In anticipation of selecting a contractor, the owner must decide whether an open invitation will be issued to all possible tenderers or whether only certain contractors will be invited to submit offers and whether any sort of pre-qualification process will be invoked to limit the number of tenders. On the other side, contractors will have to consider a number of factors in deciding whether they will make the effort to assemble a proposal for a particular project. If a contractor finds the prospective project attractive, two major tasks will be required. First, a series of planning steps will be carried out, including studies of various methods and equipment that would be employed and the development of a preliminary project programme setting forth an approximate time schedule for each major activity. Second, a priced proposal will be prepared, including the direct costs of labour, materials, plant and subcontractors, various overhead charges and a sufficient added amount for profit. The last step in this phase is the submittal, opening and evaluation of tenders, the selection of the successful contractor and the finalisation of the construction contract.
