工程成本控制中英文对照外文翻译文献

Study on Employer's Cost Control

in the Bidding Phase

Qiufang Wang, Xing Liu， and Juanfang Li

School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China Keywords: employer; bidding; cost control.

Abstract: Bidding stage is one of the important stages of cost control of project construction, which is a form of beforehand control and active control. In order to make rational use of construction funds and pursuit investment returns to a greater extent, the employer should strengthen the construction cost control in the bidding phase. To begin with, this paper analyzes the significance of construction cost control in the bidding phase, states the form of expression of construction cost in the bidding phase, and focuses on the analysis of influence factors of cost control in the bidding phase. Finally it puts forward some countermeasures to prevent the risk of project cost control in the bidding phase.

Introduction

In recent years, with the investment system reform and construction market in China gradually standardized, all parties in construction project have a full understanding on the significance of cost control in decision-making, design and construction stage. Although the cost control in the bidding stage al so plays a very important role to the full process cost control, it is often ignored.

The bidding phase is an important stage to determine the construction contract price, which has a direct influence on future construction and completion settlement. However, in order to reduce the cost of the project, obtain greater investment benefit, employers usually only pay attention to the project technical standards and engineering construction scale in

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the design phase and investment control in the phase of construction, they have not enough understanding the importance of the bidding phase. Some employers even directly bargain with the contractor to control the project cost, which is easy to cause the contradiction between the owner and the contractor and bury some hidden troubles to the smooth implementation of the project. Therefore, how to make the construction cost control in the bidding stage to achieve actual effect has become one of the important research topics in the engineering field.

Construction Cost Control in the Bidding Phase

Form of Expression of Construction Cost in the Bidding Phase. The base price for bid, bid price and contract price are all expressive forms of construction cost in the bidding phase, which are gradually formed and interconnected.

（1）Base price for bid. The base price for bid is an expected construction price of the bid inviter, which is worked out by the bid inviter independently or the bid invitation agency with bid preparation qualification. It is important to realize that not every project must have a base price for bid. But where a bid inviter has fixed a base price for bid, he shall keep such price confidential and refer to the price while evaluating bids [1].

（2）Bid price. The bid price is the price a bidder quotes in response to a bid invitation, which is the core part of the bid documents. The bid price is so significant that it determines whether a bidder can succeed to a large extent. As is well known that although the contract will be awarded to the bidder with lower bid price in a market economy, the bid at a price below cost will be prohibited by law, as it disturbs the market order, and leads potential dangers on the quality of the project. （3）Contract price. The contract price is a price that both parties of contract determine in a contract, which is often the bid price of the

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successful bidder who is chosen according to the evaluation criteria and methods specified in the tender documents.

In a word, the formation process of construction cost in the bidding phase is as follows: the bid inviter usually works out a bid base price (if any) which is referred to in bid evaluation. In response to the bid invitation, the bidders compete for a bid and give their respective bid prices. Finally the employer determines the contract price in accordance with the bid price of bid winner [2, 3].

Influence Factors of Cost Control in the Bidding Phase.

（1）Bidding type. The bidding type of a project is generally determined by the employer with exception of law enforcement provisions. The bid invitation in China is classified into two categories: public invitation and invited bidding. Public invitation means that the bid inviter, in the form of announcement for bidding, invites unspecified legal persons or other organizations to bid. Since the quantity of the bidder is often unlimited, the competition among bidders is more intense under public invitation. While invited bidding means that the bid inviter, in the form of written invitation, invites specified legal persons or other organizations to bid. Because the quantity of bidders is limited, the competition is obviously lower than public invitation. By the contrast between two bidding types, we can conclude that the bid inviter obtains the optimal bid price more easily under public invitation. That is to say, public invitation is more beneficial to control cost than invited bidding [4].

（2）Pricing pattern. In China, there exist two pricing patterns: the traditional quota pricing method in the planned economic system and the bill of quantities pricing method in the market economic system. The quota pricing mode is the mode the government prices. So the bid inviter and bidders have no rights to price respectively. While the bill of

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quantities pricing method is used, bidders will compete for a bid to quote according to their own ability and market competition situation. It is obvious that if the bidder wants to succeed in a bid, he has to quote an optimal bid price. Compared with the quota pricing mode, the bill of quantities pricing method is more beneficial to control cost.

When the bill of quantities pricing method is used, Bill of Quantities is the important part of the tender documents and also the core document to control cost. It is noted that the employer is responsible for its accuracy and integrity. In addition, Bill of Quantities is also one of bases of preparing tender control price and bidding price, figuring work amount, making payments to the contractor, adjusting contract price, preparing completion settlement and claiming [5].

（3）Contract planning. Contract planning includes the selection of contract type and preparation of contract clauses. The type of contract and terms of the contract decide the responsibility and risk allocation of both parties and the investor’s cost control level for the bidding project.

There are three contract types in China: Lump-sum contract, unit-price contract and cost-plus-a-fee contract. Table 1 will compare the three contract types from such aspects as meaning, risk sharing and whether it is beneficial to control cost [6].

Table 1 The analysis sheet of three contract types

Whether beneficial Type Meaning Risk Sharing to control cost A fixed amount will be The contractor bears Lump-sum paid to the contract contractor. double risks of quantity and 11

unbeneficial