BidVue Case Study: Ragnar Benson Construction

Key bidvue benefits – rbc

• • More bids received from qualified bidders
  • Faster bidding process – by up to 50%
  • Fewer questions from bidders

Background

Ragnar Benson Construction (RBC) is a full-service General Contractor/Construction Manager that has been based in Park Ridge and Chicago, IL, for over 90 years.  RBC’s clientele turn to them for professional, innovative, and collaborative approaches to their construction projects.

In the last few decades, RBC has successfully expanded their business throughout the country, and they have worked to expand the types of projects on which they work.  Their portfolio of completed projects is now made up of a wide range of different types, including everything from hospitals, office buildings, zoos, sports facilities, higher education and rail, to name a few.

Bidding & Document Management Challenges

An increased geographic and project diversity meant that RBC had to work with many unfamiliar and dispersed vendors and subcontractors.  In turn, several key challenges arose when bidding out work, including:

• • Maintaining control over prequalification and evaluation reporting
  • Managing timelines and notifications of pending bid submissions
  • Scaling access for all trades and contacts to the latest bid documentation
  • Standardizing documentation formats and filing methods

RBC had been using a fax-based bidding system that was not meeting these challenges as the company expanded.  In 2006, they began a search for a new tool that would improve their current operations and be scalable to meet their future expansion needs.

The Solution:  BidVue

After a review of the options they had available to them, RBC selected BidVue by StratusVue as their tool for managing the bidding process companywide.

“BidVue offered us all the functionality we were looking for in an easily accessible web-based platform,” said Debbie Eaker, Estimating Coordinator at Ragnar Benson.  “It also offered great value because we didn’t need to worry about per-seat or per-project licensing issues and could maximize our use of the tool.”

Some of the specific features that led to RBC selecting BidVue included:

• • One central, easily accessible repository for current & past documents
  • No file size or file type restrictions
  • Maintenance of an electronic bid book that can be utilized for future work
  • Multiple levels of access to manage call sheets and follow-up communications
  • Role-based environment for managing pre-qualification data

In addition, the services provided by StratusVue offered additional benefits.  Bidders would be able to receive personalized training sessions to ensure they understood how to use the system, and the StratusVue support team would be available to help ensure document quality and proper indexing.

Impact & Results

RBC fully implemented BidVue in the spring of 2009.  They began to see improvements in their bidding process almost immediately.

“It is so much faster and simpler to distribute our bid packages using BidVue,” Eaker said.  “We are able to manage what’s happening all across the country, and with the quality of the product, we consistently reach more bidders and get higher quality responses.  BidVue has made a big contribution towards our growth.”

Since implementation, RBC has used BidVue to manage the bidding process on hundreds of projects across the country.  They have experienced improvements such as:

• • More qualified companies bidding on their projects
  • Shorter bidding timelines
  • Fewer questions from bidders about what to bid on

Thanks to BidVue, Ragnar Benson receives better bid results in a shorter timeframe, and has the ability to continue scaling for future growth.

Key System Usage Statistics (Aug 2012 – July 2013)

• • Projects Bid…………………………………………81
  • Invitations Sent To Prospective Bidders……19,541
  • Bid Responses Received……………………….7,555
  • Plans Accessed Through the System……..183,602