E-commerce bid and project management system and method for the construction industry

A bidding system for the real estate, development, building and construction industries, said system comprising:

• means for preparing bid documents by architects and owners;
• means for evaluating and re-packaging said bid documents into bid packages by general contractors;
• means for distributing said bid packages to subcontractors by said general contractors;
• means for performing quantity take-offs and soliciting request for quotes from suppliers, wholesalers and building product manufacturers by said subcontractors;
• means for preparing bids by said suppliers, wholesalers and building product manufacturers and for submitting said bids to said subcontractors;
• means for evaluating request for quotes and compiling bids by said subcontractors for submitting to said general contractors;
• means for evaluating bids received from said subcontractors and for compiling totals into a base bid by said general contractors;
• and
• means for submitting said base bid by said general contractors to said owners and architects.

A method for bidding real estate and construction development projects, said method comprising the steps of:

• preparing bid documents by architects and owners;
• evaluating and re-packaging said bid documents into bid packages by general contractors;
• distributing said bid packages to subcontractors by said general contractors;
• performing quantity take-offs and soliciting request for quotes from suppliers, wholesalers and building product manufacturers by said subcontractors;
• preparing bids by said suppliers, wholesalers and building product manufacturers and for submitting said bids to said subcontractors;
• evaluating request for quotes and compiling bids by said subcontractors for submitting to said general contractors;
• evaluating bids received from said subcontractors and for compiling totals into a base bid by said general contractors;
• and
• submitting said base bid by said general contractors to said owners and architects.

A project management system for managing a plurality of functions for the real estate, development, building and construction industries, said system comprising:

• technical infrastructure means for enabling the system and for facilitating receiving, storing, and exchanging information;
• and
• function management means, coupled to said technical infrastructure means, for managing at least one of said plurality of functions utilizing information stored in said technical infrastructure means, and for accessing, updating, maintaining, exchanging and manipulating said information in said technical infrastructure means;
• wherein said plurality of functions include design, bidding, building or construction, and maintenance functions;
• and
• wherein said at least one plurality of project functions comprises means for collaborating bids between owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and building product manufacturers.