LESSON 5 – Quiz

A bid is received late by a colleague. The bidder apologises, explaining that the late submission was due to a traffic jam. Can this bid be assessed?

You need to purchase eight tool trolleys with a total value of approximately EUR 3,000 through a tender procedure. You assess the bids and conclude that the contract should go to company A, which has offered the lowest price. In accordance with the internal rules, you forward your recommendation to the project for confirmation. The project does not agree with your conclusion and points out that company B submitted the only correct bid, as the height of the trolley must not exceed 45 cm. The trolley offered by company A is 48 cm high. The project asks you to place the order with company B immediately because of time constraints, as the other bids are unusable.

You establish that the specification in our tender documentation does not mention trolley height. What should you do?

Are you allowed to take environmental impact into account when assessing bids?

In a set of specifications for pumps you have noted that there are considerable voltage fluctuations in the electrical grid at the place of use. While two bidders (A and C) explicitly guarantee in their bids that the pumps offered will operate perfectly even with voltage fluctuations of +/- 20%, the lowest-priced bid (B) contains no mention of this issue.

What should you do?

You sent out an invitation to tender with the following specifications (you should assume that the specifications are complete and correct). There was no mention of an award for individual lots or items in the documentation, and this is not planned. There is detailed justification for specifying Toshiba as the manufacturer. The bid deadline was 28 September 2016.

Specifications (invitation to tender documentation)

Item 1: 1x notebook, only Toshiba, Model 4173, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD, CD-ROM drive
Item 2: 2x printers, HP (or comparable), model LaserJet 1100

You receive the following bids in a sealed envelope.

A.
1x notebook, Toshiba, 4273, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB HDD, CD-ROM drive
USD 1,600
2x printers, HP LaserJet 1100
USD 400 ea.
Bid received: 25 September 2016

B.
1x notebook, Toshiba, 4173, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD, CD-ROM drive
USD 1,500
2x printers, Canon Laser 655
USD 390 ea.
Bid received: 28 September 2016

C.
1x notebook, Compaq 3111, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB HDD, DVD drive
USD 1,550
2x printers, HP LaserJet 1100
USD 380 ea.
Bid received: 25 September 2016

D.
1x notebook, Toshiba 4173, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD, CD-ROM,
USD 1,400
2x printers, HP LaserJet 1100
USD 380 ea.
Received: 29 September 2016, but before the bids were opened.

Who should be awarded the contract?

What should you do in the same case (i.e. question 5) if you discover during the assessment that the project absolutely requires a DVD player and more RAM? Should the contract be awarded to …?