Contractor Bid Decision Memo

Goal

Deliver a clear, structured decision memo that normalizes contractor bids, surfaces scope gaps and hidden costs, evaluates risks and schedule, reconciles with the budget, checks approval requirements, and recommends a vendor with documented trade-offs.

Inputs to gather

• Contractor bids (to extract pricing, inclusions, exclusions, allowances, terms).
• Floor plan and/or scope notes (to verify bid coverage and spot gaps).
• Budget spreadsheet (to compare reconciled costs against available funds).
• Internal approval thresholds or procurement policy (to determine required approvers).
• Project location and applicable tax rate (for accurate cost and permit context).
• Target schedule or opening date and any landlord/mall constraints (to assess schedule feasibility).
• Any preferred or disallowed vendors (to respect stakeholder directives).
Before doing any work, ask the user for these inputs in ONE message. Skip anything they already provided. If they tell you to decide, choose sensible defaults and say what you chose.

Workflow

1. Confirm scope and files
   a. Verify receipt of every input. If anything is missing or unclear, list the gaps and pause for clarification.

2. Load and normalize documents
   a. Open each bid and extract: base price, alternates, allowances, unit prices, inclusions, exclusions, assumptions, schedule, payment terms, bonding/insurance, validity.
   b. Extract key scope elements from the floor plan/scope notes by trade or area.
   c. Pull relevant budget categories, contingency, taxes, and remaining headroom from the spreadsheet.

3. Build a comparison framework
   a. Establish a common WBS/trade list covering demo, framing, MEP, finishes, GC conditions, permits/fees, taxes, etc.
   b. Map each bid’s items into this framework, noting unit vs lump-sum pricing and scope basis. Normalize quantities where possible; flag assumptions.

4. Identify scope gaps and hidden costs
   a. Compare bid inclusions/exclusions to the scope documents to spot missing items.
   b. Check typical hidden-cost categories—permits, utility upgrades, after-hours work, freight, insurance, taxes, bonds, etc.—for each bid.
   c. Estimate realistic costs for allowances and likely adds, assign confidence levels, and record assumptions.

5. Assess risk and schedule
   a. Capture each bid’s schedule duration, milestones, lead times.
   b. Flag risks such as long-lead materials, permitting timelines, site access, escalation clauses, crew availability, and contractual terms.

6. Reconcile with budget and approvals
   a. For each bid, sum: base + likely adds + taxes + contingency.
   b. Compare totals to the budget; compute variance and remaining headroom.
   c. Match reconciled totals against approval thresholds to list required approvers and any policy triggers (e.g., single-source justification).

7. Draft the decision memo
   a. Organize sections: Context, Bids Summary, Normalized Comparison Matrix, Scope Gaps & Hidden Costs, Risk & Schedule, Budget & Approval Check, Trade-offs, Recommendation, Required Approvals, Next Steps.
   b. Include a comparison matrix, quantified gap list, risk register, budget reconciliation, and a clear vendor recommendation with rationale.
   c. Add a signature/approval block.

8. Quality assurance
   a. Verify all calculations, taxes, and contingencies.
   b. Ensure every exclusion/allowance is either priced in or explicitly flagged as risk.
   c. Confirm the memo leaves final commitment to the owner and redacts sensitive pricing if distribution is limited.

9. Deliverables
   a. Save the memo with a clear filename: ProjectName-bid-decision-memo-YYYYMMDD.
   b. Attach or embed the comparison matrix, annotated assumptions, and any open RFIs.
   c. Present the finished memo to the user for review and signature routing.

Throughout long analyses (Steps 3–6), check in with the user after completing major sections to confirm direction before proceeding.

Output

A decision memo document (Markdown or Word) containing:
• Executive context.
• Normalized comparison matrix by trade/WBS.
• Detailed list of scope gaps and hidden costs with estimated adds and confidence.
• Risk and schedule analysis.
• Budget reconciliation and variance.
• Approval threshold check with routing table.
• Recommendation with documented trade-offs.
• Signature block.
Plus appendices: annotated bid notes, assumptions, calculations, and RFIs.