InfoTown™
Sam's journey · Winning the work (tender) · Lesson 4

The promise

Before you start

In the story

The last client's name is on page 14, and the client found it.

Back to the story

The right way

Tender

Start from a template, never a copy. The bones get reused; the answers are new.

Tender

Every section answers this client's requirements list, line by line. Anything we can't do yet is said honestly, with how and when we will.

Before it goes

Sam reads it end to end before it goes. So does someone who didn't write it.

Last job's planAnother client's name on page 14, and promises nobody priced.
This job's planBuilt from a template, answering this client line by line, checked by fresh eyes.
Think like Sam

The plan is a promise, so read it the way the client will. Does every section answer one of their requirements? Is anything in it something we can't actually do, or haven't priced?

Continue Sam's journey

Story 5: Can they actually do it?

Every firm in the team says it can manage information. The questionnaire has a tick box.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

The plan is our town's promise to the client's town: these roads, these rules, these deliveries. Copy the last town's promise and you've promised roads that don't exist.

If you're the client

If you're the client

Read the plan at tender and score it against your requirements. If you can't tell it apart from the last bid you got, neither can they.

In the town See it in the town: the bid makes a promise. What exactly is it promising?

Sam's view: the promise comes from the whole delivery team, with our firm leading it.

Who works for whom The project team as a town. Client Town sits in the middle. Around it are lead firms: your firm, the Tier 1 leading the work, another lead firm, and space for more. Each lead firm has its own firms working for it, such as Designer Town, a groundworks subcontractor and a supplier, and each of those has small task teams. Your firm and its firms are shaded together as your delivery team. Solid lines show requirements and information exchange; dotted lines between the lead firms show coordination. Rex, Sam and Dave are in your firm, Alex is in Designer Town, and the Clerk of Works is in Client Town. THE WHOLE PROJECT TEAMYOUR DELIVERY TEAMCLIENT TOWNwho the work is forYOUR FIRMthe Tier 1 leading the workANOTHER LEAD FIRMits own appointment…as many more as the job needsDESIGNER TOWNAlex's firmGROUNDWORKSa subcontractorSUPPLIERDESIGNERSUBCONTRACTORa task team DaveSamRexAlexClerk of Works
Solid lines. What's needed, and the information that comes back.
Dotted lines. Lead firms coordinating with each other.
Pick a groupWho works for whom

The client

In the picture
ISO 19650 calls it
Watch out for

This is the pre-appointment BIM Execution Plan (BEP)!

The promise: which ways of working we've picked for this job, and why.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me how the plan answers each of the client's requirements.
  • How was it reviewed before it went in?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • The plan, mapped to the requirements list.
  • A record of the review, by someone who didn't write it.
  • No ghosts of other projects.
From the standard
ISO 19650 The plan that goes with the bid

ISO 19650 calls it the pre-appointment BIM execution plan. In plain terms, it's how we propose to manage information on this job, written for this client: which ways of working we've picked, and why. Our advice: keep it short. The step-by-step how comes after award, in the project's procedures.

It should coverIn plain words
WhoThe named people from the last lesson
Which way, and whyThe approach we've picked for each of the client's requirements
With whatThe systems, from Lesson 2
To what standardTheir standard, and anything we propose to add or change
Who does what, at high levelA high-level responsibility matrix: which firm produces which kind of information
How it comes togetherHow the models and drawings will be federated, and how the information is broken down

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © 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.