How do you review a low construction bid in Qardho?

A low construction bid in Qardho is rarely a discount. It is usually a cost coding problem: a package was left out of the bill, or an allowance was set at a figure the work cannot meet. Review the bid against the scope and the method statement, line by line, before comparing it with anyone else.

How does cost coding hide an omitted package?

Work that is not coded has no line to price it. When an estimator groups everything under concrete, blockwork and roof, items such as excavation disposal, formwork to edges, curing water, scaffolding, temporary fencing or site clearance can vanish from the bill. The bidder prices what is in the schedule of works, not what the building needs. In Qardho, ask to see the priced bill and the priced schedule of rates side by side, then walk the scope clause by clause and note where a scope item has no matching cost line. Ask the bidder to show the line that pays for each clause, and ask whether any allowance is a lump sum or a rate. Where a clause names a test, a sample or a record, ask which cost line pays the laboratory or the supplier. If the answer is "in the general items", ask for the general items breakdown, because a lump sum can absorb a real package and hide it.

What do unrealistic tender allowances do to the work?

An allowance set too low does not remove the cost, it moves it into the build. A low rate for aggregate haulage, water carting or steel fixing gets worked around: fewer trips, thinner cover, rushed fixing, or a claim later. Price curing and dust-control water against the water source and the haul distance the bidder has shown in the assumptions behind the rate, because that line is easy to underprice. Ask the bidder to state those assumptions for each rate: the source of water, the haul distance, the number of trips, the crew size. Compare those assumptions with the project specification and with what your own delivery records from a recent site show. General practice is to carry a contingency for items the tender documents did not define, and to confirm the size of that contingency with your own cost records rather than adopting a rule of thumb.

How do you detect the gap before award?

Detection is a reconciliation exercise. Set the bid against three references at once: the scope clauses, the method statement, and the programme. Every activity in the programme should have a cost line, and every scope clause should have one too. When a programme activity has no line, mark it. When a rate sits far below the others, ask what the bidder left out, not why the others are high. Ask for the bill in a spreadsheet with unit and rate columns, so you can see where a quantity was rounded down or a package was priced at zero. Check the qualifications: a bidder may exclude testing, supervision, security, water, power or reinstatement in the covering letter. Read the covering letter first, because an exclusion there makes the headline total meaningless. This is the core of reviewing cost coding underbidding risks in Qardho: compare against scope, not against rival totals.

What to do next

Take the lowest bid and produce a one page reconciliation: scope clause, cost line, rate, assumption. Mark every clause with no line and every rate with no stated assumption. Send the marked list back to the bidder and ask for a written response before award. Keep the responses with the tender file, because they become the baseline for any later variation claim.