ABSTRACT
Local authorities award almost all their contracts to private builders through the machinery of competitive tendering. The authority supplies the information about the work to contractors, the contractors bid for the job, and the authority gives the contract to the builder who has made the lowest bid. Authoritative opinion is strongly opposed to open competitive tendering and in favour of more selective methods. The selection of contractors so that only a limited number compete for each contract is carried out by a variety of methods. In order to encourage the most lively competition among the contractors selected for a particular project, the inclusion of one or two outsiders can be useful. Most authorities arrange for tenders to be opened by the chairman of the committee concerned and a chief officer. Most of the proprietary types of building use special systems of prefabrication or special methods of erection on the site.
