2020 Associated Schools of Construction – Great Lakes Region III Commercial Estimating Competition Welcome! Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2020 Associated Schools of Construction Commercial Estimating Competition. Best of luck to you and your team! Enclosed you will find a breakdown of the competition rules and submission requirements. All documentation for the project will be issued electronically through SmartBid. Each team will provide contact information and email addresses for every member of your team, as well as your company name prior to October 1, 2020, for the documents to be transmitted to them. SmartBid will also be used for the submission of your RFI questions and electronic proposal. The Problem Statement will be issued electronically by 5PM on October 2. A prebid meeting will held on October 5, at 9AM. Virtual Oral Presentations will be held on Thursday October 15 and Friday, October 16, via Microsoft TEAMS. Each team will be given a presentation time, which will be randomly drawn on Monday, October 12, 2020. The schedule will be issued via SmartBid by 5PM. Refer to the Commercial Division Problem and Rules for requirements of what is to be addressed in your written proposal and your oral presentation. Should you have questions or concerns refer to the attached Competition Rules for advice on how to answer your query. Good Luck,
Suzy Jillson Chief Estimator The Walsh Group sjillson@walshgroup.com www.walshgroup.com Phone: 708.870.8509
The Walsh Group 929 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (312) 563-5400
The Walsh Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer
2020 Associated Schools of Construction – Great Lakes Region III Commercial Estimating Competition Commercial Building Division Problem This year’s problem will be a project a Higher Education Athletic Complex. Schedule
All Teams to submit their Team Name, Team Members and email addresses by October 1, 2020 to sjillson@walshgroup.com.
Problem Statement issued October 2, 2020 by 5PM via SmartBid
Prebid Meeting will be held via TEAMS October 5, 2020 at 8AM, Meeting invites will be sent out October 2, 2020.
RFI’s must be submitted no later than October 7, 2020 at 1PM (RFI’s to be posted to SmartBid using Project Notes
Schedule for Oral presentation to be issued via SmartBid by October 12, 2020 at 5PM (Meeting invites to individual teams will be sent October 13)
Submissions to be uploaded to SmartBid by October 12, 2020 at 11:59PM
(All Times are CST) Scoring will be 60 points for the written proposal, and 40 points for the virtual/oral presentation. Teams can also receive additional points for value added in their written proposal or oral presentations (i.e. ethics, creativity, etc.). Points for value added will be awarded at the discretion of the evaluating team, which will consist of the judges. Scoring criteria will be assigned to each main category and to subcategories to establish a consistent guide for the panel of judges. The successful team will have demonstrated full knowledge of the plans and specifications, problem solving, methods of construction, presentation and communication skills. The problem will involve application of scheduling techniques, estimating, risk management, budgeting, evaluation of client criteria, and coordination. Teams will be judged on the following criteria and are advised to prepare for the competition by utilizing the following skills: 1. Written Proposal (60pts) - An electronic version of the written proposal will be submitted by the appointed time and date. Hard copies of the proposal are not to be submitted. Judges will be reviewing the following items in the written proposal: Organization and appearance; completeness, address owner concerns, special provisions, etc.; submission of proper proposal package, spelling and grammar, etc.; were the issues, features, benefits, and proofs demonstrated and addressed?; does the proposal demonstrate a full understanding of what is required by the owner?; is the proposal original and specific to the project?; Does the proposal address your ability to meet the The Walsh Group 929 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (312) 563-5400
The Walsh Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer
customer’s needs and requirements?; How did you differentiate yourself from the competition?; Have the RFP instructions been followed and is there complete compliance with the proposal request? Is your electronic proposal easy to navigate? Are schedules easy to read? It is each team’s responsibility that they are providing all the required information in an organized format. Proposal should be submitted as a single PDF and bookmarked for each of the sections outlined below. An excel format of the Proposal Breakdown is also required to be submitted along with the PDF Proposal. Boilerplate material is not acceptable. Judges will be looking for this and will mark down any proposal containing “boilerplate” material (this includes plagiarism). Written Proposals shall include the following sections/information: a. Proposal Cover Letter (2) – Introduce your Corporation and provide a brief outline of the proposal submitted. Cover letter shall include: Date of Proposal, Guaranteed Maximum Price from your Proposal, acknowledgement of date of drawings the Proposal is based on, acknowledgment of addenda, signature of corporate officer(s). b. Proposal Breakdown (10) – Include the Excel Spreadsheet Proposal breakdown detailing your Proposal (Excel Spreadsheet should be included in your electronic submission as a separate file in addition to the PDF copy). Some allowances will be provided for work that will be assigned to you as the general contractor. Each team is responsible for ensuring that all formulas within Excel spreadsheets are correct. i. Does your Proposal Summary add up correctly? ii. Evaluation of Insurance, Contingency, and Contractor’s Fee Requirements c. Organizational Chart and Job Descriptions (5) – Include an Organizational Chart and separate Position Description for each member of your project team. All members will be required to participate in the Oral Presentation. d. Project Schedule (10) – Provide a project schedule in the format of your choice. Please include a narrative to explain your logic and identify any concerns you see fit. e. Project Specific Safety Plan (5) – Include a project specific safety plan befitting with your corporate standards and practices f. Quality Assurance Plan (3) – Include your project specific quality assurance plan. Include any information relative to your corporate practices including all roles that your project team will play in delivering the utmost in quality construction. The Walsh Group 929 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (312) 563-5400
The Walsh Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer
g. Site Logistics (5) – Submit a site logistics plan. Please include a narrative and visual aids relative to your construction means and methods. h. Estimates of work (20) - Provide an estimate for the scope of work as requested on the project proposal form. Please only include pricing as requested per plan, spec and proposal form. Please include all take offs. Points will be awarded for work shown. Team should include all work that is listed on the specific estimate breakdown sheets, these worksheets must be included as part of your submission documents. Teams are responsible for ensuring that all formulas within the Excel sheets are correct. Additional Worksheet(s) have been provided to help substantiate some of the pricing included in the proposal. Scopes of work that require detail estimates include: i. Concrete (3) ii. Masonry (3) iii. Rough Carpentry (3) iv. The Following Trades teams will be charged with writing the scope of work for the trade and analyzing quotes from subcontractors. Teams will need to determine if the subcontractors are including the correct quantity for their trades and make adjustments accordingly 1. Structural Steel (3) 2. Doors/Frames/Hardware (3) v. General Conditions/General Requirements (5pts) Electronic submission of the proposal should be submitted in PDF format and sections should be bookmarked. Proposal Breakdown should be provided as an excel document in addition to the PDF format. 2. Oral Presentation (40pts) – Virtual Oral Presentations will be done using Microsoft TEAMS. It is up to each team to determine whether they will be together in a single location presenting as a group, or with individual connections. Virtual Oral presentations are an important part of getting new work in the construction industry. This is an opportunity for the teams to present their proposal to the judges. Judges will score the teams on the following criteria a. Appearance – professionalism, voice projection, verbal skills, etc. b. Project overview including problem solutions, schedule, etc. c. Use of text, graphics, charts, visual aids, overall participation by team members d. Logic, order, clarity, technical accuracy, organization etc. The Walsh Group 929 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (312) 563-5400
The Walsh Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer
e. Response to questions concerning written proposal, knowledge of project by all members. Rules 1. Teams may have a MAXIMUM of six students. Students must be currently enrolled on a full-time basis in the Construction Curriculum. Alternates are not allowed. 2. The competition teams will be issued the Problem on October 2, 2020 via SmartBid notification by 8:00 a.m. Once the problem has been distributed, each team will be on the honor system regarding outside help. No one other than the team members are to participate in the preparation of the proposal response and oral presentation. This includes faculty, coaches, friends, spouses, etc. 3. Teams will be sent meeting links to the Virtual Prebid Meeting, their specific Presentation time, and the debriefing. 4. Electronic submission of your written proposal much be received by October 12, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. sharp. For scoring purposes, any proposals (or portions thereof) turned in after the deadline will have 10 points deducted from the written proposal score. 5. Oral presentations will take place October 15 - 16. Schedule for the presentations will be issued on Monday October 12, 2020. Teams will be allowed 20 minutes for their presentation followed by a 10-minute question and answer session. Each member of the team must speak a minimum of 2 minutes and must participate in the question/answer section. It is mandatory that the following roles be assigned and in attendance for the oral presentation: Company Officer, Project Manager, Preconstruction Manager/Chief Estimator, and Superintendent. The remaining positions should be titled at the discretion of each team. 6. Team presentations must adhere to the schedule. A timer bell or voice signal will indicate the end of the initial presentation and the beginning of the question and answer period. 7. A debrief for the Oral presentations will be held on Friday October 16, time is TBD but will be issued with the presentation schedule. 8. The winning team will be announced at the Virtual Awards Breakfast, Saturday morning. 9. Any questions or problems should be reported to the Competition Coordinator or Suzy Jillson at sjillson@walshgroup.com 708.870.8509 10. This is the last rule, and this mandatory, HAVE FUN! NOTE: Ethics and moral standards are highly regarded in the construction industry. You are on the honor system during the competition. Let us emphasize that coaches are not to have any contact with the team after the competition begins on October 2, 2020
The Walsh Group 929 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois 60607 (312) 563-5400
The Walsh Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer