The tender package: pricing schedule, specification, conditions and everything it contains

The tender package is the set of documents issued to the candidate contractors during a competitive tender or a private enquiry. It forms the contractual basis of the works contracts: once the offers are submitted and the contract awarded, the package's documents form an integral part of the contract between client and each successful contractor.

On public projects the package is governed by the French public procurement code, which sets out the mandatory documents and the procedures to follow. On private projects its composition is freer, but good practice aligns closely with the public standard to avoid contractual ambiguity.

Producing the package is a demanding phase involving several parties: the architect for the drawings and architectural requirements, the structural and services engineers for their specialist drawings and specifications, and the economist, who coordinates the financial and administrative documents and ensures the coherence of the whole.

A complete package contains two families of documents: the administrative documents, which frame the legal and contractual conditions of the tender, and the technical and financial documents, which describe the works and allow them to be priced.

ℹ Worth knowing In practice the package is structured by work package: each contractor consulted receives only the documents that concern it. A tender for 10 distinct packages therefore means 10 different specifications, 10 individual pricing schedules or bills, and separate forms of agreement. Consistency between the documents of each package, and between the packages themselves, is one of the most critical issues in producing the tender documents.

The tender rules describe how the competition works: conditions of access (the technical, financial and professional capacity required), how offers are to be submitted (deadline, format, documents expected), and the selection criteria with their weightings — price, technical merit, programme, references. This is the document that frames the competitive process.

On public projects the rules are drafted by the client or their adviser in coordination with the design team. On private projects they may take a simplified form, a letter of enquiry, but must always state the award criteria to prevent later challenge.

The form of agreement is what the successful contractor signs to commit to carrying out the works on the terms of its offer. It restates the essentials of the contract: amount, programme, references to the technical documents. It is the works contract proper, which is why its drafting must be beyond reproach.

These set out the conditions of execution: how invoicing works (monthly interim valuations, advances, retention), the regime for delay damages, the conditions of handover, the statutory warranties covering completion, two-year and ten-year liability, the treatment of subcontractors and the procedure for varied works.

Well-drafted conditions protect the client against the most frequent kinds of drift: unpenalised delay, contested variations, disputed handovers. Approximate ones are a source of conflict waiting to happen, and a contractual weakness that can prove very expensive.

The particular technical specification is the bulkiest document of the package. Package by package, it describes everything expected of the contractors: the nature of the materials, the standards and certifications to be met, the requirements for execution, the tests and inspections to be carried out, the documents to be provided.

A specification is generally organised in four parts:

• General matters: the scope of the package, reference documents (standards, codes of practice, applicable regulations), the contractor's general obligations.
• Common requirements: general conditions of execution, coordination with the other trades, protection of existing construction.
• Particular requirements item by item: for each element of the works, a precise description of materials, methods, tolerances and acceptance criteria.
• Tests and inspections: the tests to be carried out, their frequency, the tolerances allowed.

Writing a specification is precision work: any omission or imprecision can be read differently by different contractors, producing price differences between offers or disputes during construction.

In practice the specification is co-produced by the economist — general coordination, plus the ordinary packages of structure, finishing trades and finishes — and the engineering consultants, who write the specialist packages of mechanical services, electrics and structure. The architect contributes the requirements bearing on architecture and façade materials.

ℹ A frequent error Reusing a specification from an earlier project without adapting it. An unadapted specification contains requirements that cannot be applied, references to elements that do not exist in the project, and inconsistencies with the drawings — all of them potential sources of dispute. A specification should always be reread against the final drawings before it goes out.

The financial documents are what contractors base their pricing on. Their structure and completeness govern directly how comparable the offers received will be.

This is used on contracts at a global fixed price, where the contractor commits to a fixed amount for the whole of its work. It breaks that amount into principal items, letting the client compare price levels line by line between candidates. Its purpose is not to measure quantities but to break a lump sum into readable, comparable items.

This is used on remeasurable contracts, where payment depends on the quantities actually carried out. It lists the works with their estimated quantities and asks contractors to enter their unit rates. Multiplying quantities by rates gives the anticipated contract sum.

It exposes the client to an overrun risk if the real quantities exceed the estimates. It is therefore reserved for works whose quantities are hard to foresee precisely: earthworks, heavy refurbishment, working in occupied premises.

ℹ Which of the two to choose? Lump-sum pricing schedule → well-defined works, known quantities, low overrun risk: new-build housing, ordinary offices. Priced bill → uncertain or variable quantities: earthworks, heavy refurbishment, demolition. A single tender may well combine a pricing schedule for the packages best suited to a lump sum, such as structure and mechanical services, with a priced bill for the packages carrying quantity risk, such as external works and demolition.

A poor tender package is rarely the result of negligence. More often it comes from a lack of time, insufficient coordination between contributors, or a poor grasp of what is contractually at stake.

The most frequent source of trouble is inconsistency between drawings and specification — work described but not drawn, or the reverse — or between the specification and the pricing schedule, where an item appears in one and not the other. These inconsistencies generate qualifications in the offers, requests for clarification that delay the programme, and unforeseen variations during construction.

A specification that states outcomes ("the partitions must perform acoustically") without quantified requirements ("Rw+C ≥ 45 dB") cannot be applied. Contractors then price the uncertainty, and the lowest bidder is often not the one who will deliver the best work.

A schedule with items aggregated too coarsely ("finishing trades: lump sum") does not allow offers to be compared meaningfully. A well-structured one descends to the level of the principal elements, detailed enough to reveal under-pricing or price anomalies during the tender analysis.

Quostra produces complete tender packages for every type of project: housing, offices, public buildings, refurbishment. The assignment covers writing the specification — coordination plus the ordinary packages — producing the pricing schedule or priced bill for each package, drafting the administrative conditions, and a coherence review of the whole file.

The package is delivered in structured digital format: editable Word for the written documents, Excel for the financial ones, ready to be completed by the specialist engineers and the architect's drawings.

Indicative lead times:

• Ordinary residential project, fewer than 10 packages: 5 to 7 working days.
• Office or public building, 10 to 20 packages: 8 to 12 working days.
• Complex refurbishment or multi-building operation: quoted after analysis of the brief.

You have better things to do. Submit your project on quostra.com and an economist produces your complete tender package within 72 working hours.

The tender package is the centrepiece of the consultation. It brings together the administrative documents, the technical specification for each package and the financial documents. Its quality directly governs the quality of the offers received, how comparable the candidates are, and how solid the contract will be. Investing in a rigorous package durably reduces the risk of variations, disputes and budget overruns during construction.