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One of the major challenges of being in the construction business is the need to constantly find new opportunities to bid on work. Market conditions are a major factor of course but the time and expense of locating information about new projects can be high. You would think that with the growth and power of the internet that someone would have found a way to aggregate all this information to make it easily accessible to those who want it.
Not so. In fact it seems that it may even be getting harder to find it. Owners, Architects, Engineering firms and Contractors are constantly probed by various parties who want to collect and disseminate this data. These information collectors are then able to sell this information to contractors and suppliers who are looking for their next opportunity to bid. Depending upon the scope of the information provided this can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year just to view the list, which is of course no guarantee that you will be able to submit a bid on the project.
For a variety of reasons around controlling who gets access to the information it is getting harder for ‘information collectors’ to assemble this project data in any sort of reliable way. It appears that the trend is moving towards electronic invitation to bid processes. As these electronic systems begin to proliferate in the market it would be wise to learn which ones provide you with the easiest and most efficient access to the opportunity, the documents related to that opportunity and the tools and features you need to work with that information. If you find one that works for you don’t be afraid to tell your General Contractors clients which one(s) you prefer. If you don’t, odds are you will be faced with having to live with and learn about less than ideal systems that are expensive, time consuming and inefficient.
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