The time limits
The FIDIC conditions govern the contract, not the tender. The rules for queries, clarifications and arithmetic errors are in the instructions to tenderers issued with each tender, so check those first. The periods above are the usual ones, as in the World Bank’s standard procurement documents, which use FIDIC conditions.
The five stages
- 1Tender queries
Tenderers send their questions in writing by the last date for queries. The Employer sends the answers to all tenderers together, without naming who asked.
- 2Addenda
Any change to the drawings, specification, bills of quantities or conditions is issued as a numbered addendum before the deadline. Each tenderer confirms receipt and lists the addenda in its Letter of Tender.
- 3Opening and checking
The tenders are opened together and recorded. Each one is checked for completeness, arithmetic, qualifications and compliance with the tender documents.
- 4Post-tender clarifications
The Employer asks each tenderer in writing to confirm or explain points in its tender, by a fixed date. The price and the substance stay as tendered, apart from arithmetic corrections.
- 5Final offer and award
Where the rules allow, the shortlisted tenderers are asked for a best and final offer. The Employer then sends the Letter of Acceptance to the selected tenderer and regret letters to the others.
Tender queries and addenda
- Send queries in writing to the contact named in the instructions to tenderers, before the last date for queries
- Number each query and point to the document, clause, drawing or bill item it concerns
- Ask about conflicts between documents, missing information and quantities that look wrong, not for advice on pricing
- The Employer answers every query to every tenderer, without naming who asked, and keeps a query log
- Minutes of a pre-tender meeting or site visit go to all tenderers, and any change they lead to is made by addendum
- Each addendum is numbered, sent to all tenderers and acknowledged, and the deadline is extended if they need time to price it
Asking matters to the tenderer. Under FIDIC Sub-Clauses 4.10 and 4.11, the Contractor is deemed, as far as was practicable, to have inspected the Site and the data the Employer provided, and to be satisfied that its price is sufficient. A doubt left unasked becomes the Contractor’s risk, while an answer issued as an addendum becomes part of the tender.
A tender query and its answer can be this short:
TQ-014: Drawing A-201 shows ceramic floor tiles in the main lobby, but the finishes schedule in Specification Section 09 30 00 lists porcelain tiles 600 x 600 mm. Please confirm which applies. Answer: porcelain tiles 600 x 600 mm, as in the finishes schedule. Drawing A-201 is reissued with Addendum No. 3.
A reply in a query log or meeting minutes does not change the tender documents. If an answer changes them, issue it as an addendum, so every tenderer prices the change and it later forms part of the contract.
Post-tender clarifications
After the tenders are opened, the Employer checks each one for completeness, arithmetic and compliance. A post-tender clarification letter can ask the tenderer to:
- Confirm the correction of arithmetic errors
- Explain a rate that looks too low or too high, and confirm that it stands
- Send a missing document that does not affect the price, such as a CV, a method statement or a programme
- Withdraw a qualification at no change in price, or confirm that it stays
- Confirm the tender validity, the VAT treatment and the named subcontractors and suppliers
It must not ask for, or accept, a change to the price or the substance of the tender: no new price, no discount, no change in scope and no new qualification. The only price change is the correction of arithmetic errors, and a clarification the tenderer sends without being asked is not considered. A request about a qualification can read:
C2: Your covering letter excludes dewatering below the water table. Specification Section 31 23 19 requires the Contractor to design and operate the dewatering system. Please confirm by 14:00 on 16 November 2026 that you withdraw this exclusion at no change to your tender sum of AED 21,409,000. If you keep it, we will add its value at our own estimate when we compare the tenders.
Arithmetic errors
The Employer corrects arithmetic errors, and the tenderer is asked to accept each correction in writing. The usual rules in the instructions to tenderers are:
| Error found | What prevails | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The rate times the quantity is not the amount | The rate, and the amount is corrected, unless the decimal point in the rate is plainly misplaced | 1,800 m² at AED 52.00 shown as AED 84,600 is corrected to AED 93,600 |
| The subtotals do not add up to the total | The subtotals, and the total is corrected | Bill subtotals adding up to AED 12,650,000 under a summary of AED 12,560,000: the total becomes AED 12,650,000 |
| Words and figures differ | The words, unless the amount in words comes from an arithmetic error | Twenty-one million four hundred and nine thousand dirhams in words and AED 21,490,000 in figures: the words prevail |
Where the decimal point is plainly in the wrong place, such as a rate of AED 5.20 against an amount of AED 93,600 for 1,800 m², the amount governs and the rate is corrected to AED 52.00. A tenderer that does not accept a correction made under these rules has its tender rejected.
Qualifications and deviations
A qualification, also called a reservation, limits what the tenderer accepts: an exclusion, an assumption or a change to the contract terms. A deviation departs from what the documents require. Sort each one before you compare the prices:
- Material: it changes the scope, quality or performance of the Works, limits the Employer’s rights or the tenderer’s obligations, or would be unfair to the other tenderers if corrected. The tender is not responsive, and a later clarification cannot cure it
- Minor, with a price effect: ask the tenderer to withdraw it at no cost. If it stays, add its value at your own estimate for the comparison only, while the tender price itself does not change
- Minor, about documents: a missing certificate, CV or brochure can be asked for, provided the request has nothing to do with the price
Record every qualification in a qualifications and clarifications schedule, with the tenderer’s response and the value added for comparison. The same schedule later shows which clarifications go into the contract.
Best and final offer
A best and final offer (BAFO) is not part of the FIDIC conditions. On private projects in the UAE and GCC, employers often invite one from the shortlisted tenderers after the clarifications. Public employers may do so only where their procurement rules allow it, so check those first. To keep it fair:
- Say in the instructions to tenderers that a best and final offer may be requested
- Send the same request, on the same day, to every shortlisted tenderer
- Say what may change, such as the price and the listed qualifications, and that nothing else may
- Give one fixed deadline and the form to use, usually a revised form of tender with a price summary
- Ask each tenderer to confirm its tender validity, and to extend the tender bond if it expires soon
- State that the offer is final and that the Employer may accept it without further negotiation
- Open the offers together and record them, as at the tender opening
The request itself can be short:
Following our review of all tenders, we invite you to submit your best and final offer for the Works by 12:00 on 25 November 2026, on the enclosed revised form of tender. Your offer must be based on the tender documents, Addenda 1 to 4 and the clarifications in our letters of 12 and 18 November 2026. You may change only your tender sum and the qualifications listed in Schedule A. Please confirm that your tender remains valid until 31 January 2027. This is the final stage of pricing, and the Employer may accept an offer without further negotiation.
From clarification to contract
What was agreed after the tender must reach the contract, or it can be lost. Under FIDIC, the Letter of Acceptance includes any memoranda annexed to it and signed by both Parties (Sub-Clause 1.1.1.3), and it ranks above the Letter of Tender and the conditions in the order of priority (1.5). So annex the agreed clarifications, the corrected tender sum and the withdrawn qualifications to the Letter of Acceptance, have both Parties sign them, and list them in the Contract Agreement, signed within 28 days (1.6).
Annex only what was agreed. A query log with open questions, or the minutes of a negotiation annexed whole, can bring into the contract points that were never settled.
Common mistakes
- Answering a query to one tenderer only, or naming the tenderer who asked
- Changing the documents in a query reply or meeting minutes instead of an addendum
- Issuing an addendum days before the deadline without extending it
- Asking only one tenderer about a point that affects every tender
- Inviting a lower price in a clarification letter
- Accepting an unasked clarification that improves a tender
- Letting the tender validity or the tender bond expire during the evaluation
- Sending the Letter of Acceptance without the agreed clarifications annexed
