National route upgrade
N3 Ashburton — Linksfield
A R1.4 billion national route upgrade. Lion Bee managed the procurement — from pre-tender estimate to final account.
The mandate
What managing the procurement means.
Not a single decision at tender stage. A cost position carried from the first estimate to the reconciled final account.
01
Estimate and cost plan
A pre-tender estimate the employer can budget against, and test the tenders it receives against.
02
Documentation and bills
Tender documentation and a priced bill of quantities, measured to standard, so tenders compare on like terms.
03
Evaluation and award
Arithmetic and rate checks, then a written adjudication report recommending the award — with the reasoning on record.
04
Measure, certify, close
Monthly measurement, payment certificates and a cost report — through to a final account that reconciles to measured work.
Cost drivers
On a live national route, the design is not what moves the number.
Three things decide whether a road upgrade lands on its contract sum. None of them are the pavement.
Traffic never stops
The works are staged around live traffic, so the working window sets productivity. A rate priced for open working is the wrong rate for a half-width night shift. Price the window, not just the quantity.
The lowest sum is not the lowest cost
A tender can read lowest while carrying front-loaded rates on early earthworks and thin rates on items the employer will certainly need more of. Testing rates item by item against the estimate is what stops that becoming the employer's problem in month nine.
Variations, in order of preference
Priced on bill rates where the rates apply, analogous rates where they nearly apply, and dayworks only where nothing else fits — with the reasoning recorded each time.
R1.4bn
Contract value
N3
National route, KwaZulu-Natal