TOPIC 5

CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT INCEPTION
LESSON OUTCOMES (LO)
At the end of this module, students should be able to: 
Understand and explain the works and procedures
in construction project inception:
i.    Pre-Tendering Phase.
ii.   Tendering Phase.
iii.  Awarding of Contract.
 INCEPTION PHASE DIVIDED INTO CONCEPTUAL
(PHASE 1) AND PLANNING (PHASE 2)

Managerial Actions Tasks Accomplish

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 Phase 1: Conceptual (Identify a need)
Preparation of written document by Client to invite Project
Manager (developer/consultant/contractor) to provide the
best problem solutions for needs stated in the RFP
document or TOR document.

Phase 2: Planning (Development of a Proposal)  

Preparation of documented proposals by Project Manager to fulfill the
needs of RFP document or TOR document with specifying the intended
solutions, tasks, costs, time and other resources.

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awang295@sarawak.uitm.edu.my

Associate drawings

3 main activities involved:- INCEPTION PHASE

Briefing and report (Pre-Construction Phase) 
(Identification and definition) 
Design (Designing, costing and
approving)                             Pre-Tender Phase 
Procurement (Documenting, - Conceptual Drawings (prepared by architect) 
tendering and awarding - Preliminary Drawings (various amendment) 
contract)  l
Tendering Phase
PROCUREMENT DETAIL WILL BE Tender Drawings 
COVERED IN TOPIC 7 ON
PROJECT DELIVERY SYSTEM
l
Awarding of Contract Phase (to the
successful contractor)
Contract Drawings 
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Pre-tendering
phase 
General flowchart of
Pre-Tendering Phase
 Needs and Objectives of the Project  
DETAIL EXPLANATION IN TOPIC 6 

Detailed Project Brief  

Definition
The project (verbal or written) brief submitted by Client to the Project
Manager (traditionally an architect for building works and civil
engineer for civil engineering works) in a form of Request for Proposal
(RFP) or Term of Reference (TOR). 
A written project brief is a document stating the needs, objectives, land
site (lot number), surrounding facilities, progress up-to-date and all
relevant facts about the project.  

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 Conceptual Drawings
Based on RFP, the architect shall produce the conceptual drawings for
consultant engineers to work on detail engineering and design. 
The building illustration by architect shows the overall views of the
project including elevations, views and cut-sections of the building. 

Planning Execution 
Planning execution includes tasks as follow:
i.    Management and Coordination
ii.   Design
iii.  Construction
‒  Supervision 
‒  Method of Construction 
‒  Approval from Authorities 

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 Planning Execution 
Management and Coordination
A representative on behalf of Client  responsible to coordinate the
activities of those engaged in the design on construction of the project
and also lies between the management. 
Preferably an architect or civil engineer. 
Employer decide either to delivered the project by Turnkey Contract or
Traditional Contract.

(PROJECT DELIVERY SYSTEM WILL BE

COVERED IN DETAIL IN TOPIC 7)

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 Planning Execution 
Design
Execute based on type of Project Delivery System implemented as
follow: 
–  Use-in house technical team – Turnkey contract                                
–  Employ consultants – Traditional Contract 
Two main phases of engineering and design:                                                       
–  Preliminary                                                                                      
–  Detail  

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 Planning Execution 
Design: Preliminary Engineering and Design
Emphasize on architectural concepts, evaluation of technological process
alternatives, size and capacity decisions and comparative economic studies.
The steps evolve directly from the concept and feasibility stage, and it is
sometimes difficult to see where one leaves off and the other begins.
In heavy construction, engineers are responsible for the preliminary design,
but they often need substantial input from geologist, hydrologist, and
increasingly from ecologist and other professionals in the natural sciences.
In construction industry, it involves input and output decisions, choices
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between basic process alternatives, general site layout, and preparation of

overall process flow sheets.
Once this Preliminary Engineering and Design are complete, there is a
general and extensive review before detailed work is allowed to proceed.
Extensive review would be different for private work which is the review
focuses mainly on seeking approval from higher levels of management and
from sources of external financing, where required. 
 Planning Execution 
Design: Preliminary Engineering and Design (cont)
Traditional realm of design professionals, including architects, interior
designers, landscape architects, and several engineering disciplines, including
chemicals, civil, electrical, mechanical.
Involving the process of successively breaking down, analyzing , and designing
the structure and its elements so that it complies with recognized standards of
safety and performance while rendering the design in the form of a set of
explicit how to build the structure in the field. 
The design professional often conducts detailed field studies to get good
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engineering information on foundation conditions, slope stability and

structural properties of natural materials.
Other activities:
–  Paper work and specifications. 
–  Prepare design scheme, including cost. 
–  Bill of Quantities. 
–  Estimate final cost. 
–  First manufacturing program including the schedule of construction work. 
 Planning Execution 
Construction: Supervision of Construction Works 
➤  Supervision of construction works are  executed based on type of Project            
     Delivery System implemented as follow:
Use-in house technical team – Turnkey contract
Employ consultants – Traditional Contract  
Construction: Method of Construction  

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 Planning Execution 
Construction: Authorities Approval 
Before commencement of any construction, all the design and construction
method adopted must first receive the approval from the local and federal
authorities: i.e. all designs must comply with the building-laws of the following
authorities;
Municipality / City Council.
JPBD (Jabatan Perancangan Bandar raya).
JKR (Jabatan Kerja Raya). 
JBA (Jabatan Bekalan Air).
JPS (Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran).
JAS (Jabatan Alam Sekitar).
JPP (Jabatan Perparitan dan Pembetungan) – IWK.
TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad).
Telekom.
Public Health Department.
Fire Fighting Department.
Factory Act for Machinery Department. 
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 Feasibility Study (FS) and Site Investigation (SI) 
WILL BE COVERED IN DETAIL IN TOPIC 6 ON SITE SELECTION
FS reveal on objective, business and technical point of view in order to help
Client to make decisions on planning and execution of the project.
SI is a detail investigation based on FS and emphasize more on the
economical and technical factor in order to help Client minimize the cost
within design and safety optimizations  .

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 Preliminary Drawing 
Initial plans for projects prepared by the designer or architects and
engineers firm during the early planning or promotional stage of the
building development.
These drawings are NOT intended to be used for construction, but they are
used for exploring design concepts, material selection, preliminary cost
estimates, approval by the customer, and as a basis for the preparation of
finished working drawings.  

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awang295@sarawak.uitm.edu.my

TENDERING PHASE
General flowchart of
Tendering Phase

Tendering System (Open,

Close & Negotiate Tenders)
WILL BE COVERED IN DETAIL IN
TOPIC 8.
 Tender Document and Tender Drawings 
TENDER DOCUMENTS
The project viability study shall be carried out for the last time before the
tender documents are produced.
The purpose of tender document is to give description of work and site
condition to enable the contractor work out viable plan of operation.
There shall be two definitions for a tender document: 
–  Tender document produced by consultant shall be defined as written  
     matter as a mean of defining the scope of a proposal from the owner    
     to the contractor for pricing of items during tendering stage (usually     
     consist of Bill of Quantities, Drawings and Condition of Tender).
–  Tender document submitted by contractor shall be defined as                  
     a written matter as a mean of defining the scope of an offer from the    
     contractor. 

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 Tender Document and Tender Drawings 
TENDER DRAWINGS
Design drawing that need to be used for tendering stage and should be
attached with tender document.
Consists of architectural, structural, mechanical and sanitary,  and
M&E services drawings. 
TABLE TENDER DOCUMENT (TTD)
TTD is a drawing showing all particular details of layout drawing such
as type of material, sizes of structures (foundation, column, beam slab
and trusses), fitting services and etc.
Available in a paper A3 size and imprint with the words “Table Tender
Document”.

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 Contractor Considerations Bid/Not To Bid
for the tenders 
Contractors need to be realistic about their ability to prepare
proposals and the probability of winning the contract.
In order to offer the client with competitive price and service, the
factors as follow shall be recognized:

Extension of Reputation
Capability
Competitiveness/
Competition

Client funds
Factors whether to bid or
not to bid for the project

Risks Proposed
Resources
Mission

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 Contractor Considerations Bid/Not To Bid
for the tenders  
Competitiveness/Competition
To seek out whom are the other contractors bidding for the project.
To find out whether these contractors have a competitive advantage
through earlier projects or assignment or having affiliation with the
customer. 
Risks
To identify risks on the project viability and success.
To ascertain the uncertainties and technological barrier.
To ascertain whether research and development need to be carried out
on the feasibility of the project. 
Mission
To access whether the project is in line with the company business
mission and core areas. 
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Contractor Considerations Bid/Not To Bid for the tenders  

Extension of Capabilities
To decide whether the proposed project will provide the contractor
with an opportunity to enhance its expertise and capabilities. 
Reputation
To decide whether the organization has a good reputation and
relationships with the customer, such as established close rapport and
good successful records on past projects with the customers.
Review past documents on how many times the contractor bid for the
same organizations and was unsuccessful.   
Client Funds
To find out about the clients funds and financial credibility for the
project.   
 Proposed Resources
To ascertain whether the contractor has the right amount and quality
of resources to bid for the project.
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 Contractor Considerations Bid/Not To Bid
for the tenders  
IMPORTANT OF HAVING SITE VISIT
NO CLAIMS CAN BE MADE DUE TO ADVERSE SITE CONDITION THUS
CONTRACTORS MUST CHECK FOR THE FOLLOWING POINTS: 

Access to Site
Ground
Condition Availability
of Services
Factors whether to bid or
not to bid for the project
Environment
Local Labor

Accommodation
 for Staff  Local Suppliers 
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Contractor Considerations Bid/Not To Bid
for the tenders  
IMPORTANT OF HAVING SITE VISIT

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 Scrutiny the Tenders 
After opening the tenders, the tenders should be scrutinized.
Things that need to be checked:
List of all tenders received along with detail of the Earnest
Money (Tender Deposit).
It should be checked that the contractors duly signs every
necessary pages in Tender Document.
The address of the contractor should be clear and complete.
Verification of the contract conditions should be done.  
Whether the contract condition is original or alteration has
been done.
Rates are written in words as well as figure or not. Both
should be the same. When different, then the lower should be
considered.
The calculation and amount stated by contractor (arithmetic
error) should be carefully checked.
*After proper scrutiny:
The comparative statement of all the tenders should be
prepared
Signed by all persons present at the time of opening tenders
Tender Report
Structures
The 1st report is the tabular statement of
tenders which consists of:
• Name of tenderer, class and status
 • Tender Sum (before correction of any
arithmetical error)
• Construction period (time of completion) 
The 2nd report, same as 1st report,
except for:
• Name of the contractor not listed
• The list of tender will be listed in
ascending price order
• The lowest tender will be at the top,
the highest tender price will be at the
bottom of the list  
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 Tender Evaluation Process
Coordinated by tender committee and contract department and lead by a secretary.
Secretary responsible to coordinate all parties on date, time and place of opening
tenders.
A tender committee comprise of the technical committee that looks into the
specifications, construction method, resources and etc., while commercial committee
will looks into the price and costing aspects of the project.
Stages involve in tender evaluation are as shown below: 

Tender Evaluation Process

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STAGE 1: Preliminary Evaluation

STAGE 2: Evaluation of Tenderer's Capacity

STAGE 3: Overall Evaluation of the short listed tenderer

 Tender Evaluation Process
STAGE 1
This stage evaluate on conformity with the tender requirement.
To ensure tenderer submit compulsory documents which are:                                                          
 
‒  Copy of Company Balance Sheet                                                                                                            
‒  List of current contracts that the tenderer need to submit, if not the tenderer will be                
    disqualified.
Satisfactory performance of current works.
Only tenderer who pass stage 1 will be assessed in the next stage.
STAGE 2
The factors below are used to assess the tenderer’s capacity to perform the works. 
Financial Capacity - based on minimum capital requirement 
Technical Capability - evaluation based on tenderer’s experience to perform similar nature
of works, technical personnel and plant. 
STAGE 3
This stage carries out the overall evaluation of the shortlisted tenderers and determination
of the most beneficial tender for recommendation. 
All records are to be kept private and confidential and it is unethical to reveal any
organization information of the tenderer to participating competitors. 
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 Tender Evaluation Process
Criterias need to be considered by Client and Consultants during tender
evaluation are summarized as follow: 
Environmental
Price
Issues
Provision of
Quality
Training

Financial
Standardization
Standing
EVALUATION TENDER
(Based on
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Insurances  Tender Document

and Specifications Inspections

Technical
capability Warranties

Performance 
Capacity Experience
Standards
 Awarding of Contract
General flowchart for awarding of contract

Awarding Phase

Recommending tenders

Awarding of contract to the successful contractor,

contract documents with contract drawings were
produced

Continue to Construction Phase

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Awarding of Contract 
Recommending Tenders 
Open tender committee will recommend a few (say, 3) short-listed tenders, but only
one contractor will be awarded with the contract except for a mega project. The
important criteria recommendations in selecting contractor are as follow;        

Financial
Background

Paid-up
Tender Sum Capital
Factors when considering
contractor for the project

Construction
Equipment Period
Technical Knowledge 
& Experience
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 Awarding of Contract
Recommending Tenders
Tender Sum
Wherever possible the lowest tender sum shall be recommended. BQ in tender allow
checking the cost of each item. Some contractor will quote higher price for the early stage
job i.e: preliminaries, site clearing and foundation. As contractors are being paid as they
constructed will allow them to collect great profit margin up to sub-structure work and then
abandon the project.

Financial Background/Cash Flow

Those poor financial background contractors may have difficulties in managing their cash
flow. Even with the lowest tender price, the contractor might abandon the project.  

Paid-Up Capital
Paid-Up Capital concern with the possibility of bankruptcy. To enable recovery from
bankruptcy is based on the assets and Paid-Up Capital. Depending on the project size,
contractor should have reasonable Paid-Up Capital to decease possibility of bankruptcy.
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 Awarding of Contract

Recommending Tenders
Construction Period
Wherever possible contractors offer the shortest construction period should be accepted,
but shortest construction period normally does not align with the tender sum and may
avoiding SOP. 

Technical Knowledge and Experience

Previous experiences carried out on similar type of construction will help contractor to
predict the possible problem that will be faced during the construction process.  

Equipment
Contractor possess the equipment shall run the job better than if they were rented. Some
equipment may be hard to rent during peak season. 

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 Awarding of Contract

Recommending Tenders 
Other factors:
Contractor’s qualification
Construction method
Contractor’s previous project track record
Contractor’s office and site management skill
Knowledge about surrounding (environment aspects)
Integrity background
Insurance and warranty
Performance (workmanship) 

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 Awarding of Contract

Post-Tender Negotiation & Awards 

Post-Tender Negotiation  
There are some condition on negotiation before awarding (formal agreement) to meet the
client or his adviser needs. Normally, the matters discussed are mainly on financial,
contractual and method. Matter discussions are as follow: 
The matters discussed are more on financial contractual and method.
Any errors or discrepancies in the bill of quantities can be resolved at the meeting and
contractual detail can be discussed and agreed by both parties to understand their
obligation before making a formal agreement.
The contractor should be represented by the estimator and senior construction staff.
The list of client’s representatives and advisers are important. Estimator must avoid the
situation where he alone enters a room where all the consultants and clients’
representative are assembled confidently expecting to get the best deal for the client.
The client must have confidence and believe that the contractor can carry out the work
with a willingness to solve a problem and work closely with the client’s team at all times.

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 Awarding of Contract

Post-Tender Negotiation & Awards

Awards
Only one contractor will be awarded with the contract.
However, for a mega project or large scale project may be awarded to several contractors
and coordinated by government representatives (or project management consultants).
The succeed contractor and the owner shall sign the contract document prepared by
consultant as the contract agreement between them.
A contract document is used as a mean of defining the scope of work for reference during
construction until completion phase.  

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awang295@sarawak.uitm.edu.my

summary
Construction project inception involve several phases
as follow:

Pre-Tender Phase
•  Conceptual drawings (normally prepare by an architect)
•  Preliminary drawings (various amendment)

Tendering Phase
•  Tender Drawings

Awarding of contract to the successful contractor Phase

•  Contract Drawings
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Janidah Eman (UiTMPP)
Nur Muizzah Nawi (UiTMJ)
Muhammad Isha Ismail (UiTMP)
Noor Raifana Ab Rahim (UiTMJ)
 REFERENCES
Fellows, R.,  Langford, D., Newcombe,  R., Urry, S. (2002). Construction
Management in Practice (2nd ed.). Blackwell Science Ltd.

Fisk, E. (2002). Construction Project Administration (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.

Harris, F., McCaffer, R., Edum-Fotwe, F. (2013). Modern Construction Management

(7th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Knutson, K., Schexnayder, C. J., Fiori, C. M., Mayo, R. E. (2009) Construction

Management Fundamentals (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Levy, S. M. (2012). Project Management in Construction (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Additional notes:
Project Initiation and Planning
Project Management The Future Challenges
Procurement guidelines for tender preparation, evaluation and award of contract
Tendering Methods in Construction
CONTENT DEVELOPERS