Bid form glossary
Updated · BuildGets Team
A bid form is the owner's document for submitting prices on a public works project. On unit-price work it lists each bid item with an item number, description, unit and quantity. These are the terms you meet on bid forms, addenda and bid tabs, defined in one or two sentences each.
- Addendum
- A formal change to the bid documents issued by the owner before bid day. Addenda often replace the bid form, add or delete items or change quantities, so the latest addendum bid form is the one to price.
- Allowance
- A fixed dollar amount set by the owner for work that cannot be quantified yet, such as police traffic control or utility provisions. Bidders carry the amount as written; it is usually entered as 1 LS at that amount.
- Alternate (bid alternate)
- An optional item or group of items priced separately from the base bid. The owner decides after bid opening whether to add or deduct each alternate.
- Base bid
- The price for the work described in the bid documents without any alternates. It is normally the figure used to rank bidders.
- Bid bond
- A surety bond, commonly 5 or 10 percent of the bid on state and local work, that guarantees the low bidder will sign the contract and provide performance and payment bonds.
- Bid day
- The date and time when sealed or electronic bids are due and publicly opened.
- Bid form
- The document the owner provides for bidders to submit their prices. On unit-price work it contains the bid schedule: item numbers, descriptions, units and quantities, with blank spaces for unit prices and extensions.
- Bid schedule
- The list of bid items on a bid form, each with an item number, description, unit of measure and estimated quantity. Large projects split it into several schedules, for example water, sewer and paving.
- Bid tab (bid tabulation)
- The table published after bid opening that lists every bidder's prices, often item by item. Public bid tabs are a common source of historical unit prices.
- Engineer's estimate
- The owner's or engineer's own estimate of the cost of the work, used to check that bids are reasonable. Some owners publish it with the bid tab.
- Extended price (extension)
- The unit price multiplied by the quantity for one bid item. The sum of all extensions is the total bid.
- Lump sum (LS)
- A single price for a whole item of work, such as mobilization or traffic control, regardless of quantity. On a bid form it appears with a quantity of 1 and the unit LS.
- Lowest responsive, responsible bidder
- The usual award rule in US public works: the contract goes to the lowest bid that follows the bid instructions (responsive) from a bidder able to perform the work (responsible).
- Schedule of values (SOV)
- The breakdown of the contract sum into line items that the contractor uses to bill progress payments after award, often on AIA G702 and G703 forms. It is a billing document, not a bid document.
- Takeoff
- Measuring quantities from drawings. On unit-price bid forms the owner provides the quantities, so no takeoff is needed to fill in the bid schedule.
- Unit price
- The price per unit of measure for a bid item, for example dollars per linear foot of pipe. Payment is made on the quantities actually installed.
- Unit price contract
- A contract paid on measured quantities at the bid unit prices. It is the standard form for water, sewer, paving and other heavy civil public works in the US.
- Unbalanced bid
- A bid where some unit prices are set well above or below cost, for example to front-load payment. Owners may reject bids that are materially unbalanced.
For units of measure such as LF, SY, CY and VF, see bid form units explained.