Roderick
FIG. 00 · Leak map · rev. current

Bid Workflow Leak Map

Six places the workflow makes estimators do work that is not estimating.

  1. 01

    Bid invite waits too long

    Symptom The invite waits in an inbox, portal, or shared folder.

    Why it costs bid capacity Every hour it waits comes off drawing review and vendor RFQs.

    Fixed Invites are captured, routed, and qualified against bid-fit rules on arrival.

  2. 02

    Drawing/spec review stalls

    Symptom Schedules, notes, specs, and addenda get reconciled by hand.

    Why it costs bid capacity Compressed review turns missed scope into job cost.

    Fixed Current sheets, relevant specs, and addenda deltas arrive sorted for review.

  3. 03

    Vendor RFQs disappear

    Symptom RFQs scatter across threads with no reliable status.

    Why it costs bid capacity Invisible RFQs consume estimator time and leave missing quotes covered by guesses.

    Fixed The team sees every RFQ as sent, answered, silent, or overdue.

  4. 04

    Vendor quote cleanup eats the week

    Symptom PDF and email quotes get normalized into the pricing sheet by hand.

    Why it costs bid capacity Retyping vendor numbers consumes bid days and caps volume.

    Fixed Quotes, exclusions, and expirations land in one comparable structure.

  5. 05

    Proposal is rebuilt by hand

    Symptom Pricing, scope, inclusions, and exclusions get copied from the last job.

    Why it costs bid capacity Old assumptions survive while senior estimators trace where numbers came from.

    Fixed The packet assembles from priced work, with humans reviewing judgment calls.

  6. 06

    Awarded-job handoff breaks

    Symptom The PM inherits a folder while assumptions, vendors, and exclusions stay scattered.

    Why it costs bid capacity The PM rebuilds what the estimator knew, pulling both people off current work.

    Fixed Winning produces a PM start packet with scope, assumptions, vendors, exclusions, and open questions.