MAXWELL MCILROY – Special to GTA Construction Report
The annual TCIC (The Construction Institute of Canada) Simulated Student Bid Competition has commenced. This yearly competition tests students from across Canada to tackle the construction bidding and estimating process. The concept is for teams from across Canada to submit complete bids based on a set of contract documents, which must contain quantity take offs for own forces work, a subtrade analysis and selection, a construction schedule, obtain bonds from a surety, as well as calculate overhead costs, and develop a pricing summary.
This year more than 70 teams, with 280 students from seven post-secondary schools across Canada, will take part. This year’s students have a two stage bidding process with an electronic bid submission using Infinite Source on the first day of closing, followed by a hard copy submission 24 hours later. The online surety and bonding system, Xenex, will be used for the second time in this year’s competition.
Each team must have a mentor acting as an advisor to their team. Mentors may counsel only one registered team. Mentors must be in the construction industry. Teams must obtain their mentor and email a signed “Mentor Declaration Form” by Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 11:59pm EST.
This is the first year that the “building information modelling and innovation award” has been introduced. Students will be challenged to generate quantities from the model they create. BIM is growing in popularity throughout the industry, and can be used for many applications. We are studying the use of BIM as it pertains to the estimation process. This is a great opportunity for students to showcase their abilities to potential employers.
Competition winners are presented with monetary awards, along with certificates for participation. The winners will be announced at a gala event on Tuesday, April 12.
Maxwell Mcilroy is the public relations director for the 2016 TCIC Simulated Student Bid Competition.
