NIC vs by others
What is the difference between NIC and "by others" on a bid?
Both mark work a bidder is not pricing, but they say different things about who does it. "NIC" — not in contract — means the work is outside this bidder's scope and says nothing about who else will do it. "By others" asserts that some other party is handling it. NIC leaves a hole; "by others" points at someone, and that someone is frequently a party who never agreed to it.
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Reviewed by Eric Collin · President and Founder of Firmo Construction, 20+ years in preconstruction and bid evaluation
The difference in one line
NIC is a statement about this bidder. By others is a statement about somebody else. That is the whole distinction, and it matters because only one of the two can be wrong about a third party.
A bidder writing NIC is telling you where its scope ends. It is not claiming to know what happens beyond that line, and it is not making a claim that can turn out to be false — it simply is not pricing that work.
A bidder writing "by others" is making an assertion about the project: that another trade, the general contractor, or the owner is carrying this. That assertion may be correct, may be an assumption, or may be wishful. The proposal does not distinguish between the three.
Why it changes how you read a bid
Read as exclusions they look identical, and both get transcribed into the same column of a bid tab. Read as information they are not: one is a boundary, the other is a referral.
The failure mode is specific. When two bidders in adjacent packages both write "by others" about the same item, each is pointing at the other, and the item is in nobody's price. That is a scope gap created entirely by two reasonable-looking sentences. Two NICs on the same item produce the same gap, but they announce it more honestly — neither bidder has claimed anyone is handling it.
The practical test is to treat every "by others" as a question rather than a statement: who, specifically, and have they priced it? A named party who has confirmed the scope is information. An unnamed one is an assumption in the shape of a fact.
What to do with each during leveling
Both belong in the same place — an exclusions line on the tab, carried at a real number rather than at zero — but they warrant different follow-up.
For NIC, the question is whether the work is in another package you have already bid. Often it is, and the item closes with no further cost. When it is not, it needs an allowance and an owner.
For "by others", the question is who. Chase the named party and confirm in writing. If the proposal names nobody, treat it exactly as NIC until someone tells you otherwise, because an unverified referral and an admitted gap are the same financial position.
Neither is a reason to discount a bidder. Both are ordinary and usually honest; what is expensive is reading them as equivalent and closing only one of them.
- NIC (not in contract)
- NIC — "not in contract" — is the notation a bidder uses to mark work it has deliberately excluded from its price.
- By others
- "By others" is a note a bidder places against work it is not pricing, indicating the work is expected to be performed by some other party.
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