Scope & fees
What we do, and what we will not do.
Public bidding punishes vagueness, so the scope is written the way a contract should be: specific about what is included, explicit about what is not.
Section AIncluded
Five things, from the solicitation to the last payroll.
- A.1
Bid identification
Daily monitoring of SAM.gov, your state DOT and the county and municipal portals you name. You get a shortlist with scope, value, bonding and licence requirements, the pre-bid date, and a plain bid-or-pass call.
- A.2
Packet assembly
The instructions to bidders become a checklist for that solicitation. Every form, certification and affidavit completed with your details, every addendum tracked, delivered in submission order with only your signature left to add.
- A.3
Subcontractor and supplier quotes
Invitations go to your bidder list and get chased until they answer, logged in one sheet showing who quoted, who declined and who is silent. Coverage gaps on listed trades are flagged early, not on bid morning.
- A.4
Estimating support
Quantity takeoffs from the plan set, unit-price schedules built and totalled, extensions and alternates checked twice. We do not set your prices or production rates — we make sure the arithmetic behind them is right.
- A.5
Prevailing wage and certified payroll
After award: WH-347s, worker classification against the wage determination, fringe calculation and weekly statements of compliance — filed through whatever portal the awarding authority uses, so payments are never held on paperwork.
Section BNot included
The boundaries, stated up front.
Anyone who tells you these are included is either confused about the rules or hoping you are.
- No signing, no submitting — Every document goes to you for review and signature. Nothing is filed in your name and nobody here speaks to the awarding authority on your behalf.
- No legal advice — Contract interpretation, protests, claims and disputes go to your attorney. We prepare documents; we do not advise on what they mean legally.
- No bonding or insurance — We are not a surety or a broker. We request, chase and track your bonds and certificates. Your surety underwrites them.
- No stamped engineering — No sealed drawings, no design, no professional engineering opinions. Takeoffs are measurement, not design.
- No contingent fees, ever — No percentage of contracts won, no success fee, no commission. FAR 52.203-5 makes that arrangement grounds for the government to annul a federal contract and recover the fee, and state and local solicitations commonly carry an equivalent clause.
Section CFees
Published prices. No proposal, no discovery call to sit through.
Buy one bid at a time or buy the month. Nothing auto-renews into something more expensive, and no rung is priced on what you win.
Packet audit Most start here
$150
Per bid
- You assembled it. We find what is missing
- Line-by-line against the instructions to bidders
- Written defect list before you seal the envelope
- Back within 24 hours
- No commitment beyond the one bid
Packet build
$450
Per bid
- We assemble it. Every form, from scratch
- Certs, affidavits and addenda tracked
- Subcontractor and supplier quotes chased
- Delivered in submission order, ready to sign
- Complex multi-division work quoted at $650–900
Retainer
$1,800
Per month · $2,500 with payroll
- Continuous monitoring across your bid territory
- Up to five packets assembled a month
- Go / no-go read on everything we find
- Addenda turned around within 24 hours
- At $2,500: certified payroll for two active jobs
Why five packets and not fifteen. Five is what one person can do properly in a month alongside quote chasing and payroll. When the month is full you will be told it is full, rather than quietly served worse.
Section DSecond line
Spanish-language trade support.
Separate from the bid work: subcontractor and supplier calls, quote chasing and crew-facing documents handled in Spanish. On plenty of jobs the people holding your numbers are easier to reach in Spanish than in English, and a quote you cannot chase is a quote you do not have. Priced hourly at $40, or folded into a retainer.
Section EQuestions
Asked before every engagement.
What does bid support actually do?
Bid support handles the paperwork side of a public bid: monitoring the portals for solicitations worth bidding, reading the instructions to bidders, assembling every required form and certification, tracking addenda, chasing subcontractor quotes, and preparing certified payroll after award. The contractor still sets the price and signs the bid.
How much does bid packet assembly cost?
A packet build is $450 per bid, and complex multi-division commercial packets are quoted at $650 to $900. A packet audit — checking one the contractor assembled — is $150. A monthly retainer covering portal monitoring and up to five packets is $1,800, or $2,500 with weekly certified payroll.
What makes a public works bid non-responsive?
A bid is non-responsive when it fails a mandatory requirement of the solicitation rather than on price: an unacknowledged addendum, a missing or unnotarised affidavit, an absent subcontractor listing, an expired bond, or arriving after the stated deadline. A non-responsive bid is rejected without the price being considered.
Do you take a percentage of contracts we win?
No, never. Fees are flat and charged for the work whether the bid wins or loses. FAR 52.203-5, the Covenant Against Contingent Fees, makes a contingent fee arrangement grounds for the government to annul a federal contract and recover the fee, so a success-based bid consultant is a liability on an award.
Can you prepare certified payroll and WH-347s?
Yes. After award, that means classifying workers against the applicable wage determination, calculating fringe benefits, preparing the WH-347 and its statement of compliance, and submitting weekly through whatever portal the awarding authority uses. It is offered inside the $2,500 retainer or standalone at $400 a month per active job.
How fast is the turnaround?
Work happens while the contractor's office is closed. Documents sent at the close of a US business day are returned before the next morning, and addenda are turned around within 24 hours. That is a working day the contractor would not otherwise have.
Section FNext bid
Send the one on your desk.
The fastest way to judge any of this is to hand over a live solicitation and see what comes back. The first read costs nothing.