Why PDF Scans of Terms of Reference Are a Problem
April 30, 2024
Sometimes, in order to participate in a procurement transaction, a business is forced to digitize hundreds of pages of estimates and other technical documentation manually. Why is this a problem and what to do about it?
Recently, the government has increased the minimum period for submitting bids for the procurement of works to 14 days. We called for this decision based on the results of a study on the deadlines for submitting bids in construction. It showed that in 2023, 75% of construction tenders had a minimum submission deadline. That is, in 9 out of 10 cases, the business had less than 10 days to see the tender, study all the requirements and prepare the tender bid, that is to collect standard documents and to make all the necessary calculations and form a full estimate.
This problem has been solved. However, the deadline for submitting bids is not the only factor that affects the engagement of businesses in procurement. The issues of a limited market due to the war and the quality of the tender documentation itself persist, in particular its conditions and the format in which it is published—a PDF scan or machine-readable data.
Will another week help you much if you need to digitize more than 100 pages of estimates to participate because the procuring entity refuses to upload the tender documentation in a machine-readable format?
Examples
We have found three procurement transactions with the expected cost of more than UAH 100 mln, in which the procuring entities published the tender documentation in the PDF format (data for the formation of estimates not in the machine-readable format). This is probably because they do not want to attract the maximum number of participants to their bidding.
- Construction of a secondary school in the village of Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv Oblast, the expected value is UAH 421.7 million.
The procuring entity—Borshchahivka Village Council—published the tender on Friday, April 12 at 9:35 p.m.; the deadline for submission of proposals was set at 16 days. All tender documents were published in the PDF format (cannot be converted). The terms of reference (bill of quantities) themselves account for 130 pages in PDF. A potential participant in the transaction contacted the procuring entity through Prozorro: “For the correct processing of the tender bid, please provide an estimate in the form of an IMD file.” The latter refused.
The procuring entity requires the participant to have more than 70 different vehicles, machinery, and construction equipment. For all this equipment, it is necessary to provide documents of ownership / use /transfer agreements, etc.
- Construction of a preschool educational institution in the village of Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv-Sviatoshynskyi district. Adjustment in terms of shelter arrangement, the expected value is UAH 283.7 million.
The same procuring entity. The procuring entity again published the tender on Friday night—April 12, 8:00 p.m. The deadline for submitting bids is also 16 days.
All documents were in the PDF format (cannot be converted). The terms of reference (bill of quantities) themselves account for 172 pages in PDF. A potential participant in the transaction contacted the procuring entity through Prozorro: “For the correct processing of the tender bid, please provide an estimate in the form of an IMD file.” The procuring entity also refused.
- Construction of a motor transport base for the municipal enterprise Uzhhorod Municipal Transport, the expected value is UAH 155,690,080.00.
The Department of Urban Infrastructure of the Uzhhorod City Council published a tender on Friday, April 12, at 6:04 p.m. The deadline for submitting bids was set at a minimum of 14 days.
The tender documentation contains 123 scanned pages in the PDF format. More than 80 of them fall on the terms of reference (bill of quantities).
Why is this a problem?
All three procurement transactions were announced on Friday after the close of business. For the most part, both businesses and procuring entities have a five-day workweek from Monday to Friday. Therefore, if a procurement transaction is announced in the last hours of Friday, it is likely that participants will see it on Monday.
How much time does it take for a business to digitize more than 100 pages in PDF format to prepare estimates? A lot!
In our opinion, uploading the tender documentation files required by participants for estimate calculations in the non-machine-readable format is one of the ways to limit potential participants.
We suspect that some participants have terms of reference for the procurement examples in a machine-readable format and will be able to prepare their bids in a timely manner, including all estimates. Procuring entities might deliberately share documentation with a pre-determined favorite contractor.
In addition, the procuring entities did not publish construction projects for our examples. Although this is not a mandatory requirement, projects significantly increase the understanding of potential participants of what the procuring entity plans to build.
Consequently, we recommend that procuring entities always submit documentation in the most convenient format for business. This will make it easier for you to attract participants and cooperate with good contractors.
Currently, we are conducting a more in-depth study of this issue. If the study confirms its importance, we will recommend at the legislative level that procuring entities be obliged to publish the documents that participants require for estimates in a machine-readable format.
The material was prepared within the framework of the USAID/UK aid TAPAS Project/Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services and European Union. . Its contents are the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine.
