Special features in tendering, award and contract - Tunnel Engineering: Basics and Additional Services for Design and Construction - page 335

9 Special features in tendering, award and contract

9.1 General

In the GATT-WTO agreement concerning public procurement, the signatory states under-
take to award public works above defined values to the most advantageous bidder overall.
The wording clearly states the most advantageous, not the cheapest tender. This provision
is completely in the interest of clients, because they are more certain to gain works of the
appropriate quality, also in relation to the cost and time frameworks.
For clients, it is therefore advantageous to formulate criteria for the suitability of compa-
nies in a suitable manner in the tender and award criteria, which they intend to apply for
the evaluation of tenders. When companies receive such requirements, they hand in well
thought-out tenders that are specific for the project.
In contrast to drill and blast, there is no standard procedure for contract conditions, ten-
dering and award in mechanised tunnelling. Therefore the following explanations and
examples concentrate on the special features of mechanised tunnelling and the current
procedures in various countries, which are continuously adapted in the light of experience.

The implementation of tunnelling projects, which permit the use of mechanised tunnelling,
demand particular care in addition to the usual circumstances in tunnelling. The leading
operation in mechanised tunnelling is the tunnel boring machine, and all other parameters
like construction time, costs, susceptibility to interruptions, qualification of the workers etc.
depend on the machine. All other operations have to be adapted to suit the machine. Not only
the technical and personnel aspects but also contractual aspects demand particular consid-
eration and discussion. Above all the introduction of technical machine influences into the
delineation of risk between the clients overall planning, the contractor's overall planning,
which in turn orders the machine, and the ordered machine, plus all the suppliers of mechani-
cal accessories, has to be clarified and contractually formulated. The risk distribution should
include consideration of not only questions of stability, but also the quality of the process
(accident risk) and the risk of settlement in the risk of cost overruns and construction delays.

9.2 Examples of forms of contract

9.2.1 Procedure in Switzerland
General. The tendering of public works in Switzerland is mainly regulated by the BoeB
(BoeB = federal law concerning public procurement) and the VoeB (VoeB = public pro-
curement regulations). Both law and regulations became necessary with the introduction