Win the workWin the work: Tender · week four…
The build-up
Tom and Sam, the firm's information manager, price the information work from this job: people, systems, licences, training, the handover. It comes to a number that makes Tom go quiet.
Stage 2 · Win the work · Stop 7 of 11 · The right way
Pricing the information work
The back alley's bill so far: 35 weeks · See the bill
The right way
Bid review
At bid review, Helen finds the line. Sam shows her what it pays for: the people who check the drawings, the training, the handover data. Helen keeps it.
Sam: Cut it here, and we pay for it on site, twice.
Helen: Fine. We'll lose the second crane for a fortnight.
Get readyGet ready: Three weeks before site opens…
Tested and ready
The Site Office is tested with dummy files by people who are paid to do it. Week one is boring.
Cut to winA percentage from last time, cut, and five weeks of untangling.
Priced to deliverA reason for every pound, a sulking crane, and a boring week one.
Now there is: An information price built up from this job, and kept at bid review.
What's going on here
Information work is real work: people's time, systems and training. Pricing it from this job, not as a percentage from the last, means the bid can defend it, and the team has the money to do it. Cutting it doesn't remove the cost, it moves it to site.
In the town See it in the town: what does the information line actually pay for?
The promise says how the order will be delivered; the price says whether anyone can afford to. Pricing the information work from this job means a number for the people who look after it, the systems, the training, the testing of the Site Office and the data the owner runs on at handover. Cut it at bid review and the work doesn't disappear; it turns up in week one, in inboxes and under a sandwich.
Fix it Information line cut? Show what it was paying for.
- List the people, systems, training and testing the promise needs.
- Price each one from this job, not from a percentage.
- Show the project manager what goes undone without it.
A note for the information manager: A cut information line is a cost moved to site, usually at about twice the price.
Try it on your job
In your last bid, could anyone say what the information line paid for?
ISO 19650 From a percentage to a price
| ISO 19650 says | Means | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| Mobilisation | Getting people, technology and working methods ready before work starts, including testing them | The Site Office tested with dummy files, by people paid to do it |
| Information management function | The roles and people responsible for managing information on the job | The people who check the drawings, priced by name |
| Not from ISO 19650: the bid price build-up | Ordinary estimating: building a price from the resources a job really needs | Gives every pound in the information line a reason Helen can keep |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.