Priced bill, pricing schedule, specification: the three tender documents explained

The most important distinction is contractual status. The priced bill is no commitment on quantities: in a remeasurement contract, it applies the prices in the schedule of rates to estimated quantities in order to compare tenders, and it is the quantities executed that are paid for. The pricing schedule and the technical specification are contractual. Everything else follows from that difference.

The quantity estimate is a schedule structured by package, structure, roof, façades, mechanical services and so on, then by sub-package and by individual item. For each item: a precise description, the unit, the quantity calculated by the economist and the estimated unit rate. The totals per item, per sub-package and per package are calculated automatically.

The quantity estimate serves two purposes. Before the tender, it is what the blank pricing schedule is built from, and it is the internal reference against which the tenders to come will be judged. During tender assessment, it is compared line by line with the pricing schedules returned by the contractors, to identify the items that are under-priced, over-priced or missing.

In a remeasurement contract, the priced bill completed with the prices in the schedule of rates is used to compare tenders and may be among the contract documents: the CCAG-Travaux 2021 refers to the "détail estimatif du marché" (art. 16.1 and 16.2). Its quantities are only estimates (art. 9.2).

ℹ The priced bill inside the contract: a mistake that costs dear In a remeasurement contract, the contractor is paid for the quantities actually executed, multiplied by the prices in the schedule of rates, whether or not the priced bill is among the contract documents (CCAG-Travaux 2021, art. 10.3.2): this is not an effect of unfamiliarity, it is how a unit price is settled. If, as a result of site instructions or of circumstances that are neither its fault nor its doing, the quantities of a type of work increase by more than a third or decrease by more than a quarter compared with the détail estimatif, it may be compensated for the loss suffered (art. 16.2). In a lump sum contract, by contrast, differences in quantities from the breakdown, like its errors, do not alter the price (art. 10.3.1). The rule is simple: the quantity estimate stays in the design team's own files. In a global lump sum contract, the contractor commits to the overall price, broken down by the pricing schedule it has priced and signed; in a remeasurement contract, it commits to the prices in the schedule of rates.

The economist produces a blank pricing schedule, structured with the packages, sub-packages and item descriptions but with no prices. That document goes to the contractors in the tender package. Each contractor fills in its own prices, signs the document and returns it with its tender. Once the contract is awarded, the priced and signed schedule becomes a contract document.

The quality of a pricing schedule is measured by its granularity. One that is too coarse, a few lines per package, produces a lump sum contract that reads cleanly but cannot be administered on site: how do you check a monthly valuation when the whole concrete frame is a single line of 300 000 €? A well-structured schedule breaks each package into sub-packages that follow the sequence of execution, in enough detail to produce verifiable monthly valuations and precisely priced variations.

On contracts with a variations clause, the pricing schedule is completed by a schedule of rates listing the contractor's unit prices for the items likely to change. That schedule is the basis on which variations are valued. Without it, the price of a change is not written in advance, but it is set by a procedure: for a contract that refers to the CCAG-Travaux 2021, the elements of the lump sum price breakdowns, in particular their unit rates, and the price build-ups are used to establish the new price (art. 13.3), which the site instruction sets provisionally, as fixed by the design team with the client's agreement after consulting the contractor (art. 13.4), before a variation makes it final, unless the contractor has made no observation within thirty days (art. 13.5); in a private lump sum contract, the change is only due if it was authorised in writing, with an agreed price (Civil Code, art. 1793).

The technical specification describes, package by package, the works to be carried out in technical terms: materials, performance, standards, workmanship. Its standard structure runs from general provisions and reference documents, through material requirements and workmanship requirements, to testing and the documents to be supplied.

The specification is the technical reference in any disagreement about the quality of the works. If a contractor applies a class A render where the specification calls for class B, the client can require the work to be redone on the strength of the specification. If the specification is vague on the point, requiring it becomes difficult.

A specification copied from a previous project without adaptation is the most frequent source of contradictions inside a tender package. One that names materials incompatible with the drawings, performance that the architectural details cannot achieve, or standards that have been superseded creates zones of interpretation that contractors are entitled to exploit.

ℹ The golden rule: consistency with the drawings and the pricing schedule Every technical requirement in the specification must be verifiable on the drawings and priceable in the pricing schedule. A specification calling for 200 mm of insulation has to be consistent with the wall thicknesses on the drawings. A specification calling for windows at a U-value of 0,8 W/m²K or better has to be consistent with the pricing schedule that prices that type of window. Cross-checking specification against drawings against pricing schedule before the tender package goes out is one of the most demanding parts of the economist's work, and one of the most protective for the client.

These three documents do not by themselves make a tender package. The table below sets out the other indispensable pieces.

Of these, the conditions of contract are the most often neglected and the most dangerous when badly drafted. They are what set the construction period, the liquidated damages, the price adjustment provisions and the grounds for termination.

The two most serious mistakes, a priced bill contractualised by accident and a generic specification, are also the most frequent. Both come from the same mechanism: time pressure at tender stage. A tender package produced quickly but badly always costs more than one produced carefully; the difference is settled in variations during construction.

The priced bill, the pricing schedule and the technical specification are three distinct documents with precise roles. The priced bill is the economist's internal tool and is never contractual. The pricing schedule is the contractor's own breakdown of price, contractual from signature, and it governs how legible the valuations and the final account will be. The specification carries the technical requirements and is the reference in any quality dispute. The quality of a tender package rests on the consistency between these three documents and the drawings: every contradiction creates a zone of interpretation the contractor is entitled to exploit. The five most serious mistakes are a priced bill contractualised by accident, a pricing schedule that is too coarse, a generic specification, conditions of contract with no price adjustment, and a missing schedule of rates.

The nature of the figures quoted

The percentages and amounts quoted on this page are orders of magnitude for framing, not measurements. They illustrate mechanisms and proportions, and they substitute neither for a tender exercise nor for an estimate prepared on drawings.

• The construction economist's tools and methods: the complete picture
• How to read a priced bill of quantities: structure, columns and warning signs
• How to build a pricing schedule: structure, coding and completion rules
• How to structure a technical specification: standard plan, requirements and pitfalls
• Tender stage risks: under-priced tenders, inflation and contracts with traps