The annual Simulated Student Bid Competition hosted by the Construction Institute of Canada (TCIC) is in progress, testing students from across the country to tackle the bidding and estimating process.
“The concept of the competition is for teams to submit complete bids based on a set of contract documents, which must contain quantity take-offs for own forces work, a sub-trade analysis and selection, and a construction schedule,” explained the initiative’s public relations director, Maxwell Mcilroy. “They must also obtain bonds from a surety, calculate overhead costs, and develop a pricing summary.”
More than 70 teams, with 280 students from seven post-secondary schools, are taking part this year. The students have a two-stage bidding process with an electronic bid submission on the first day of closing, followed by a hard-copy submission 24 hours later. The online surety and bonding system will be used for the second time in this year’s competition.
Each team must have a mentor from the construction industry acting as an advisor. A signed ‘Mentor Declaration Form’ must be e-mailed by the end of Tuesday, Feb. 16.
This is the first year for a Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Innovation award. Students will be challenged to generate quantities from the model they create. Since BIM is growing in popularity throughout the industry and can be employed for many applications, students are studying its use as it pertains to the estimation process. Mcilroy says this is a great opportunity for students to showcase their abilities to potential employers.
Winners of the competition are presented with monetary awards, along with certificates for participation. The winners will be announced at a gala event held on Tuesday, Apr. 12.
