Gaff
Be thankful that you can specify specific brands and models.
You might want to check the entire bid package. There may be clauses in the contract portion
that allows substitution. It may be “or equal” or “approved equal”, but find out if its there. If there is an “approved” equal, find out if you are doing the approving. If it just says “or equal”, that could be a problem.
There may be an “exceptions” section. A vendor may be able provide a bid for most of the exact items, but may be allowed to offer substitutes for others.
Do you know if there are vendors who can provide all of your items? (That is, is there a single vendor or supply
house that can quote every single item.) Do you have any control over who can bid? (If it’s a public notice, then anyone can bid, but on the other
hand, there may be a list of qualified bidders/vendors that the purchasing/procurement department uses.) Will vendors be allowed to bid on just part of the list? [I wrote all this on the assumption that there is just one bid package – Are there going to be multiple bid packages, based on general categories of equipment, such as one for cables/connectors, another for anything to do with lights, etc. Multiple bid packages will make a little more work for you and your purchasing department but it could make the overall bidding easier. For example, a cable supplier couldn’t bid on the lights if it was a single bid package, but he might try anyway, either taking an exception on the lights or trying to find a subcontractor.]
Do you know if you can
purchase some items from one vendor and other items from another vendor? (I suspect not, but it would depend on how the bid is structured. For example, if the bid/contract was structured as lump sum for the whole list, you may not see individual prices or even be able to break it out.)
Joe