procurement
Weighting: 10 per cent for buildings, 7 per cent for interiors.
This phase comprises essentially six blocks of work. The fifth is the one that has changed the character of the phase since 2013.
| Block | Content |
|---|---|
| Procurement programme | timing of preparation, issue, return and evaluation |
| Specifications | describing the works with bills of quantities by trade section |
| Quantity take-off | converting the design into tenderable quantities |
| Interface coordination | alignment with the specialist designers' specifications |
| Cost control | comparing the designer's priced bills against the cost calculation |
| Tender documents | compiling them for all trade sections |
The fifth block deserves particular attention. Cost control by comparing the priced bills of quantities against the cost calculation is a basic service. It was brought into the catalogue with the 2013 version and is therefore owed without separate agreement.
This is the point at which a cost deviation can last be effectively corrected. Once tenders are in, redesign is expensive, whereas before the documents go out, alternative items, changed execution types or a different lotting are still possible. The system is covered in the article on cost management.
A special case: the performance specification
One particularity of this phase concerns tendering not by bill of quantities but by Leistungsprogramm, that is functionally rather than in detail. The choice between the two routes falls before the phase begins and alters its content.
Preparing such a specification on the basis of the detailed object description is in principle an additional service. Where tendering actually proceeds by performance specification, however, it becomes a basic service in whole or in part, and the corresponding basic services of this phase fall away instead.
The provision is unusual, because it makes the character of a service depend on the procurement route chosen. For contract drafting it follows that the form of tendering must be settled before this phase begins, since it alters both scope and invoicing.
Further additional services in this phase are preparing alternative specifications for self-contained trade sections and preparing comparative cost overviews drawing on the contributions of other specialist designers. Both are frequently performed without having been agreed.
Work phase 7: assisting with the award
Weighting: 4 per cent for buildings, 3 per cent for interiors.
This phase divides into five blocks of work. The third is the second cost control of this stretch, and it is likewise a basic service.
| Block | Content |
|---|---|
| Tenders | obtaining tenders |
| Evaluation | checking and evaluating, including a price comparison by individual item |
| Cost control | comparing the tender results against the priced bills or the cost calculation |
| Award | assisting with placing the order |
| Contract | compiling the contract documents |
The wording is precisely chosen: the designer assists; they do not award. The award decision rests with the client. For the designer this means their task lies in preparing the decision, and that a recommendation should be identified as such.
Additional services in this phase include coordinating the specialist designers' procurement and conducting tenderer interviews. Both are frequently performed in practice without being agreed, and neither is then remunerated.
The change of ordering
From work phase 6 onwards, cost planning additionally orders by procurement package. The change is substantively unavoidable, because what is procured is what a firm executes, not what a building element is.
It creates a problem for cost control, however: trades and element groups do not coincide. A drylining contractor works on internal walls, floors and fixtures at once. Without a mapping carried alongside, comparison against the cost calculation beyond the overall total is impossible.
Since cost control is a basic service in this phase, the mapping is thereby indirectly owed as well. The system is covered in the article on trade-oriented cost structure, including how a reconciliation between the two orderings is built.
Lotting is a management decision
One point is rarely found in overviews: setting the procurement packages in this phase has effect through to the final cost statement. It influences price in two directions at once.
| Lotting | Works in favour | Works against |
|---|---|---|
| Larger lots | less coordination effort, fewer interfaces | less competition per lot, smaller firms excluded |
| Smaller lots | more competition, more potential tenderers | more interfaces, more coordination, more scope for dispute over defects |
The two effects run against each other, and no single size is right for every trade. Lotting is therefore a decision to be taken per work section.
For public clients, procurement law generally requires division into trade and partial lots. The framework is covered in the subject area on tendering under the VOB.
Quantity take-off is the quiet cost factor
Of the six blocks in phase 6, quantity take-off carries the greatest time input and the least visibility. It converts drawings and descriptions into tenderable quantities, and its quality directly determines how reliable the tenders will be.
Two kinds of error act differently, and their cost effect is not symmetrical. The second is markedly more expensive than the first.
| Kind of error | Consequence | Cost effect |
|---|---|---|
| An understated quantity | apparently cheap tender and a remeasurement during construction; competition took place on a false basis | corrects itself through remeasurement |
| A missing item | a variation at a point when no competition exists | the more expensive of the two errors |
A priority rule for checking follows from this asymmetry: completeness before accuracy. A slightly wrong quantity corrects itself through remeasurement; a missing item does not.
Where design proceeds from a model, quantity take-off can be linked directly to the detailed design. The limits of that method are covered in the article on BIM-based cost determination.
What to watch on partial commissions
Phases 6 and 7 are commissioned separately more often than others. A common arrangement is for the designer to prepare the bills of quantities while procurement is run by the client or a project manager.
Two points then need regulating. First, who performs the cost control by comparing tender results, since it is anchored in both phases. Second, how tenderer queries during the procedure are handled, since only the designer can answer them technically and they are not owed outside a commission for phase 7.
The system of partial commissions is covered in the separate article. It also explains why the assessment of the transferred share must be agreed in text form.
Related articles
This article reflects the position of the rules and case law at the date of checking and serves professional orientation. It does not constitute legal advice and does not replace assessment of the individual case.