1−11 SECTION 102 BIDDING REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS
102.01 PREQUALIFICATION OF BIDDERS . Prequalification of bidders shall be in accordance
with 23 CFR 635, Rhode Island General Law 37-2, together with regulations and procedures promulgated thereunder, and those Regulations.
102.02 CONTENTS OF PROPOSAL FORMS . The completed Proposal Form is generated by
the Department’s Quest Lite bid preparation software, which is furnished to the prospective bidder on compact disk (CD) as part of the Contract Bid Package with the Plans, Specifications and additional contract bid documents in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice to Contractors. The Proposal Form consists of three parts. The first part, the "Preamble,” outlines the various understandings and agreements required of the prospective bidder as conditions to its offer to perform the stated work. The second part, the "Bid Schedule," is that portion of the form where the various items of work are listed in a numbered sequence, and includes the unit prices entered by the bidder and total bid amounts of each item, which are computed by Quest Lite. The third part of the form is the "Signature Page," which includes the "Total, or Gross Sum of Bid" and which must be signed by the bidder or his authorized signatory. This signature signifies the bidder's acceptance of all requirements and conditions of the Contract and its agreement to substantially complete the work by a calendar date certain. The Plans, Specifications and other contract bid documents designated in the Proposal Form will be considered a part of the Proposal. When applicable, prospective bidders will be required to pay the Department the sum stated in the Notice to Contractors for each set of Contract Bid Packages taken out by said bidders. In the case of joint ventures, Contract Bid Packages must be taken by the Joint Venture; this does not, however, preclude entities comprisi ng the Joint Venture from taking out Contract Bid Packages independently. In addition, the Joint Venture must be independently registered as a user of the Department’s Electronic Bidding System known as Quest Lite.
102.03 INTERPRETATION OF QUANTITIES IN BID SCHEDULE . The quantities appearing in
the Bid Schedule are estimated and are used for the comparison of Proposals. Payment to the Contractor will be made for the actual quantities of work performed and accepted or materials furnished in accordance with the Contract. The estimated quantities of work to be performed and the materials to be furnished may be increased, decreased, or omitted as deemed necessary or advisable by the Engineer, or as hereinafter provided.
102.04 Examination of Plans, Specifications, Special Provisions, and Site
OF WORK . The bidder is expected to carefully examine the site of the proposed work, the Proposal, the Plans, the Rhode Island Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge 1−12 Construction, Supplemental Specifications, Special Provisions, Distribution of Quantities and Contract Forms before submitting a Proposal. The submission of a Proposal will be considered conclusive evidence that the bidder has made su ch an examination and is satisfied as to the conditions to be encountered in performing the work and as to the requirements of the Contract as defined in the Contract Documents. Boring logs and other records of subsurface investigations are available for inspection by bidders. It is understood that such information was obtained and used for Department design and estimating purposes only. It is made available to bidders so all have access to identical subsurface information available to the Department. Furthermore, this information is not intended as a substitute for personal investigation, interpretations, and judgment of the bidders. The locations of all utilities as shown on the Plans are approximate. The Contractor shall seek to determine the exact location of all existing utilities, both underground and overhead, by notifying Dig Safe in accordance with State law. Damage to utilities which are shown on the Plans or located by the respective utilities in accordance with the Dig Safe process shall be the responsibility of the Contra ctor. Damage to utilities and their associated service connections which are not shown on the Plans or located by the respective utilities in accordance with the Dig Safe process, will be paid for by the Department.
102.05 PREPARATION OF PROPOSAL . The bidder’s attention is directed to the fact that all
Proposals must be generated by RIDOT’S Quest Lite software, and the Proposal must be submitted to the Purchasing Division of the Department of Administration in the form of an electronic file on a compact disk (CD), which should be labeled and identified, at a minimum, with the bidder’s name and the Rhode Island construction contract number of the project being bid. In addition, the bidder shall submit its Proposal in hard copy format on forms generated by the Department of Transportation’s Quest Lite program. The bidder shall specify a unit price in words and figures, for each pay item for which a quantity is provided. All pay items for which a bidder is required to specify a unit price shall have a bid price of at least one cent. The Quest Lite software requires a unit price to be entered for each pay item and will not allow a unit price of less than one cent to be entered as a bid price for an individual pay item. The bidder shall show the products of the respective unit prices and quantities written in figures in the column provided for that purpose and the total amount of the Proposal obtained by adding the amounts of all items. The total bid price is to be based on the unit prices written in words, correctly extended and added. In case of a discrepancy between the unit prices written in words and those written in figures, the unit prices written in words shall govern. The State reserves other rights as noted in Subsection 103.01; Consideration of Proposals . When the Proposal contains a choice to be made by the bidder, the bidder shall indicate its choice in accordance with the instructions for that particular item. Thereafter, no further choice will be permitted. Erasures and alterations to the Proposal shall not be permitted.