Winning work starts long before you submit a price. How you review a tender pack determines whether your bid is profitable, your programme is achievable, and your contract terms are ones you can live with. Rush the review and you price the wrong scope, miss programme constraints, or commit to terms that cost you more than the job is worth.
This guide walks through a structured approach to tender pack review — from the initial read-through to the contract terms that actually govern how you'll be paid. Tools like LazyQS tender pack review can speed up the contract analysis stage significantly, but the commercial assessment that comes before it requires careful human judgement. Both matter.
Step 1: Initial Assessment — Before You Go Any Further
The first question isn't "what is this worth?" It's "should we even price this?"
Before committing resource to a detailed tender review, assess the opportunity at a high level. Consider the client and main contractor — do they have a track record of fair dealing, prompt payment, and reasonable commercial behaviour? A contractor with a reputation for persistent non-payment or aggressive contra-charging is a risk that should be factored in before you spend two weeks pricing the job.
Look at the project type and location. Does it match your operational capacity? Travelling two hours to site every day changes your cost structure. Working in a sector where you have limited experience raises your risk profile.
Check the tender return date and the time available to produce a compliant bid. An unduly short tender period — particularly for a complex package — is itself a red flag. It suggests either poor planning by the main contractor or a process that isn't genuinely competitive.
If the initial assessment raises serious concerns, the right decision is sometimes to decline and focus resource on opportunities that better fit your business. A no-bid decision taken early costs you far less than a poorly priced job that ties up your team for months.
Step 2: Scope Analysis — What Are You Actually Being Asked to Do?
Scope analysis is where most tender pricing errors originate. Subcontractors price what they assume is included rather than what the documents actually say — and the difference between those two things is where margin disappears.
Start with the scope of works document or package description. Read it carefully against the specification and drawings. Identify everything that is explicitly included, and pay equal attention to what is not mentioned. Gaps and ambiguities in scope are not your friend — they're an invitation for the main contractor to argue that items are included when a dispute arises.
Cross-reference the scope against every document in the tender pack: the employer's requirements, the specification, the drawings schedule, and any builders' work or interface documents. If the scope references a document you haven't been provided, request it before pricing. Pricing against an incomplete document set is one of the fastest ways to underprice a package.
Interfaces with other trades and packages deserve specific attention. Who is responsible for builders' work, fixings, and setting out? Where does your package end and another subcontractor's begin? These boundaries are rarely spelled out clearly, and the cost of covering a disputed interface falls on whoever priced it as excluded.
This is precisely the type of risk that scope gaps in subcontracts explore in depth — the hidden costs that don't appear on a programme or a scope document but materialise on site.
Spending hours cross-referencing tender documents manually? LazyQS processes your entire tender pack — specs, drawings list, contract, and preliminaries — and delivers a structured risk report in under 30 minutes.
Step 3: Pricing Risks — What Could Change Your Number?
Once you understand what's in scope, the next task is identifying the factors that could make your price wrong.
Quantities and take-off accuracy. If you're pricing from drawings rather than a bill of quantities, your take-off is one of your biggest risks. Check the drawing revision status — pricing from superseded drawings is a common and costly error. Identify any areas where the design appears incomplete or where dimensions don't reconcile between drawings.
Allowances and provisional sums. Provisional sums in a tender are estimates, not certainties — but they're also not a blank cheque. Understand what the provisional sum is intended to cover and whether your price needs to track it exactly or whether you have flexibility. If provisional sums are a significant proportion of your package value, your overall price carries more uncertainty than the headline figure suggests.
Materials and supply chain risks. Lead times for key materials can affect your programme and, in some market conditions, your price. If there are long-lead items in your package, factor procurement time into your programme assessment and consider whether you need a materials price validity caveat on your submission.
Labour productivity assumptions. Your price is only as good as the productivity rates you've used. Working in an occupied building, on a complex refurbishment, or in a constrained site environment all reduce productivity compared with a clean new-build. If the tender pack doesn't give you a clear picture of site conditions, visit the site or ask the question before you price.
Inflation and price validity. If the tender period is long, or if mobilisation won't begin until well after tender return, consider how you're handling inflation. A price submitted today may not reflect your costs nine months from now. Your caveat sheet or qualification schedule is the right place to address this.
Step 4: Programme Review — Can You Actually Do This?
The programme is often the last document subcontractors look at in a tender pack. It should be one of the first.
Check the overall project programme for the key dates that affect your package: access to the works area, predecessor activities that your works depend on, and your own completion milestones. If your package can't start until another trade has finished — and that trade has a tight programme — your own programme is at risk before you've mobilised.
Look at the duration allocated to your works. Is it achievable? Apply your own knowledge of production rates, sequencing requirements, and resource constraints. If the programme is tight, document your concerns in your tender submission rather than accepting it silently. Accepting an unachievable programme in your price creates liquidated damages exposure before you've signed anything.
Identify any sectional completion requirements. Sectional completions — where parts of the works must be complete by defined dates to allow other trades or the employer to take possession — carry their own LD exposure and may not be visible unless you read the programme and the contract together.
Ask whether the programme is already a contract document or whether it will become one after award. Under NEC contracts, an accepted programme carries significant contractual weight. Under JCT, the position is different but still commercially important. Knowing which applies affects how carefully you should scrutinise the dates before you bid.
Step 5: Contract Terms — What Are You Signing Up To?
Tender packs routinely include the form of subcontract that will apply if you're awarded the work. Reviewing it at tender stage — not after you've won — is essential.
The most common mistake is treating the contract review as an afterthought. By the time you're in post-tender negotiations, you've already committed to a price and a programme, and your leverage to push back on unfavourable terms is significantly reduced. Review the contract as part of your commercial assessment, not separate from it.
The full subcontractor contract review checklist covers the twelve clauses that most commonly cause problems. At tender stage, focus your initial review on the areas most likely to affect your price and your decision to bid.
Payment terms. What is the payment interval? When must you submit applications? Are there conditions attached to payment that give the contractor broad discretion to defer? Payment terms that allow long cycles or vague application windows should be factored into your cash flow forecast, not ignored.
Retention. What percentage is held and when is it released? Retention above 5% is worth flagging. Absent a clear longstop date for release, retention becomes an interest-free loan of indeterminate length.
Liquidated damages. Are LDs capped? Do they apply to your works specifically or to overall project delay? Uncapped LDs or LDs that bear no relation to your package value are a significant commercial risk — our guide on liquidated damages passed to subcontractors covers the flow-down mechanics and how to negotiate caps.
Scope and variation. Does the contract give you a clear mechanism for valuing variations? If the contract conditions the main contractor's obligation to pay for a variation on prior written instruction, that needs to be part of your site management process from day one.
Programme obligations. Does the contract make the programme a binding document? Does it impose acceleration obligations at your own cost? Are your extension of time rights clearly defined and accessible without onerous notice requirements?
For M&E subcontractors reviewing tender packs, the tender review checklist for M&E subcontractors covers the additional considerations specific to mechanical and electrical packages, including commissioning requirements and interface documentation.
Tender Pack Review Checklist
- Initial assessment — Is this the right opportunity? Check contractor track record, project type, and tender timeline before committing resource.
- Document completeness — Have you received every document referenced in the scope? Request missing specifications or drawings before pricing.
- Scope boundaries — Are the limits of your package clearly defined, including interfaces with other trades and builders' work responsibilities?
- Scope gaps — Have you identified any items that appear unscoped but would reasonably be expected to fall within your package?
- Programme achievability — Is the duration allocated to your works realistic? Have you checked predecessor activities and sectional completion dates?
- Pricing risks — Have you accounted for drawing revision status, long-lead materials, site access constraints, and productivity assumptions?
- Provisional sums — Do you understand what provisional sums cover and how they will be managed post-award?
- Payment and retention terms — Is the payment interval 28 days or less? Is retention capped and subject to a defined release mechanism?
- Liquidated damages — Are LDs capped and proportionate to your subcontract value?
- Qualifications and caveats — Have you listed any assumptions, exclusions, or price validity conditions clearly in your submission?
Pulling It Together: A Structured Approach Saves Money
A tender pack review that skips steps doesn't just produce a less accurate price — it produces a price that carries hidden risk. That risk doesn't go away when you win the job. It materialises on site, in disputes, and in cash flow shortfalls that are always harder to manage than they were to avoid.
The five-step approach above — initial assessment, scope analysis, pricing risks, programme review, and contract terms — isn't intended to slow your tendering process down. It's intended to make sure the time you invest in pricing produces a bid that's commercially sound and deliverable.
Scope analysis and contract review are the two stages where LazyQS tender pack review adds the most value. Upload your tender documents and get an automatic review of scope gaps, contract risk clauses, and payment terms — so your team can focus on the commercial judgements that require human expertise rather than the document-reading that doesn't.