TOPIC: Bidder Conference

When do bidder conferences normally take place?

After the contract has been awarded to keep alternatives open.
After submission of bid or proposal, but before contract award.
Prior to the submission of a bid or proposal by the bidder.
After technical meetings with bidders to discuss contract requirements.

Answer : 3

I understood that Seller proposals are given as input to Conduct procurement process & so the choice would be 2nd. But the answer was 3rd as per PMBOK. Please help me to understand this concept.

Regards
Narayan

Narayan,

Please always include a reference where you found a question. So... can you please tell us where you found this one?

Hi Cornelius,

This was from oliver Lehmann 75 questions.

Regards,
Narayan

Procurement Documents-RFP, RFQ, RFB,RFI - are created and ready to be sent after completing plan procurement management.
Bidder Conference is performed with Prospective sellers before they can send proposals and for better understanding of SOW
Procurement documents are sent and responses(sellers) are received after bidder conference.

As a rule, please don't understand the order of inputs mentioned in PMBOK5 Process(Inputs) as sequence, rather you should focus on tool and techniques using inputs.

In addition to what Puneet said, project management bidders conferences are part of the process of selecting vendors provide goods or services to the project. The request for proposal (RFP) that is sent out to potential sellers/ vendors contains information about a meeting to be held prior to the submission of the seller bid/proposal.
,

Hello Narayan,

below is the definition from the PMBOK guide. think of it as a clarification session so that sellers can understand what is required and they can submit their proposals to match the requirements. so it has to done before the submittal of proposals.

"12.2.2.1 Bidder Conferences
Bidder conferences (sometimes called contractor conferences, vendor conferences, and pre-bid conferences)
are meetings between the buyer and all prospective sellers prior to submittal of a bid or proposal. They are used
to ensure that all prospective sellers have a clear and common understanding of the procurement requirements),
and that no bidders receive preferential treatment."

Hi All,

Thanks for your inputs. Take away is 2 important points for me.

1. RFP will cover the meeting information.
2. Only after the meeting, procurement documents will be sent out to prospective sellers.

Regards
Narayan

Hi Narayan,

Just on your Point 2:

• Send Procurement Documents
• Complete bidder conference
• Receive response from seller (Seller Proposals)
• Analyze seller proposals using Proposal Evaluation Techniques( Derived from Source Selection criteria)
• Use Independent Estimates if needed
• Arrange for Negotiations
• Award Contract

It helps to sit back and look at the whole picture too, putting yourself in other people's shoes. If you are the vender that is to bid on the project, you might have questions in order for you to create an accurate estimate. These answers are given in the bidder conference, BEFORE you give the quote.

I agree that this is very confusing. I know the process everyone is including in their answers from hands on experience but the way the Plan Procurement section is written is very confusing. i have the Velocitech book. i would answer these questions incorrectly trying to follow the prep materials.

- seller proposal are inputs to Conduct Procurement and a bidder conference is a tool to get to the contract. misleading
- independent estimates are outputs of Plan Procurement Management but used after the seller proposals are received. again misleading.