Field notes
Read the work behind the number.
A useful comparison starts with understanding what a bid record actually says.
- Guide 01
How to read a DOT bid tabulation
Follow a work item from quantity and unit price to the contract total, and learn which fields a bid tabulation does not establish.
- Guide 02
Bid unit prices are not final construction costs
Understand the difference between a submitted unit bid, a contract award, paid quantities and the eventual cost of a road project.
- Guide 03
Why quantity changes a price comparison
Use an explicit quantity filter to investigate comparable work without assuming that a historical unit price scales to every project size.
- Guide 04
Comparing apparent low and awarded bids
Learn why bid rank, apparent low bidder and awarded bidder are separate facts, and when a historical subset is defensible.