Distribution of digital site data during tendering is a must!

In feedback after giving a webinar on site investigation and ground conditions claims there was one major recurring theme in the questions which multiple participants raised I do think is worth addressing. That being getting digital ground data from the client as part of the tender submission process.

This issue gets little publicity however many people are acutely aware of this recurring problem in the infrastructure industry.

A common response from clients when asked by tenderers during the tender phase for digital data is "Digital information will be provided to the contractor upon project award".

However this is basically useless to a tender as critically you need the data when tendering to input into ground modelling software. For infrastructure projects involving ground works given that projects and geology can be quite complex it is simply irresponsible to provide data rooms full of borelog PDF files with a short tender period and expect a firm tender price from the contractor. It effectively means tenderers are obliged to build in contingency sums for variances in the tender price.

The end result is ground data is being weaponised negatively between tendering contractors and clients.

I do think as a industry we need to address this issue.

It is often the case that the client has had many years collecting the digital site data yet the tendering contractor is only given a few weeks to tender and only on the basis of PDF documents.

Increasingly there are developments in some sectors for the proper dissemination of ground data and the pressing need for better collaboration.

Recognising that this is both a national and international scale challenge, and the need to collaborate across sectors, the British Geological Survey, Ordnance Survey and Future Cities Catapult have been working together on Project Iceberg.

Project Iceberg has the long-term aim being to help increase the viability of land for development and de-risk future investment through better use of subsurface information. More can be read about it here.

Whilst these developments at a national level are to be applauded in the meantime change from industry players is slow.

A tenderer may want to consider that a tender qualification is lodged requiring digital data being divulged that is linked to the Best and Final Offer (BAFO) during the tender review process. This to be used if a tenderer asks for critical digital data during the tendering phase and are turned down. The commercial team could look to leverage getting digital data in return for a better priced BAFO. A standard tender qualification to this effect could be developed to be included into specific tender submissions.

I do remember many years back similar issues with hydrographic data exchanges at tender time being paper plots only. As technology developed the free exchange of ascii data became the accepted norm.

I see free exchanges of environmental and ground data going the same way as hydrographic data (eventually!) but it does need to be pushed and challenged by tenderers when clients only issue PDF documents.

David Kinlan

22 January 2024