The 1990s saw the introduction of e-mail (as an electronic communication device) and the World Wide Web (as an electronic communication device and source of knowledge) in industry. As a result, with increased knowledge, awareness and successful implementation of innovative systems and processes - such as electronic / internet tenders (e-Tendering) - it raises high expectations for their contribution to "boosting" the globalization of e-procurement activities and improving overall business and project performance in the construction sectors. industry and the overall market (NSW Government 2002;
2 PROJECT 2001-008-C (Part B): PROJECT TEAM INTEGRATION: COMMUNICATION COORDINATION AND
Research Background
Research Aims and Objectives
Demonstrate the benefits and efficiencies gained through Internet-based Construction Project Management (ICPM) solutions - stimulating improvements and encouraging wider adoption of such processes in the AEC industries - delivering projects potentially on time and on cost effective. Demonstrate the potential for use of handheld technologies/applications - examining existing and emerging technologies not yet embraced by the AEC industries.
3 E- UPTAKE
- E-Commerce
- e-Procurement
- e-Business
- Summary
It is essential for the construction industry to play an active role in establishing the global standards that everyone will eventually have to use. Doing business electronically can streamline existing processes, with the growth in innovative tools, such as e-Tender, offering the construction industry new responsibilities and opportunities for all parties involved (ITCBP 2003).
4 INTERNATIONAL E-TENDER SOLUTIONS
Australia
- eTender System - Queensland Department of Public Works / Services
- eTendering System – New South Wales Department of Commerce
- CETS – Commonwealth Government
- eTenders System – Victoria Government
- Tenders Online via eLodgement – Northern Territory Government
- SA Tenders and Contracts – South Australian Government
- Tenderlink - Australasia
- Gem Tendering – Western Australia Government
Similar to QDPW Project Services' eTender system (Section 4.1.1), the NSW Department of Trade's eTendering system is an online tendering system, used by its agencies since July 2000 to provide information on tender opportunities. When the tender is closed, the agency 'opens' the 'Electronic Tender Box', downloads any tenders and decrypts them.
United Kingdom (UK)
- ELTON – Suffolk City Council
- DELTA e-Tendering Suite - Business Information Publications Ltd
- TenderTrust - UK Office of Government Commerce
View responses: The call initiator can view the details of each response to the call separately. BiP reports that Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (one of 110 local authorities involved in the Government's Pathfinder project) has successfully completed an 18-month pilot of the DELTA e-Tendering Suite (Figure 4-20). One of the main problems in maintaining this data is keeping it up to date.
Unfortunately, in April 2002, the OGC officially announced that its attempt at the TenderTrust system failed due to DOH and others.
United States of America (USA)
- Bid Express - Department of Transportation
Interestingly, OGC rejected Vault in April 2001 when it decided to select and trial the TenderTrust system on its projects. In addition to file backups, duplicate sets of Bid Express hardware are located in separate geographic locations using separate ISPs. Bid Express 2003) Although Bid Express maintains that it is a powerful and useful tool in its own right, when used in conjunction with Trns•port Expedite® Bid (used in bid preparation by 38 state transportation agencies), it can reportedly provide even greater efficiency in preparation an Offer.
Registered Bid Express users can download Expedite Bid for free and automatically access quantities and simply fill in the unit prices, avoiding costly calculation errors.
Canada
- MERX eTendering
Expedite Bid also has an alert feature that notifies users of any gaps or errors during bid preparation. For example, the recent two-year extension of the MERX eTendering service was unfortunately accompanied by a 600% increase in monthly fees, which displeased existing and potential future business users in the industry (Bray R. 2002). To ensure open and fair competition, most provincial and federal government agencies and departments across Canada (which procure approximately $8-9 billion in goods, services and construction per year) are required to advertise tender opportunities above $25,000 through Merx eTendering.
For example, this is the main reason Nova Scotia does not use MERX and its eTendering system (Newman D. 2002).
Summary
All tender documentation must be distributed via a secure web-based tender system – thereby avoiding the need to collect papers and couriers. Users of the e-Tender system must be correctly identified and registered via controlled access. Simply put, security must be as good as, if not better than, a manual tender process.
Data must be encrypted and users must be authenticated by means such as digital signatures, electronic certificates or smart cards.
5 ETENDER SYSTEM - TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION
- Internet and WWW
- Document download
- Document viewing
- Notice to tenderers
- On-line tender form
Acrobat lets you place "bookmarks" throughout the file, giving users easy access to different parts of the document. In the example shown in Figure 5-2, a graphics viewer known as XnView allows users to preview and display/print any of the eight graphics files it contains. The eTender system uses email to notify bidders of any additions to the bid, in addition to confirming receipt of the electronic bid form and associated documents.
In addition to providing on-screen confirmation as previously stated, the eTender system uses email to confirm receipt of the electronic tender form and associated documents.
- Background
- Security
- Network issues
- Document management
- People issues
- Future developments
The eTender system uses Microsoft's IIS web server, SQLServer database software, and the Active Server Pages (ASP) approach to web hosting. It should be noted that if the eTender system is unavailable for any reason during a critical period of the tendering process, the Project Manager of each tender (in consultation with their manager) may grant an extension of the tendering time to account for the unavailability of the system. So far, there is very little evidence available on the experience of smaller companies with the eTender system.
It is also planned to include a Tender Evaluation module in the eTender system as part of Phase II of system development.
Summary
On-line "help files" for the eTender system are HTML-based and can therefore be viewed and navigated by most common web browser software such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. This will help PMs and the selection panel to quickly and objectively assess various elements of the eTender project's suitability (eg compliance with certain requirements; local business input, workforce, etc.). The eTender system's levels of security and availability/reliability appear to be in line with commercial expectations and the planned development for Phase II will address any (minor) concerns that may arise from the current system's implementation.
In addition, there are (unintended) effects caused by CITEC acting as an intermediary between the eTender system and the end user, which means that QDPW is not aware of those customers' methods of connecting to the system.
6 E-TENDER BENEFITS
Summary
The effectiveness of an e-Tender process seems well supported internationally, with a significant number of, yet similar, e-Tender benefits identified during this study. Recognized as being at the forefront of e-tender adoption in the UK construction industry, CITE verifies the annual cost to clients of producing, copying and distributing tender documents the old-fashioned way (ie on paper) can be reduced by as much as 90% using an e-Tender process. According to (McCrea A. 2002), online tendering is here to stay and is seen by many large industry players as an important tool in future procurement.
Therefore, if customers can convince their main contractors and subcontractors to tender online, analysts have identified potential savings of up to 15% at every level in the supply chain, which could be enough for construction customers to choose online tendering/bidding over other forms. of tenders.
7 E-TENDER CHALLENGES
- General
- Employment
- Security
- Legal
- Summary
There also appears to be growing concern about some formal contracts that do not expressly refer to the future/ongoing use of electronic data interchange. That "the alleged author of an electronic communication is only bound by state law if the message was sent by the alleged author or with the authority of the alleged author". Similarly, CITE aims to define a framework for legal terms and contracts relating to the use of electronic information exchange in e-business in the construction industry.
Still, some researchers find it ironic that industry confidence appears to be "more biased."
8 E-TENDER TRENDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- Risk
- Competitive Tendering
- Training and Education
- Improved Implementation
- Legal
- Summary
Authenticity: This is about the source of the communication - does it come from the ostensible author. These challenges are attributable to factors affecting the work environment, including globalization of the economy; greater performance expectations from the customers;. Unfortunately, the nature of the industry's constructed products, its organizations and processes limit technological change within the industry (Gann D. 1997).
Research suggests that the ultimate goal of the construction industry should be to better integrate the supply chain and all other business functions, enabling new, more efficient ways of working.
9 CONCLUSION
10 BIBLIOGRAPHY
4th APEC Coal Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF) Workshop (http://apec-egcfe.fossil.energy.gov/), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, APEC Energy Working Group. Construction Industry Procurement Code - Exposure Design (http://www.cpsc.nsw.gov.au/codesreview/). 34; Trying to improve communication and collaboration with information technology: An action research project that failed. “ Information Technology and People 12 (4).
34;Strategic Implementation of IT/IS Projects in Construction: A Case Study (article in press)." Automation in Construction.
11 APPENDICES
2001-008-C Project Schedule
QUALITATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE
Queensland Department of Public Works & Project Services (QDPW/PS) eTender System
- WEB PAGE
- SUCCESSES
- FAILURES
- LEGAL ISSUES
- TRAINING
- RECOMMENDATIONS
However, due to regular backups of the eTender system and having backup servers in place, these risks are effectively reduced. Do you think the eTender system is "user-friendly" enough (easy, logical, intuitive, etc.) that potential users may reject the need for training. Increased access to electronic tenders on the eTender system will increase the industry's market awareness, experience and business opportunities.
The eTender system was a pleasure to use” and that “it is excellent to have the.
Additional eTender Systems
Developed specifically for the UK construction industry, in collaboration with key industry players, to make it easier to prepare / manage a tender and participate as a bidder in a highly secure environment (http://www.asite. com/a3/uk/ Solutions/Tendering/) (ASSITE 2003). a) HDBuilders.com: Officially launched by Dr. John Chen, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and Minister of State for National Development on 12 September 2000. HDBuilders.com aspires to be Singapore's hub for e-commerce, e-project management and information sharing (including eTender ) for the local construction industry (http://www.hdbuilders.com/NASApp/Nirman/Tender/jsp/TenderMainPage.jsp). b) Mach30: An e-business solution for the construction industry focusing on facilitating collaborative work (Mach30 2003).
Mach30 solutions address industry-specific key processes, such as electronic tender issuing, tender submission and tender response consolidation (Exhibit 11-3). http://www.mach30.com – Products and Solutions). a) eTender@eConstruct: aims to capture the entire procurement process for the construction and other related sectors (http://www.econstruction.com.my).
All three of these items may have an overarching need for ease of use when placing source documents on the system.
12 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
