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Tender review reads your estimate and the project documents you choose, then points out things worth a second look: scope that might be missing, prices that look off, conditions that clash with your qualifications, and quantities that don’t match your takeoff. It also compares your prices with recent tenders from the same office. It advises; you decide what to change.
Tender review is being rolled out gradually. If you don’t see Tender review in Tender Submission, it isn’t turned on for your company yet.
Anyone who can open the estimate can run a review. Tender review works on tender estimates only. A new review can only start while the tender is in progress. On a tender that has been submitted, won, or not won, past reviews stay to read, and you can still change finding statuses. To review a submitted tender again, select Revise tender first. To check your quantities, units and schedule items against the takeoff instead, use Schedule review.

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Start a review

  1. Open Tender Submission in the estimate workspace.
  2. Select Tender review.
  3. Select Start a review.
Stralos looks through your project documents and picks out the ones worth checking. Then it shows Choose the documents to review.

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Choose the documents

The documents are in three groups:
  • Used in this estimate: documents the estimate already uses. These start ticked.
  • Recommended: documents Stralos suggests checking, each with a short reason. These start ticked.
  • Other documents: the rest of the project’s documents. These start unticked. Select Show other documents to see them.
If Stralos can’t suggest documents, only the documents used in the estimate are ticked. Tick any others you want checked. Your company’s own pricing, quote, and submission files are never suggested, because they are not client documents to check. A file counts as your own when its folder is named for pricing, quotes, or submissions, or its name includes submit. If the estimate is priced from one, it stays ticked under Used in this estimate. To find documents in a large project, use the folder list beside the documents (a Folder dropdown on narrow screens) and the Search documents box. Choosing a folder or searching only changes what is shown: documents you have already ticked stay ticked. Select all in this folder and Clear this folder tick or untick the documents shown. While you are searching they read Select all shown and Clear shown. If ticking them all would go over 60 documents, Stralos ticks as many as it can and says so. Chips on each document in Used in this estimate show how the estimate uses it: Each document also shows whether it can be read: Untick any documents you want to leave out, then select Start review. If some of your selected documents still need reading, the button reads Prepare files and start review. Use Select all documents to tick or untick every document that can be read. You can select up to 60 documents for one review. If you select none, Stralos still checks your prices and quantities, but it can’t look for scope gaps or clause clashes. Reading a document for a review doesn’t add it to the estimate or create any document suggestions. Supplier rate files imported through the Resource library are read where they are; they aren’t added to the project’s documents. Select Cancel to stop without starting a review.

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While the review runs

Once you start, Stralos shows the review’s progress in four steps. The current step is highlighted.
  1. Reading your documents: shows how many of your chosen documents are ready, for example Reading your documents (3 of 5 ready).
  2. Gathering your estimate: when it’s done, shows how many estimate items and clauses were gathered, and how many recent tenders from the same office were found to compare against.
  3. Checking scope, clauses, pricing and quantities: the AI reviews your estimate against the documents. A large review runs in two parts, and the step shows Part 1 of 2 finished as each part completes.
  4. Checking quotes against the documents: Stralos confirms that the quotes in each finding really appear in the documents.
If any selected documents still need reading, the heading reads Getting your documents ready and step 1 lists each document’s progress. You can:
  • Select Check now without them to start straight away with the documents that are ready.
  • Select Cancel check to stop.
Time so far shows how long the review has been running since you started it. A review usually takes 2 to 5 minutes. You can leave the page and come back; the review carries on. If it runs for more than 10 minutes, Stralos says it’s taking longer than usual. It keeps going. While the AI works, a line under the steps says what it is looking at (starting Now:) or names the finding it is writing (starting Writing up:).

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Findings while the review runs

Findings appear under Found so far as the AI writes them. They are provisional: These might change while we finish checking. A finding marked Still checking is one whose quotes Stralos is still matching to the documents. You can’t open citations or set a status on these findings yet. A finding whose quotes can’t be confirmed is taken out, and Stralos shows a count such as 2 findings left out because we couldn’t confirm their quotes. When the review finishes, the confirmed results replace everything under Found so far.

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Review the findings

A finished review shows its number, when it started and who started it, then a count of high, medium, and low findings and a short overview. The counts leave out findings you’ve marked Not relevant. A second line counts findings by status, for example 3 to do · 2 fixed · 1 accepted. It only lists statuses that have at least one finding. When you come back to a finished review, Stralos opens it where you left it: the same review, the same filters and the same scroll position. If you opened an estimate item from a finding, that finding is highlighted for a moment. Moving to a different project clears this, so the next time you come back you start from the top. Another estimate in the same project keeps its own place. Findings are grouped under Scope gaps, Pricing, Clauses and conditions, and Quantities vs takeoff. If a group has no findings, Stralos says how many documents it read for that group, for example We read 12 documents and found no scope gaps. If no documents were read, it says so. Within each group, the most severe come first:
  • High: likely to cost money, or win or lose the job, if not fixed.
  • Medium: worth checking before you send the tender.
  • Low: for information.
On a new review, findings of the same kind and severity that cover exactly the same two or more items are merged into one, keeping the detail and suggested actions of each. If the overview names a concern that no finding covers, it gets a finding of its own. Each finding has a title and detail, and may also include:
  • What to do: a suggested next step.
  • Item buttons: select one to open that estimate item. They are in item number order.
  • Citations: select one to open the document at the quoted page. The quoted text shows under the citation. A citation from an imported supplier file is shown as text marked (imported supplier file), because there is no project document to open.
  • From recent tenders: for a finding from the office comparison, the matching items in past tenders, each with the project name, outcome, date, item and unit cost. A finding about markup or margin also shows each past tender’s markup or margin. An item matched as similar work rather than the same rate or activity shows Matched as a similar item.
A citation opens the document in a read-only drawer. Once the file has passed its virus scan, select Download in the drawer header to open the original file in a new browser tab. If the download fails, the drawer shows a message and the document stays open. Findings marked Found by a built-in check come from fixed checks on the estimate itself rather than from the documents. They cover:
  • Items with no price or no build-up.
  • Build-up lines with a zero rate, or lines priced below cost or with an unusual markup.
  • Provisional sums.
  • Item quantities that don’t match the takeoff, linked quantities that differ, and takeoff measurements not used in the estimate.
  • Truck hours that are more than 25% short of, or over, the hours the material movements need across the whole estimate. Truck hours priced in a separate cartage or Shared Costs item count too.
  • Material moved with no truck priced anywhere in the estimate.
  • The same plant priced twice in one item, outside an activity.
  • A plant line priced for longer than the item’s duration.
Tender review also looks for contract risks in the documents and in your supplier quote notes, such as long lead times, payment terms, one-sided clauses, and liquidated damages. It flags documents that appear to be for a different project, so you can take them out of the review.

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Compared with recent tenders from this office

At the top of the Pricing group, Stralos compares your estimate with recent tenders from the same office: up to the five tenders the office submitted most recently, whatever their outcome, plus its two most recent wins. The comparison uses every tender from the office, including projects you can’t open yourself. Anyone who can open the estimate can see it. The section shows:
  • The tenders compared, each with its project name, outcome (won, not won or submitted) and date. These are text only, not links.
  • Overall markup or Overall margin, depending on your project’s pricing basis: this tender’s figure, the range across recent tenders with its middle, and the middle of the tenders your office won.
  • Contingency and Indirect costs, when there is something to compare.
  • Prices that stand out: items whose unit cost, markup or margin sits well outside the range for the same items in recent tenders. Each line shows your figure, how far it is from the middle, the range, and how many tenders it was compared with. Select an item to open it. A Similar item badge means the AI matched it to similar work rather than the same rate or activity. If more than five items stand out, select Show all to see the rest.
A Stands out badge marks an overall, contingency or indirect costs figure that sits well outside the recent range. The bigger differences also appear as Pricing findings, marked Found by a built-in check. Costs are compared without adjusting for when each tender was priced or for its size. If fewer than five recent tenders were found, Stralos says to treat the comparison as a rough guide. If it couldn’t match similar items, it says only exact matches were compared. If there was nothing to compare with, or the comparison couldn’t run, the section doesn’t appear and any reason is noted under What we read. The rest of the review still runs. If you change the estimate after a review, the results show Your estimate has changed since this review. Start a new check to see the latest.

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What Stralos read

Select What we read to see how each document was used:

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Filter the findings

Above the findings, a row of section names shows how many findings each section has. Select a section name to show only that section. Use the Section, Severity and Status filters to narrow the list further. Tick as many options as you like in each filter: a finding shows if it matches any ticked option in a filter and all three filters together. Each option shows how many findings it would show. Select Clear filter to reset all three. With nothing ticked under Status, every finding shows except those marked Not relevant. If changing a finding’s status takes it out of the filtered list, Stralos moves your focus to the Status filter so you can bring it back.

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Track findings with a status

Each finding has a status in the top-right corner of its card. New findings start at To do. High and medium findings from the latest review also appear in Ready to submit, each with the same status dropdown and a View in Tender review link back to its card. A status set in either place shows in both. Statuses save as soon as you choose one, and everyone who can open the estimate sees them. Each card shows who last changed its status and when. When you mark a finding Not relevant, Stralos confirms with Marked as not relevant. Select Undo to put the previous status back. To see hidden findings, tick Not relevant in the Status filter, then choose another status to bring one back into the list. Statuses belong to one review. A new review starts with every finding at To do.

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Run another review

Select Start a new check to choose documents and run the review again. Earlier reviews are kept. Previous reviews lists earlier reviews on the estimate, up to the 50 most recent, newest first, each with its date, who started it, its status, and high/medium/low counts. Select one to open its findings. You can change finding statuses on earlier reviews too.

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Limits

  • Up to 60 documents per review.
  • One review at a time on each estimate, and at least a minute between reviews.
  • Your company can run 50 reviews in any 24 hours, counting Tender reviews and Schedule reviews together. After that, Stralos shows Your company has used today’s 50 reviews (Tender reviews and Schedule reviews together). Please try again tomorrow.

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If a review doesn’t finish

Stralos shows This review didn’t finish. with the reason. Select Try again to start a new review. If the review had found anything before it stopped, those findings stay under Found before it stopped, each marked Not confirmed. Treat them as a starting point only, and start a new review for confirmed results.