Competitive Bid versus Negotiated Bid in Commercial Construction Industry—One Contractor’s Perspective

Abstract

The competitive and negotiated bidding processes are not new. Competitive or hard bidding has been and is currently more prevalent in the commercial construction industry. However, in the last 20 years, evolutionary changes have occurred in the subcontracting and architectural fields of commercial construction. The result has been a depression in prices for competitively bid jobs. A need has arisen for a change in the bidding process. The negotiated bid process needs to be seriously considered as an alternative process in today’s environment.