Apparent low bidder
The apparent low bidder is the bidder whose submitted price is lowest as read, before any review of scope, responsiveness, or qualifications has been done.
Also written as apparent low bid, apparent low.
Last updated
Reviewed by Eric Collin · President and Founder of Firmo Construction, 20+ years in preconstruction and bid evaluation
The word doing the work is apparent. It describes the number on the page at bid opening, and it carries no claim that this bidder is actually the lowest cost to the project or even eligible for award.
It changes often. A bid can be low because it excluded work the others carried, because it missed an addendum, because it assumed a shorter schedule, or because it made an arithmetic error. Each of those is discovered by reading rather than by adding, and each can reorder the field once corrected.
This is the whole argument for leveling in one term. The apparent low bid and the adjusted low bid are different concepts, and the gap between them is precisely what leveling measures. An award made on the first without checking the second is an award made on an unverified number.
On public work the apparent low bidder is announced at opening and then evaluated for responsiveness and responsibility before award, so the phrase has a formal life: it names a status that is real but provisional.
- Bid leveling
Bid leveling is the process of adjusting subcontractor bids onto a common scope so their prices can be compared like for like.
- Bid tabulation
A bid tabulation, or bid tab, is the table that sets every bid for a package side by side so their prices and scope can be read against each other.
- Addendum
An addendum is a formal change to the bid documents issued by the design team during the bidding period.
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