Respond to bid requests

The Linarc platform notifies the subcontractors and vendors invited by the general contractor to bid on a change order. The subcontractors can analyze their part of the work in the change order, generate an estimate, and submit it to the GC as their bid. 

The GC reviews the bids from different subcontractors for a change order and accepts the qualifying ones. Once accepted and approved, the GC awards the job to the respective contractor. 

This page explains how a project manager of an SC company accepts an invitation and submits their estimate for a change order.

You get a notification once a bid request is made to you.

View the change order bid request

• Click the notification to open the change order

Alternatively, you can open the change order from the 'CO Invites' screen. To do so:

• Open the project management portal.
• Click 'Change Order' on the top
• Click 'CO Invites' on the left

The toggle switch at the top left lets you choose to view the list of change orders pending your response and those declined by you in the past.

• Ensure that the toggle switch at the top left is at 'Pending Invites'

The 'Invitation Table' screen shows the list of change orders pending your response:

• Click the change order to view its details

• Review the details and accept or decline the request.
• Hover your mouse over an attachment for the following options:
  • Click to expand it.
  • Click to download it to your device.
  • Click to remove it from the question.

Use the links below to learn more about the next steps:

• Accept the bid request and submit your bid
• Decline the bid request

Accept the bid request

If you accept the bid request, you can upload your estimate for the work you plan to execute as per the change order as your bid.

• Click 'Accept' in the CO 'Details' screen

The 'Bid Details' tab activates once you accept to enter your description and your bid.

Enter your details

• Click the 'Bid Details' tab

The screen has the following fields:

• Contractor Role - Autopopulates based on your subcontractor type, as registered with Linarc
• Schedule Impact - Autopopulates with the total manhours you quote in your estimate for the change work in the next step
• Cost Impact - Autopopulates with the total estimate you quote in your estimate for the change work 
• Sequence - The category of the change order as classified as per your company practices. The change order will be numbered in a series, depending upon the category. This numbering lets you quickly identify, filter/review change orders of a particular type. Choose the sequence from the drop-down.
• Description - Enter a description explaining the change work in detail. 
  • Use the tools on the left top to format your text.
  • Click the paper clip icon to add attachments to your description
  • Click 'Save'
  • You can edit the description at any time before you route the CO to the next step.

Add Watchers

The 'Watchers' pane allows you to specify your team members to notify them of the change order progress and details. Linarc sends a notification to the persons on each activity on the change order. If given access, they can view the details at each step from their Linarc project consoles.

• Start typing the name of the person in the text field under 'Watchers' and choose from the options

• Click 'Add'
• Repeat the process to add more watchers

Submit your bid

• Click the 'My Estimate' tab to upload your bid

The 'My Estimate' tab lets you add your bid for the change order as an Excel file. You can download the template file, enter the values and upload the same as your estimate. The tab enables only after you fill all mandatory fields under the 'Details' tab. 

General Contractor - This is optional. You can submit your estimate for any self-performed work. Else, skip to inviting bids from your subcontractors.

Subcontractor - You can submit your bid proposal for the change order you create

You can submit your estimate in two ways:

• Create your estimate
• Upload your estimate

Create your estimate

• Click the 'My Estimate' tab

•  Click 'Create'

• Each line in the estimate should contain one task entry. 
• Enter the values for the tasks under the following column headers. 
  • Task - The cost code of the line item. Typically, this is the standard code for the task or deliverable as per CSI MasterFormat. If your company uses a custom coding system, enter the code as per your company's task code format. Contact your administrator for more details.
    • Click inside the cell and select the code from the drop-down
• Double-click inside a cell to enter the following values. Enter the monetary values in US dollars.
  • Name - The label of the task or deliverable
  • Qty - The amount of work done by the task 
  • Unit - The unit by which the amount of work done is measured 
  • Hrs - The period required for completion of the task in manhours
  • Labor$ - The manual labor cost estimated for the job
  • Equip$ - The estimate of cost incurred by the use of equipment and machinery for the work
  • Sub$ - Expenses related to external subcontracts, if any. 
  • Mat$ - Cost incurred by the materials used for the work 
  • Other$ - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more.  
  • Oh$ - Overhead and operation costs that the company bears, relevant to the task
  • Profit$ - The profit expected from the work
  • Total$ - Auto-calculated from the values in the row
• Click '+Add Row' to add more line items
• Click 'Save' to save your draft

You can edit the values before submission. Click here to know more.

Upload your estimate

• Click the 'My Estimate' tab
• Click 'Download' at the bottom right to obtain a blank Excel file containing the required field headers. 

Requirements of the estimate file

• The Excel file should contain an exhaustive list of tasks for the completion of the change work. 
• Each line in the file should contain one task entry.
• Enter the values for the tasks under the following column headers. Enter the monetary values in US dollars. 
  • Task Code - The cost code of the line item. Typically, this is the standard code for the task or deliverable as per CSI MasterFormat. If your company uses a custom coding system, enter the code as per your company's task code format. Ensure that the task codes entered here are included in the task code list of your company. Contact your administrator for more details.
  • Task Name - The label of the task or deliverable
  • Estimate Time - The period required for completion of the task in days
  • Estimate Labor - The manual labor cost estimated for the job
  • Estimate Equipment - The estimate of cost incurred by the use of equipment and machinery for the work
  • Estimate Subcontractor - Expenses related to subcontracts, if any.
  • Estimate Material - Cost incurred by the materials used for the work
  • Estimate Others - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more. 
  • Quantity - The amount of work done by the task
  • Unit - Units by which the amount of work done is measured
  • Overhead - Operation costs that the company bears
  • Profit - The profit expected from the work
• Save the Excel file with an appropriate name.
• Upload or drag and drop the file.

Your entries are validated and added to the draft list if there are no errors in them.

• Click 'Save'

The draft estimate is shown:

• Review your draft estimate
  • Use the toggle switch at the top right to switch between the detailed view and the summary view.
  • Click 'Reupload' and repeat the process if you want to present a revised estimate.
• Click 'Submit' to upload your estimate.

Your bid forwards to the general contractor.

Decline the bid request

You can enter a reason for declining the request (optional)

• Click 'Decline' if you do not want to accept the request.   

Enter the reason for which you decline the request (optional)

• Click 'Confirm'

You can view the list of change order bid request you declined from the Change Order > CO Invites screen by selecting 'Declined' in the toggle switch at the top left. See View declined bid requests for more details.

Tip:

You can chat with the participants of the change order at any stage. Click the button on the top right to start a chat session. See Chat and collaborate on a CO for more guidance.