ENGINEERING CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE A STAGE 1 - Tender What is a Tender? When a Developer (who may be a Government body, such as DIT, a private company or an individual) has an idea for a project that they would like to implement, they will call for Tenders from companies who believe they can carry out the necessary tasks. Sometimes Tenders will be advertised through the press, often they are invited i.e. the Developer selects a few companies they believe would be suitable and asks them to tender (called a 'select' tender). A Tender may be for any or all phases of a development including the provision of a feasibility study, detailed design, construction, management services and operation or maintenance services. Subject to the information requested by the client, a tender document would typically: demonstrate the capability of the tendering company to do the task required (often called a Capability Statement) • • indicate the scope of work that will be undertaken by the tendering company for the Developer • detail any issues that the Tenderer believes need to be resolved before work can commence • give a price sometimes called Tender Price, Bid or Offer to carry out the scope of work that has been detailed. Tender Stage In the first stage of Engineering Capstone Experience A, you are asked to produce a tender for the production of a Feasibility Study (NOT the undertaking of the detailed design). You do not actually carry out the Feasibility Study until Stage 2. At this stage you are trying to identify what will be involved in the Feasibility Study so you can work out how much it is going to cost to produce it. This means you will need to determine conceptually (i.e. not in detail) what will be involved in the whole project and develop some alternatives and options that will be evaluated fully during the Feasibility Study. The aim of the Feasibility Study is to determine the optimum scheme (from an economic, environmental, construction, social etc. view). This scheme then needs to be developed to the stage of producing a Feasibility Study report to guide the next stage of works - the detailed design of the preferred scheme in Engineering Capstone Experience B. So, what do we actually want you to do? 1. You have been allocated to teams by the course coordinator. Organise a meeting, elect a team leader (project manager) and decide on a company name and logo for your team. At the end of this stage, the company name and logo of the winning team will be adopted for the Stage 2 of the course. 2. Read the 'Call for Tender' document 3. Brainstorm the task, identify questions and issues you need to clarify with the Client (represented by the Tutors) 4. Develop a strategy to prepare the Tender providing only sufficient detail with appropriate presentation to win the contract. You need to: • formulate the problems involved and identify the tasks to be done. • analyse the work involved in each task. • • determine the time (duration) and the resources (PD - person days or PH person hours) to complete each job. prepare a schedule of the jobs noting any interdependence and key milestones i.e. deliverables, client meetings, due dates etc. A simple Gantt chart may be useful. 1 • allocate the jobs to each team member on a mutually agreed basis. Note that the Team Leader (project manager) will undertake a predominantly coordinating role. • you will need to arrange meeting times with your group and a formal meeting with the Client has also been timetabled. Tender Submission Tenderers are required to submit a report (i.e. a tender) in response to the following criteria. Tenderers should feel free to present their responses using their own format, but must ensure that it is clear, concise and professionally presented. The tender should typically include: 1) A capability statement of your company and personnel including: a) Management structure b) Project team structure indicating roles and responsibilities for ALL members of the class doing this project, not just the members of your team preparing the tender c) Brief CV's (e.g. 1 page) of all members of the project team highlighting qualifications (complete/in progress) and past experience relevant to the task. (Note: Do not make any of this up. Use your experiences at university, in your vacation placements and part-time jobs). For privacy reasons please DO NOT include student's personal email addresses or mobile phone numbers, only names and uni email addresses. You could use fake company details, however, please put Rachael Zeuner's office number as the main company office number. This is (08) 8302 2599. 2) An appreciation of the task and methodology demonstrating the tenderer's a) Understanding of the project, its constraints, issues and opportunities for their resolution b) Understanding of the scope of works c) Proposed methodology for the delivery of the feasibility study including its inputs and outputs i.e. major components that will be included within the final feasibility report d) Any assumptions or issues that will be required to be resolved prior to commencement e) Next steps after the delivery of the feasibility study i.e. what would the next steps be following the completion of the feasibility study. 3) A project schedule for the Feasibility Study (i.e. GANTT Chart) highlighting a) Major tasks and how they will be resourced (i.e. referencing the roles of the project team members) b) The interdependencies of the tasks c) Major project milestones and deliverables d) Minor team deliverables required for the tenderer's management structure to ensure that the project remains 'on-track' 4) A cost and resource schedule highlighting a) The hourly rates¹ for individual team members b) Resource allocation i.e. who is allocated to which task and for how long (no. of hours or days) 1 Base your quotation on $240/hour for a senior partner varying to $120/hour for a new graduate. 2 c) An aggregated cost proposal for the Feasibility Study ONLY. Remember to include ALL members of the class doing this particular project, not just the small group who are preparing your tender document. d) A statement of capacity i.e. the availability of members of the team to perform the tasks allocated 5) Include company policy statements highlighting: a) The company's quality principles i.e. what does it strive to achieve. Does it have a quality management system, is it endorsed / accredited by a 3rd party? Does it have review processes to ensure that the outputs at major milestones and the final product are of the highest quality possible b) Environmental policy – what the company will do to ensure that the environment remains unaltered / improved through the design and construction c) OHWS policy - what the company does to ensure that its staff, construction personnel and the public remain safe throughout the project lifetime d) Key Stakeholder policy - what the company will do around stakeholder approach and engagement. Tenderers shall make themselves familiar with all aspects of the job and ensure all information required to complete the job is obtainable. No claim for failure to comply with this will be accepted. Evaluation of tenders To assist the evaluation of tenders by the client, whilst being able to submit in their own format, tenderers are urged to: • Understand the scope of works and ensure that it is reflected in the submission • Provide responses that are both factual and relevant to the scope of works • Respond directly to the key areas of response highlighted in the tender submission section of this document • Use a variety of presentation styles i.e. text, tables and images to support their submission • Adopt a clean and crisp presentation style and appearance, reflective of their company image, which can be easily read an understood by the client for evaluation purposes. Tender submissions are to be uploaded in PDF format to the course home page under the Assessment tab. Only 1 file is allowed and only 1 person per company need upload the PDF file. An oral presentation shall be given by 2 people from each company. (Refer to the Course Calendar for date and times). The aim of the presentation and your tender documents should be to convince the Clients that you are the best company for the job. The announcement of the successful tenderers for each project will be made immediately after the oral presentations. NOTE: The oral presentation WILL NOT affect the winning tenderer. 3 Tender Stage checklist: 1) Have you checked the examples on the course home page? Also read the feedback for these. 2) Does your company have a name and a logo? It is on every page of your submission (in a footer or header)? 3) Does your company have a project manager for the whole company & do you have a company structure with various departments and positions for the WHOLE class? Does this relate to the project you are undertaking? 4) Who are the team leaders of each of your departments? (Normally the people in your small group.) How many people are in each department and do the number of people match the work required for your project? 5) Have you written a covering letter to go with your tender submission? Does this include the total cost of your tender submission, and have you thanked the client for this opportunity? Is the letter signed by your project manager? 6) Have you responded to each of the critical items in the brief and are you able to show the client that you really understand the brief? 7) Have you included several options that you have considered and included any obvious constraints to the project? Have you included a brief explanation including simple diagrams of these options? 8) Have you identified the key stakeholders for your project and explain in simple terms how you will engage them during the feasibility? 9) Have you included your company policies in the tender submission such as quality assurance, environment policy, WHS policies etc? 10) Have you included a detailed budget (cost) for each department based on the time and staff available? Have you considered all the staff and the 7.5 hours per week that they will work? What rate per person have you used? Does this match the level of their position in your company ie higher rate for team leader / project manager? 11) Have you prepared a Gantt chart or similar diagram to explain the timing of various tasks during the feasibility study? Does this include critical dates such as the client meetings, due date etc? Does the duration of your Gantt chart match the course weeks including the mid semester break? Can you read it easily on the page? 12) Have you included CVs for ALL your company members (Not the whole class)? Do these all have the same format, font, layout etc? Do these have a photograph of the owner of the CV? Are they in the correct order i.e., PM first then department leaders? 13) General items: a) Do you have the same layout on each page of your submission? This includes borders, headers, footers, logos, font, etc b) Have you spelled everything correctly, used correct grammar and does it make sense to read? c) Have you spelled the client's name correctly? d) Have you used consistent professional language and description of the project throughout your tender submission? e) Have you used diagrams appropriately in your tender submission - can you read any information on them easily? i.e., is it big enough to read. f) Have you decided who will present the tender submission (needs to be 2 members of your company)? g) Double check that you haven't missed anything especially when uploading to the course home page. This includes making sure that the PDF matches the original file layout. 4