Every Unanswered RFI on a Security Bid Becomes a Price Assumption

This month our team sent a design consultant 24 questions on an access control, video and intrusion bid. For each one we wrote down what we would assume if it went unanswered.

23 answers confirmed what we already carried. One changed the storage server model, and with it the price.

Now picture three integrators bidding the same job, each making their own calls on those 24 items. You get three numbers that cannot be compared.

What owners and consultants can do before bid day

1. Answer every RFI in writing and issue the answers to all bidders.
2. Ask each bidder to list the assumptions behind their number.
3. Ask how long their manufacturer pricing holds. Vendor quotes can expire before the bid date, and that gap tends to come back as a change order.
4. Check that every scope item on the drawings shows up in the cost sheet. A missing intercom line is cheaper to catch now than after award.

A low number built on different assumptions is not a lower price. It is a different scope.