Scope gap
A scope gap is work required by the project that no bidder included in its price, because every bidder assumed someone else was carrying it.
Also written as scope gaps, gap in scope.
Last updated
Reviewed by Eric Collin · President and Founder of Firmo Construction, 20+ years in preconstruction and bid evaluation
Gaps open at the seams between trade packages. Roof curbs sit between mechanical and roofing; equipment pads between mechanical and concrete; access panels between the trade needing access and the trade building the wall. Each bidder excludes the item as belonging to the other, both exclusions are reasonable read in isolation, and the work ends up in nobody's price.
They also open inside a single package, when an item appears in the specifications but not on the drawings, or is added by an addendum that a bidder priced before receiving.
A scope gap is not the same as a low bid. A bid that excludes work is visible — the exclusion is written down, usually as NIC or "by others". A gap is what remains after every exclusion has been read and no bidder has claimed the item. That makes it a subtraction problem across all bidders at once, not something you can catch by reading one proposal carefully.
The cost of missing one is asymmetric. Caught during leveling, it is a line added to a comparison and priced competitively while bidders still want the job. Caught after award, it is a change order negotiated with the only contractor who can now do the work.
- Bid leveling
Bid leveling is the process of adjusting subcontractor bids onto a common scope so their prices can be compared like for like.
- NIC (not in contract)
NIC — "not in contract" — is the notation a bidder uses to mark work it has deliberately excluded from its price.
- Addendum
An addendum is a formal change to the bid documents issued by the design team during the bidding period.
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