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Bidding

Section C-6
Substitutions

The Joint Committee recommends that the contract documents clearly indicate the products used for basis of design. The Joint Committee further recommends that when alternative products would be acceptable for use, those products should be listed by manufacturer and should include product model numbers and/or names.

If the contract documents allow for substitutions to be part of the bidding process, there should be clear language that outlines the procedure for submission, the time required prior to bid for a substitution to be properly evaluated, and the criteria that will be used to evaluate the substitution. An addendum should be issued by the Architect which indicates that the requested substitution is acceptable for use under the terms of the contract documents.

Substitutions after the bid date are to be considered Value Engineering and should abide by the Value Engineering recommendations made by the Joint Committee.

The use of terms such as "or equal" and "or approved equal" is discouraged without clear indication of what the architect would consider to be an equal product.

TAGS: Addendum, Substitutions, and Value Engineering.

Glossary Terms for the Best Practices Guide

History of Recommendation:
Approved June, 2010

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