Gilmore Construction Corporation has been a member of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado for two years and supports their work with the state architect’s office to come up with better bidding practices on projects that are more based on qualifications and not lowest price.

Bryan Cook, chapter operations director of AGC of Colorado, said his organization, joined by members of the American Institute of Architects and the American Council of Engineering Companies, have been meeting for three years as a task force to come up with these best practices.

“When the economy turned south, a lot of the projects were just bid solely on price, and a lot of the times you get what you pay for,” Cook said. “So this task force is looking at ways for owners to get the right team on the project.”

The task force is working on a ranking system focusing on firm qualifications.

“It comes down to it’s the best value for the owner, and the best value for the owner is getting the right team on there … so we’re hoping qualification-based bidding would get best value for the owner,” Cook said. Task force members are employing what they’ve seen on the market over the past few years to develop these best practices. They’re still in discussions with the state architect’s office about next steps to change processes.

“It’s more of a marathon than it is a race,” Cook said.

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