Construction procurement rarely moves from first bid to award in one pass. Most packages go through an initial submission, compliance review, clarification questions, contractor responses, revised commercial or technical positions, and sometimes a final offer or BAFO-style round before award recommendation. TruBuild models this by preserving workflow-specific rounds at the package level. The package is the common container for contractors, weights, documents, tender queries, and award evidence. Inside that package, commercial evaluation has its own round history and technical evaluation has its own round history. That distinction matters. A commercial team may create Round 2 after revised BOQs arrive, while the technical team keeps its Round 1 scores because the clarification did not affect technical criteria. The reverse can also happen: a technical PTC may require a new technical round without changing the commercial comparison.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trubuild.io/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Common construction procurement sequence
Not every package needs every step. A simple low-risk package may stop after Round 1. A complex MEP, facade, civil works, or specialist systems package may need several clarification cycles.What a round represents
| Round element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Package | The tender package that owns the contractors, weights, documents, query register, and award decision |
| Workflow | Commercial or technical |
| Round name | Human-readable label such as “Commercial Round 1 - initial pricing” or “Technical Round 1 - initial scoring” |
| Round number | Ordered position inside that workflow’s package history |
| Round kind | Initial submission or post-clarification/PTC round |
| Source documents | The contractor files, RFP/PTE/BOQ files, and response files considered by that workflow |
| Evaluation output | Commercial comparison or technical scores for that workflow at that point in time |
| Human review | Notes, overrides, accepted scores, edited PTCs, and carry-forward decisions relevant to that workflow |
| Award relevance | Whether this commercial or technical round is the evidence basis for the recommendation |
Commercial and technical rounds can share a numbering convention for readability, but they are reviewed independently. The award record should identify the latest reviewed commercial round and the latest reviewed technical round.
Recommended round naming
Use names that make sense in a committee pack without opening the system:| Situation | Recommended name |
|---|---|
| First commercial bid return | Commercial Round 1 - initial pricing |
| First technical return | Technical Round 1 - initial scoring |
| After commercial PTC responses | Commercial Round 2 - post-clarifications |
| After technical PTC responses | Technical Round 2 - post-clarifications |
| Final commercial offer request | Commercial Round 3 - final offer |
| Final technical compliance check | Technical Final - reviewed compliance |
| BAFO-style close | Commercial Final - BAFO |
test, rerun, new, or final final. They make audit review harder.
Commercial rounds
Commercial rounds are package-level commercial snapshots. They are used when contractor priced submissions change or when the commercial team needs to preserve a reviewed comparison. Common triggers:- Initial priced BOQs received
- Contractor corrects an arithmetic issue
- Contractor prices missing or unpriced scope
- Commercial PTCs result in revised rates or qualifications
- Scope changes through tender addendum or circular
- Final offer or BAFO submission received
- Total bid movement
- New exclusions or qualifications
- Previously unpriced lines now priced
- Rates that changed materially after clarification
- Provisional sums, dayworks, preliminaries, and high-value scope items
- Whether a contractor is now commercially compliant
Technical rounds
Technical rounds are package-level technical snapshots. They preserve technical scoring at each stage of the tender. Common triggers:- Initial technical proposals received
- Criteria extracted or confirmed from the RFP
- Contractor provides missing method statements, programme details, resources, HSE, QA/QC, or design clarifications
- Technical PTC responses affect specific criteria
- Revised submissions change the technical basis
| Decision | Use when | Example |
|---|---|---|
rerun | The response materially changes the evidence for the criterion | Contractor submits a revised commissioning plan that directly affects the testing and commissioning score |
carry_forward | The response does not change the score basis | Contractor confirms a date but does not change the programme methodology |
Tender queries and PTCs
Tender queries and PTCs are the bridge between workflow rounds.| Type | Typical source | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Tender query | Contractor asks the employer, owner, or procurement team a question | Clarify tender documents, scope, drawings, BOQ, or instructions |
| Commercial PTC | Commercial evaluator raises a question to a contractor | Clarify price, exclusions, unpriced items, arithmetical issues, or qualifications |
| Technical PTC | Technical evaluator raises a question to a contractor | Clarify proposal compliance, methodology, resources, programme, design, HSE, or QA/QC |
| Circular/addendum | Procurement team issues information to all tenderers | Keep the tender process fair when information affects more than one bidder |
Round controls
Before the first commercial or technical round
Before the first commercial or technical round
- Confirm contractor list.
- Confirm package currency and technical/commercial weighting.
- Upload the issued RFP, BOQ, PTE, and criteria where applicable.
- Upload initial contractor submissions against the correct contractors.
- Confirm evaluator access.
Before a post-clarification round
Before a post-clarification round
- Confirm PTCs or tender queries were issued through the approved channel.
- Upload contractor responses to the right contractor and stage.
- Identify whether the response affects commercial items, technical criteria, or both.
- Create a new commercial round only when the commercial basis changes.
- Create a new technical round only when technical criteria or scoring evidence changes.
- Decide what should rerun and what should carry forward inside the affected workflow.
Before final award
Before final award
- Confirm the latest reviewed commercial round is the intended commercial basis.
- Confirm the latest reviewed technical round is the intended technical basis.
- Confirm no high-priority query remains unresolved.
- Capture any residual risk in the award comments.
Typical pitfalls
| Pitfall | Better practice |
|---|---|
| Treating a package round as one combined technical/commercial event | Keep commercial and technical round histories separate under the same package |
| Overwriting Round 1 with revised files | Create a new workflow round so the first commercial comparison or technical score remains auditable |
| Re-scoring every technical criterion after one clarification | Rerun only affected criteria and carry forward the rest with rationale |
| Mixing commercial and technical clarifications in email threads | Keep commercial PTCs, technical PTCs, and tender queries categorized |
| Issuing bidder-specific answers that affect all tenderers | Use a circular or addendum where fairness requires common information |
| Calling a round “final” before queries are closed | Use “final reviewed round” only after material queries and PTCs are resolved or accepted as residual risk |
Related
Evaluation governance
See how rounds fit into the controlled evaluation model.
Award readiness
Check whether the latest commercial and technical rounds are ready for committee review.