Link2Build, bids&tenders help run GBC 2021 Simulated Student Bid Competition
For a while, it looked as though a student bid competition run by George Brown College might not go ahead this year.
Faculty from the college, as well as participants in the third and fourth years of its construction management program, were without a partner from the industry to organize and run the event this year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the previous event organizers to cancel the 25-year old competition.
Bill Nichols, a professor at the college’s Angelo Del Zotto School of Construction Management, explains that a colleague connected him with Mike Murray, who manages bidding and tendering opportunities at the Grand Valley Construction Association. Murray connected him with the members of the Link2Build group and the bids&tenders bidding platform.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to serve George Brown College and to support the student bid competition,” says Murray. “And we knew that the bids&tenders platform would be a great fit for the college, and offer a real-world bidding experience for students.”
George Brown College hosts its student bid competition annually. Students enrolled in the third year of its construction management program are given documents and specifications from a previously-completed public-sector project to bid on. They draw on the same resources as general contractors would, including estimating software from Bluebeam, a roster of approved subtrades, and material estimating data from Gordian.
The students were given nine weeks to complete their bids, with a few twists thrown in from event organizers from the program’s fourth year.
“We tried to simulate a real-world bidding scenario as much as possible,” said Nichols. “That included a few addenda, subtrades’ bids coming in close to closing day, and even a few wrinkles where subtrades withdrew their bids within hours of closing.”
Twenty-two teams of four submitted their bids—complete with electronic bonding courtesy of Xenex—through the bids&tenders platform. Their bids were evaluated, post-closing, against several criteria, including cost, schedule, estimating, communication, health and safety, and job hazard analysis.
Prizes were awarded for the teams that came closest to the project’s target price, that submitted the most accurate and complete rankings, and that delivered the most professional bid presentations.
“Working with Link2Build and bids&tenders was a 100-percent positive experience,” said Nichols. “From providing the bidding documents through to the electronic bid closing, the entire process was a superb learning opportunity for both the third-year bidders and the fourth-year executive team, and a wonderful example of applied education.”