10 mis­takes in con­struc­tion con­tracts (and how to avoid them) — ask, crit­i­cize and point out, just don’t rep­ri­mand (6)*.

The e‑tendering plat­forms are some­times real sug­ges­tion box­es. Bid­ders com­plain, they wran­gle, they ask and point out, they crit­i­cize, some­times force­ful­ly. The only thing they have a hard time doing is com­plain.

The most impor­tant advice in your “Pro­cure­ment Life”

If you have a prob­lem with a con­tract­ing authority’s bill of quan­ti­ties in a pub­lic pro­cure­ment process, file a com­plaint. Do not point out, crit­i­cize, com­plain, or issue “clar­i­fy­ing notes” or “bind­ing con­cretiza­tions.” Do not express your lack of under­stand­ing, do not sug­gest “tweaks”. But rather: Con­test.

What does “con­test” mean?

Con­test about the spec­i­fi­ca­tions as being in vio­la­tion of pro­cure­ment law by nam­ing the spe­cif­ic item or pas­sage and briefly explain­ing that and why you clas­si­fy it as being in vio­la­tion of pro­cure­ment law. Also, request that the con­tract­ing offi­cer take cor­rec­tive action in suf­fi­cient time to allow you to incor­po­rate the revi­sions into your bid or request to par­tic­i­pate. Explic­it­ly do not relieve the con­tract­ing agency of its oblig­a­tion to pre­pare a legal­ly com­pli­ant bill of quan­ti­ties. And act in a time­ly man­ner.

*This legal tip is not a sub­sti­tute for legal advice in indi­vid­ual cas­es. By its very nature, it is incom­plete, nor is it spe­cif­ic to your case, and it also rep­re­sents a snap­shot in time, as legal prin­ci­ples and case law change over time. It can­not and does not cov­er all con­ceiv­able con­stel­la­tions, serves enter­tain­ment and ini­tial ori­en­ta­tion pur­pos­es and is intend­ed to moti­vate you to clar­i­fy legal issues at an ear­ly stage, but not to dis­cour­age you from doing so.