Win the workWin the work: Tender day…
The pack
The order goes out with the drawings, the contract, the programme and the library copies. Five bidders, five packs.
Stage 1 · The need · Stop 3 of 3
Out to tender
The back alley's bill so far: 9 weeks · See the bill
The information · The tender pack
I go out in the tender pack. Every bidder gets the same me. That's the whole point of me.
The wrong way
The water cooler
One bidder rings someone they know in Client Town. They get a helpful answer about the old Precinct's drains, over the phone. Nobody writes it down.
Four other bidders
The other four bidders don't get the answer. They price what's in the pack.
Win the workWin the work: Award…
The winner
The bidder with the phone call wins, by a whisker. The helpful answer was wrong.
The drains
The digger opens the ground where the phone call said the old drains run. Nothing there but a puzzled sheep, watching from the fence.
The argument
The winner says the client told them. Marcus, the client's project manager, has no record of anyone saying anything.
Marcus: Who told you that?
Winner: Somebody called Pete?
One helpful phone call, one wrong answer, no record, and a fair tender that wasn't.
+2 weeks on the back alley's bill: A private answer, a wrong price, and a row nobody can settle without a record.