Bid Scope Compliance
Bid Scope Compliance is the engine that checks one vendor's bid against your spec or RFQ. It reports what the vendor covered, partly covered, missed and added without being asked, gives a coverage percentage and critical-gap flags, and recommends bid, no-bid or conditional bid with reasons.
Updated
What is Bid Scope Compliance?
Scope Compliance is the deep read of one vendor's proposal. Upload their bid plus your spec/RFQ, and the engine produces: a coverage percentage, a list of every line item marked covered / partial / missing / extra, critical-gap flags with severity, a pricing summary, and a bid / no-bid / conditional-bid recommendation with reasons.
Where Bid Leveling compares multiple vendors to each other, Scope Compliance compares one vendor to the source of truth. Use it when you're deciding whether a specific bid is complete enough to engage with, or when a bid is the only one you received and you need to judge its fitness.
When should I use Bid Scope Compliance?
Use Bid Scope Compliance when only one vendor has responded and you need to decide whether to accept, reject or negotiate, when you are a subcontractor deciding whether to bid on a package, or when you want a written record of what a vendor did and did not include.
- A single vendor came back — you don't have competing bids to level — and you need to decide whether to accept, reject, or negotiate.
- You're a subcontractor deciding whether to bid on a package (inputs inverted: their RFQ is the spec, your estimate is the bid).
- You want a defensible record of what a vendor did or didn't include, in writing, before a handshake.
What do I upload to Bid Scope Compliance?
Upload two documents, your spec or RFQ and the vendor's bid:
- Spec / RFQ — the authoritative description of what's being bid on.
- Vendor bid — their response.
Formats: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, CSV. Multi-page bids/specs are fine — the engine reads up to ~100,000 characters per document before truncating (with a banner if it does).
How do I run Bid Scope Compliance?
To run Bid Scope Compliance, open it, upload the spec and the bid, optionally switch mode, run the analysis, read the verdict, drill into the gaps, then decide and chain forward.
Open the engine
Sidebar → Engines → Scope Compliance.
Upload spec + bid
Two upload slots. Label matters — spec is the reference, bid is what's being evaluated.
Optionally switch mode
Spec vs Bid / Prime vs Sub Scope — the sub-mode toggle above the upload boxes. Use Prime vs Sub Scope when you're the subcontractor checking your estimate against a GC's RFQ (inputs inverted). Default Spec vs Bid works for most users.
Run analysis
30–50 seconds typical.
Read the verdict
Top: coverage % in a donut, summary narrative, bid decision (BID / BID-WITH-CLARIFICATIONS / NO-BID) with reasons and risk exposure.
Drill into gaps
Critical gaps section lists every missing item with severity (critical / high / medium / low) and a short note on why it matters.
Decide and chain
Chain to Bid Leveling if more bids came in. Chain to Contract Review once you decide to award. Chain to Pay Applications later to verify pay apps against the scope you checked here.
How do I read the Bid Scope Compliance results?
The result shows a coverage donut and a bid or no-bid card, with a line-item status table, critical gaps, a pricing summary and the clarifications needed.
% of spec line items this bid covers. Green ≥90%, amber 70–89%, red <70%.
BID / BID-WITH-CLARIFICATIONS / NO-BID verdict, a numeric score, win probability, risk exposure, and bulleted reasons on each side.
Every spec item flagged COVERED / PARTIAL / MISSING / EXTRA. Extras are items the vendor added that weren't asked for.
Ranked list of missing items by severity. Each gap has an item, severity label, and an explanatory note.
Spec total (if priced), bid total, delta. When the spec is just a narrative, pricing stays blank.
Questions the engine recommends asking the vendor before awarding — surfaces ambiguities you'd otherwise catch mid-project.
Every control, explained
Spec vs Bid / Prime vs Sub ScopeSub-mode toggle above the uploads. Spec vs Bid is the default GC-side check; Prime vs Sub Scope inverts the inputs so a subcontractor can check their own estimate against a GC's RFQ.
Run analysisOne run per click.
Try with sample dataTancredi Electric's bid against the Bridgeport Datacenter Division 26 electrical spec: 78% coverage and two critical exclusions, the UPS and temporary power.
Gap filterToggle between All / Missing / Partial / Extras in the line-item table.
Sort by severityOrders the critical-gaps list by severity descending.
Export PDFFormatted report with verdict, table, and gap detail. Standard artifact for a bid-review file.
Export XLSXRaw line-item status and gap list in spreadsheet form.
Chain to Bid LevelingMove into multi-vendor comparison.
Chain to Contract ReviewMove into clause-by-clause risk review once you decide to award.
Chain to Pay ApplicationsVerify a pay application against the scope requirements you just checked.
Chains
Chains into
Chained from
Exports
- PDF — full report with verdict, coverage chart, line-item table, and gap detail.
- XLSX — raw data, one tab per section.
- CSV — flat gap list.
Troubleshooting
Check that the spec you uploaded is actually the spec — if you uploaded a scope-of-work narrative vs a detailed spec section, the engine sees many spec items and a narrative that covers only the headlines.
The vendor phrased them differently from the spec. Use the chat to ask: "Item X from vendor is the same as spec item Y — re-evaluate."
Spec or bid exceeded 100K characters. Split by section and run each separately.
Read the reasons-not-to-bid list. The engine errs on the side of flagging risks; human judgment still rules. The verdict is an input to your decision, not the decision.
Sources
- MasterFormatConstruction Specifications InstituteThe standard list of numbers and titles used to organize construction specifications, scopes and bid items by division.
- FAR Subpart 14.4: Opening of Bids and Award of ContractAcquisition.gov, Federal Acquisition RegulationHow federal sealed bids are opened and examined, including mistakes in bids and rejection of bids.