SwiftLabs Solutions

Use case · Construction & building services

Tenders in construction and building services

In construction and building services, reviewing tenders is the most expensive unpaid part of sales. A bill of quantities has hundreds of items, most awards lead to no order - and still someone has to read every set of documents to know that.

Highest value per individual case

What is different here

What it actually turns on in construction and building services.

01

The bill of quantities is structured - but not uniform

GAEB files can be split up mechanically, PDF bundles and scans cannot. In practice both arrive, often in the same case, and every issuing body numbers its items differently.

02

Eligibility criteria decide before the price does

References, certificates, accreditations, minimum turnover: anyone who does not meet them need not cost the job at all. These criteria sit scattered through the tender documents and are regularly overlooked.

03

Deadlines are hard

A bidder question has a cut-off date, and so does submission. What arrives late is not evaluated - however good it was. A pre-selection that costs two days therefore sometimes costs the participation.

Systems we connect here

  • GAEB files
  • Tender platforms
  • Tendering software
  • Nevaris
  • ORCA
  • In-house service catalogues

If yours is not listed, that is not an exclusion. Where no interface exists, we build one - that is the most demanding part and it is our trade.

The rule that only applies here

In public procurement, the pre-selection decides the return, not the costing. Every hour spent on a tender you were going to lose anyway is missing from the one you could have won.

The difference

The same process, once as it is today and once with us.

  1. 01Documents
  2. 02Review
  3. 03Matching

A person does itThe system does it

How it runs today

  1. 01The documents arrive as a PDF bundle, sometimes with hundreds of items.
  2. 02Someone skims them and decides whether costing is worth it.
  3. 03If it is costed, items are matched by hand against your own range of services.

How it would run with us

  1. 01The bundle is read out in full, even at hundreds of items.
  2. 02The item list is held against your range of services, with exclusion and eligibility criteria alongside.
  3. 03You get an assessment with reasons and decide whether to take part.

What it gets you

  • A tender document is read through, even at three hundred line items.
  • The decision whether to bid takes a day instead of a week.
  • No tender is missed because nobody had time that week.

Where it does not fit

Where an award turns on references and relationships, an evaluation helps little - there it is not the document that decides.

Frequently asked

Is this worth it in construction and building services?

In public procurement, the pre-selection decides the return, not the costing. Every hour spent on a tender you were going to lose anyway is missing from the one you could have won. Whether it pays for you depends on your volume - the audit establishes that.

We use a different system from the ones listed. Does it still work?

Yes. The ones listed are those we most often meet in construction and building services - a list, not a precondition. Where no interface exists, we build one.

What do we have to provide?

Your range of services in structured form - a list is enough, it only has to be complete. Ten to twenty past tenders together with the decision you took at the time. A contact in costing for the questions of the first weeks. Nothing more is needed to start.

How will we know it works?

Across 20 real tenders the "cost it / drop it" recommendation agrees with yours in at least 85 %. The item list is read out in full - verified by spot check against the PDF. No bid is submitted without a person looking at it.

How long does implementation take?

5 to 8 weeks - the most demanding of the eight cases.

Does the AI decide on its own?

The evaluation runs independently; the decision to take part is made by a person. A tender wrongly dropped is never seen again.

When is this not worth it?

Where an award turns on references and relationships, an evaluation helps little - there it is not the document that decides.

The same process, in general

This page shows the fit in construction and building services. The process itself is sector-independent - what matters is whether it repeats.

Tenders in general

Let us start with a conversation.

You tell us where your time goes. We put it in writing: what is worth automating, and roughly what that costs.

ContactTry the process check first - two minutes