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Infrastructure & Capital Projects
Construction Procurement
Capital construction programs where procurement discipline, schedule certainty, and field execution determine delivery.
Example organizations in this space:
Procore
Autodesk Construction
Trimble
Oracle Primavera
This interactive experience is the shipped product itself — the same application code customers run in production, mounted read-only in your browser over a real sample journey. Not a video, not a mockup: because the demo and the product are one codebase, it can never drift from the real thing.
Inside this journey
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Pre-Sales
Qualify stakeholders, budget, and procurement constraints before investing in deep discovery.
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Qualification
Confirm budget range, procurement authority, timeline, and regulatory constraints before a full diagnostic.
Qualification Questions
Project and delivery fit
- To make the best use of a short discovery, which delivery method are you considering for this project?
- For evaluation and selection, do you intend to prioritize contractor qualifications and best-value scoring, or is lowest bid required by policy?
- Briefly describe any unique technical, site, stakeholder, or program complexities we should be aware of.
Regulatory and compliance constraints
- Is this procurement governed by public or other formal procurement regulations?
- If regulated, how would you describe the likely protest or bid-challenge risk?
Budget and authority
- What is the project's current capital budget range?
- Who holds final authority to approve the procurement award?
Timeline and next step
- What is your target timing for solicitation release or final award?
- Would you like to schedule a short discovery meeting to validate delivery method, procurement approach, and next steps?
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Executive Outcome Alignment
Align project objectives, success metrics, key stakeholders, and funding or regulatory constraints across the buying group.
Alignment Questions
Where this project sits on your desk
- Tell me briefly what outcome your executive team expects from this procurement
- How big is the budget range you are working with, and is that funding committed or contingent
- When does your team need a final award decision and are there fixed statutory deadlines that cannot be moved
- Who on your executive team must explicitly sign off before the procurement launches and who else will influence that approval
- Which of these project documents already exist, select all that apply
- Is the project currently funded and authorized to enter procurement within your target window
Where failure shows up first
- If this procurement misses its targets, what single consequence would force your leadership to pause the project
- Describe a recent procurement on a similar project that did not go as planned, what went wrong and why it still matters
- How often have protests or legal challenges delayed awards on similar projects in your jurisdiction
- Who notices cost overruns or scope creep first, and what evidence do they require before asking to stop or re-scope the procurement
- Which evaluation criteria from past procurements most often correlated with contractor performance, and which created unintended consequences
Assumptions that could blindside you
- If contractor interest is lower than expected, how would your team change the procurement approach
- List the delivery methods you are actively considering, pick all that apply
- When was the last time your team changed evaluation weighting after receiving market feedback
- Which features of this project create the most price uncertainty for bidders, rank up to three
- Is there any statutory procurement rule or existing contract that prevents you from using a desired delivery method
- If yes or unsure, please describe the rule or contract clause that limits delivery method options
How your leadership will measure success
- Which single metric, if not achieved, would make the executive team view this procurement as a failure
- Provide up to five success metrics you expect the winning contractor to deliver, include target values or ranges where possible
- Name the role that will own post-award performance tracking and the reporting cadence they expect
- Which contract clauses are non-negotiable for performance measurement, select all that apply
- If project funding is contingent on achieving a specific metric, can that metric be verified within your planned timeline
- If it cannot be verified within the timeline, what is the single biggest barrier
Stakeholders who will make or pause this project
- Which stakeholder, if unconvinced, can stop the procurement even after technical approvals
- Map the stakeholder groups involved, pick all that apply
- When key stakeholders disagree, how does your team typically resolve the tie and how long does that process take
- List the specific roles that must attend final approval meetings and which roles, if any, can veto an award recommendation
- Is there a single stakeholder that must approve contract language on indemnity or insurance before award
- If yes, identify the role and the typical approval timeline
Market appetite and bidder readiness
- If only two qualified bids arrive, would your evaluation process still proceed or would you re-solicit
- Estimate how many contractors will respond to a well-scoped RFP in your market
- Which prequalification filters do you plan to use, select all that apply
- Tell me about recent bidders you consider strong contenders, without naming firms, what traits made them competitive
- Has any potential bidder expressed concern about your draft commercial terms that would prevent them from bidding
- If yes, summarize the concern and whether it is negotiable
Risks that could stop award
- Which single unresolved site, permitting, or funding risk would cause you to pause the procurement
- List known regulatory or permitting constraints that could delay design or award
- Are there active legal, environmental, or community challenges likely to lead to a protest
- If a protest occurs, what is your internal timeline for response and who owns that process
- Do you have a contingency budget or schedule buffer specifically reserved for protest or change order risk
Other paths you are weighing
- What would have to be true about your incumbent or in-house approach for you to keep it instead of hiring an outside consultant
- Which alternatives are you actively evaluating, select all that apply
- If you stay with the current approach, what measurable outcome would demonstrate it was the right decision
- Has anyone proposed solving this without an outside partner and if so who and what is their plan
- If the incumbent offers a fixed-fee support package that meets your timeline, would that close the decision this month
Can your team and systems support this engagement
- Which internal resource gap, if unresolved, prevents this engagement from starting on your target date
- Do you have a dedicated procurement lead allocated to this project
- Which systems must integrate with any procurement platform or evaluation tool, select all that apply
- Is your project data, drawings, schedule, and budget current and available for consultant review
- Are there legal or board approvals that must occur before we can begin work and can those be completed within 4 weeks
What will make you say yes
- If a pilot or proposal proves we can reduce procurement time by 20 percent, what would stop you from signing an engagement within that quarter
- Which deliverables would you require before you consider committing, pick all that apply
- Identify the role that will sign the statement of work and the typical timeline for internal approval
- How soon would you want the first stakeholder alignment workshop to occur after contracting
- Assuming the proposed scope, are you prepared to move forward within 30 days
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Procurement Strategy Workshops
Run structured workshops to assess delivery-method fit, risk allocation, evaluation criteria, and protest-mitigation approaches.
Working Meetings
- Delivery Method Diagnostic Workshop
- Risk Allocation Workshop and Contract Positioning
- Evaluation Criteria and Scoring Framework Alignment
- Protest-Mitigation and Procurement Controls Workshop
- Procurement Playbook Consolidation and Sign-Off
- Publish the protest-mitigation plan including debrief templates, timeline, and escalation triggers.
- Evaluation panel composition and conflict-of-interest controls are defined and documented.
- A plan to test the scoring framework and the tie-break procedure is agreed and scheduled.
- Publish the evaluation framework document including scoring templates and panel instructions.
- Prepare panel conflict-of-interest forms and scoring spreadsheets for the mock scoring exercise.
- Run a mock scoring of two sample proposals to validate weights and normalization rules.
- Identify likely protest drivers and historical weak points
- A protest-mitigation plan with debrief templates and a documentation protocol is agreed and ready for inclusion in the procurement playbook.
- Process controls and escalation triggers for legal engagement are defined and owners assigned.
- A schedule for document retention and audit trail implementation is established.
- Confirm project scope, constraints, and success metrics
- Implement the documentation retention schedule and set up the audit trail repository.
- Coordinate with legal counsel to confirm the response playbook and estimated timelines for common protest scenarios.
- Recap outputs from prior workshops
- Final procurement playbook is approved or approved with documented conditions ready for solicitation drafting.
- An implementation checklist with owners and dates is agreed and a procurement kickoff milestone is scheduled.
- All outstanding issues requiring legal or executive review are documented with owners and deadlines.
- Publish the final procurement playbook and circulate to stakeholders for archive and execution.
- Update the procurement timeline, calendar milestones, and publish the implementation checklist.
- Schedule the procurement execution kickoff meeting and distribute pre-read materials.
- A ranked shortlist of delivery methods is approved for further analysis, with the decision criteria documented.
- A clear list of evidence gaps and deadlines for the data needed to validate the shortlist is agreed.
- Owners are assigned to collect the missing information and a date is set for the risk workshop.
- Produce and distribute the delivery-method analysis report including scores, rationale, and evidence gaps.
- Collect and deliver the identified missing data points by the agreed deadlines.
- Schedule the Risk Allocation Workshop and circulate pre-reads summarizing the shortlisted methods.
- Recap shortlisted delivery methods and risk tolerance
- A risk allocation matrix by delivery method is produced and agreed for drafting into solicitation materials.
- High-level contract clause summaries and mitigation levers to support the allocation choices are agreed for legal and pricing validation.
- Outstanding legal or commercial questions are logged with owners and target resolution dates.
- Deliver the risk allocation matrix with clause summary appendices for legal review.
- Estimate the likely pricing impact for the top three risk transfers requiring market validation.
- Request legal review of proposed clause language and return comments by the agreed date.
- Confirm procurement objectives and success metrics
- A finalized evaluation framework with weights, rubrics, and thresholds is approved for inclusion in solicitation documents.
- Map project characteristics to delivery-method criteria
- Identify and prioritize top project risks
- Walk through the consolidated procurement playbook
- Present proposed evaluation categories and rationale
- Map procurement touchpoints and required evidence
- Set weights, scoring rubrics, and thresholds
- Obtain formal decisions and sign-offs
- Assign recommended risk allocation by delivery method
- Design debrief and communications templates
- Score delivery methods using a short, documented rubric
- Define evaluation panel composition, conflict controls, and documentation standards
- Identify evidence gaps and information needs
- Agree implementation checklist, owners, and next milestone
- Define contract positioning and mitigation levers
- Define documentation retention and audit trail practices
- Agree testing and tie-break procedures
- Agree on shortlist and next steps
- Agree escalation triggers and legal engagement plan
- Identify remaining legal or commercial questions
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Engagement Scope
Define deliverables, procurement tasks, timeline, responsibilities, verification criteria, and explicit out-of-scope items.
Scope Configuration
- Draft RFQ/RFP solicitation documents
- Develop contractor prequalification package
- Administer proposer Q&A and issue addenda
- Manage proposal submission intake and compliance checks
- Facilitate evaluation panels and scoring workshops
- Conduct proposer interviews and reference verifications
- Prepare written selection recommendation and scoring record
- Negotiate and finalize contract commercial terms
- Prepare contract execution and award documentation
- Establish contract administration templates and procedures
- Design change order and claims management workflows
- Prepare protest response and defense documentation
- Deliver procurement playbook for program standardization
Scope Questions
Draft RFQ/RFP solicitation documents
- Do you plan to issue a single-stage RFP (request for proposals) or a two-step RFQ/RFP (prequalification followed by final proposals)?
- Which procurement regulation or code governs this solicitation (for example your state procurement code, federal requirements such as Davis-Bacon applicability, or institutional procurement policy)?
- What is the confirmed budget range for the procurement and the required contingency percentage for proposers to assume in their cost proposals?
- What mandatory proposal components must appear in the solicitation (for example technical approach, detailed cost breakdown, schedule, key personnel resumes, design examples)?
- What bonding and insurance thresholds must proposers meet (for example bid bond percentage, performance and payment bond amounts, limits on professional liability)?
- Who will act as the named procurement contact and where should proposers submit questions and proposals (email address, portal, physical drop-off)?
Develop contractor prequalification package
- Do you require a formal prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) that collects financial statements, bonding capacity, safety record, and relevant project experience?
- Which minimum thresholds should the PQQ enforce (for example minimum annual revenue, minimum bonding capacity, maximum incident rate)?
- What specific project experience should be weighted in prequalification (for example K-12 seismic retrofit, hospital MEP systems, multi-phased campus projects)?
- How will you verify proposer compliance with prevailing wage, minority business enterprise (MBE) or disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) goals, or local hire requirements?
- Who will review PQQ submissions and what turnaround time do you require for prequalification decisions?
- What scoring or pass/fail rules should apply to the PQQ (for example pass only if financial ratio X met and safety incident rate below Y)?
Administer proposer Q&A and issue addenda
- What official period will you open for proposer questions and clarifications (for example number of calendar days after solicitation release)?
- How should proposers submit questions (for example procurement portal Q&A, dedicated email, recorded vendor conference)?
- Who will draft and approve formal addenda and what approval routing must be documented before issuing an addendum?
- Please list any suspension/blacklist checks or subcontractor disclosure requirements that must be validated before addenda are sent
- Are you planning a mandatory or voluntary proposer conference, and will attendance be reflected in the solicitation (for example mandatory walk-through attendance as pass/fail)?
- What evidence will validate that addenda were issued and received by all proposers (for example portal delivery receipts, certified email, recorded acknowledgement)?
Manage proposal submission intake and compliance checks
- Will proposals be submitted electronically, in sealed physical format, or both?
- Which compliance items must be validated on intake (for example bid bond amount, signed addenda acknowledgement, license verification, DBE intent forms)?
- How quickly do you need initial compliance checks completed after receipt (for example same day, 48 hours, 5 business days)?
- Who will be the owner of intake exceptions and what escalation path should be used if a proposer fails a compliance check?
- How should minor compliance defects be handled (for example allow cure period, reject immediately, accept conditional with clarification)?
- How will you verify required surety and insurance documents are valid (for example agent-signed certificates, insurer portal verification, notarized bonds)?
- What acceptance evidence confirms a proposer passed intake compliance (for example stamped compliant package, intake checklist with signatures)?
Facilitate evaluation panels and scoring workshops
- Which evaluation framework will you use (for example weighted technical/cost rubric, best-value matrix, lowest responsive bidder)?
- Who will populate the scoring panel and what conflicts-of-interest disclosure process should be captured prior to scoring?
- When will scoring workshops occur relative to proposal receipt (for example within 5 business days after intake closes)?
- What deliverables do you expect from each scoring workshop (for example annotated score sheets, consensus memo, recording of deliberations)?
- What acceptance criteria will confirm the scoring record is complete and final (for example minimum number of evaluators present, signed score sheets, tie-break rule)?
Conduct proposer interviews and reference verifications
- Which proposers do you plan to interview (for example top three scoring teams, any proposer above threshold, all shortlisted firms)?
- What format will interviews take (panel interview, live presentation with Q&A, recorded submission) and how long should each interview be?
- Please identify specific reference checks to perform (for example project name, owner contact, contract value, final completion date) and any red flags to escalate
- Who will document interview outcomes and how should interview scoring integrate with prior proposal scores?
- Are there confidentiality or non-disclosure constraints for interview materials (for example proprietary design options), and how should they be labeled in the record?
Prepare written selection recommendation and scoring record
- What structure should the selection recommendation follow (for example executive summary, scoring matrix, risk register, recommendation rationale)?
- Who is the intended audience for the recommendation (for example procurement committee, board, executive sponsor) and what level of detail do they require?
- What risk items must be surfaced in the recommendation (for example schedule risk, single-source dependencies, bonding shortfalls) and how should residual risk be quantified?
- Do you require a redline-ready selection package that includes a public record of scoring and evaluator statements for protest defense?
- What supplementary artifacts must be attached to the scoring record (for example signed score sheets, interview transcripts, reference check notes)?
Negotiate and finalize contract commercial terms
- What commercial terms are non-negotiable under your procurement rules (for example insurance minimums, liquidated damages, public records clauses)?
- Which payment mechanism do you prefer (for example progress-payments with retainage, milestone payments, lump-sum with holdback) and what retainage percentage applies?
- How should risk be allocated for design deficiencies, unforeseen site conditions, and schedule overruns (for example owner-directed change, contractor change order, shared contingency)?
- Who will lead commercial negotiations and who has final approval authority for concession trade-offs (title or office, not person name)?
- Please list any special contract clauses required (for example subcontractor substitution rules, progressive design-build stage gates, GMP (guaranteed maximum price) reopeners)
Prepare contract execution and award documentation
- Who is authorized to execute the contract on your behalf and what internal approvals or signatures are required before award (for example procurement director signature, legal counsel sign-off, executive authorization)?
- What award package items must be assembled prior to contract execution (for example executed contract, performance and payment bonds, certificate of insurance, subcontractor disclosure, evidence of licenses)?
- When should notice to proceed be scheduled relative to contract execution and what conditions precedent must be met before NTP (for example permits, utility agreements, funding release)?
- How should award notification to unsuccessful proposers be handled and what minimum protest window and debrief process will you provide?
- What evidence will validate the award package is complete and acceptable for filing (for example signed originals, scanned certified copies, indexed award binder)?
Establish contract administration templates and procedures
- What contract administration templates do you require (for example change order form, payment application template, submittal log, meeting minutes template)?
- Who will own the contract administration process post-award and what roles should be defined (for example contract administrator, project manager, payment approver)?
- Do you require a shared document register or collaboration portal for submittals, RFIs, and change orders, and which delivery formats must it accept?
- What approval routing rules should apply to change orders and payment applications (for example two-approver rule, threshold dollar amounts, emergency approval path)?
- Are there reporting cadence requirements for contract administration (for example weekly progress reports, monthly cost reports, executive monthly summary)?
Design change order and claims management workflows
- What change order lifecycle do you want documented (for example initial request, estimate, approval, execution, closeout) and who owns each step?
- Which thresholds trigger executive review for change orders (for example percent of GMP, dollar cap, cumulative change percentage)?
- How should time-impact analyses be submitted and reviewed for schedule-affecting changes (for example TPM (time impact analysis) format, float consumption rules)?
- What documentation must accompany a claim or change order to be considered valid (for example supporting site logs, photos, cost backup, subcontractor quotes)?
- Do you require a dispute escalation ladder and prescribed response times for claims (for example 10 business days for initial owner response, mediation before arbitration)?
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Mutual Commit
Finalize the engagement agreement: SOW, fee schedule, commercial and legal terms, governance, and acceptance criteria.
Agreement Modules
- Master Services Agreement (MSA)
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Fee Schedule and Payment Terms
- Governance and Escalation Plan
- Acceptance Criteria and Sign-off Matrix
- Change Order Agreement
- Insurance, Indemnity, and Liability Schedule
- Procurement Compliance Rider (public-sector conditional)
- Data Protection & Regulatory Addendum (conditional)
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Delivery
Operationalize procurement execution, award, and post-award compliance with readiness checks and acceptance.
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Delivery Execution
Manage procurement execution: prepare solicitation documents, run prequalification, facilitate evaluation panels, and support negotiations to award.
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Delivery Completion Sign-Off
Client acceptance gate: confirm each deliverable and procurement milestone is reviewed, documented, and signed by the named owner before the billing milestone closes.
Checklist items
- Collect signed acceptance for each contract deliverable
- Obtain signed completion certificates for each procurement milestone
- Secure signed final evaluation and award record
- Receive fully executed contract and amendments
- Obtain invoice approval and billing-close authorization
- Verify regulatory and procurement compliance sign-off
- Confirm handover to contract administration/operations with acceptance sign-off
- Archive solicitation, proposals, evaluation, and award documentation
- Record and assign any post-award open items with buyer acknowledgement
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Sustain & Improve
Review award outcomes, track post-award compliance and change orders, and maintain a shared register for issues and enhancements.
Success Reviews
- Post-award Health Check
- First Outcomes Measurement
- Monthly Operational Compliance Review
- Quarterly Executive Realization Review
- Annual Lessons Learned and Improvement Planning
Issues & Enhancements
- High-impact risks and remediation timelines are escalated with executive owners and dates.
- Specific plan to reduce average turnaround time for change-order resolution.
- Updated owners and deadlines recorded in the shared register for all active issues.
- Assign or reassign owners for all compliance exceptions older than the agreed threshold.
- Document expected resolution dates and required approvals for each pending change order.
- Circulate an updated milestone tracker tied to Engagement Scope targets.
- Leadership accepts the current financial and schedule position or approves specific mitigations.
- Executive summary of outcomes and financial impact
- Re-confirm scope acceptance and owners
- Produce a quarterly executive summary with financial impact figures and register links for distribution.
- Record executive-approved mitigations and target dates in the shared register.
- Open formal escalation tickets for any issues exceeding the agreed risk threshold.
- Aggregate outcomes and trend analysis
- A prioritized list of playbook updates and process improvements with owners and timelines.
- Recorded lessons learned that will inform future solicitations and contract clauses.
- Publish the annual lessons-learned report and the prioritized enhancement list in the shared register.
- Schedule workstreams to implement high-priority playbook updates within the agreed timeline.
- Define success metrics for each implemented improvement to be tracked in subsequent reviews.
- Notice to proceed and contractor mobilization confirmed and documented.
- Shared issues and enhancements register created with an identified owner and update cadence.
- All immediate blockers have assigned remediation actions and target dates.
- Publish the post-award health check summary and the shared register link for team access.
- Record owners and target dates for each immediate remediation action in the register.
- If incumbent systems exist, document the wind-down plan and owner in the register.
- Present first-period outcome data
- Clear understanding of current change order activity and compliance exceptions against Engagement Scope targets.
- Named corrective actions with owners and resolution dates recorded in the shared register.
- Update the shared register with the root-cause analysis for each off-track metric.
- Schedule follow-up evidence checkpoints for each high-priority corrective action.
- Confirm and document metric data sources and the reporting owner for ongoing measurement.
- Review open compliance exceptions
- Reduction in open compliance exceptions or clear remediation plans for those remaining.
- Validate award execution and mobilization
- Milestone performance and schedule health
- Review change-order activity and resolution time
- Diagnose root causes for variances
- Capture lessons learned and root causes
- Issue burn-down and owner updates
- Agree corrective actions and deadlines
- Prioritize enhancements and playbook updates
- Confirm shared issues and enhancements register
- Compliance audit highlights and risk register
- Verification of procurement milestone schedule
- Decision and escalation items
- Confirm data sources and reporting cadence
- Agree implementation plan for prioritized improvements
- Early compliance and procurement governance checks
- Blockers and immediate remediation actions
- Legacy process and incumbent wind-down checkpoint