Posted By Peter MacDonald Has anyone out there experienced the 'e-bid' for awarding a contract. I'm dubious at it's merit and the knock on effect on safety performance. For those that don't know the e bid process it involves live bidding on-line directly against your competitors (in our case, large demolition and asbestos removal contracts). You see the lowest bids on the screen and it dares you over a period of time to out bid each other. The client benefits from getting the lowest bid for our services but where does this sit with providing an adequate service at the end of the day. The companies facilitating these e-bids are usually the most stringent in their requirements for health and safety on site. But if you're squeezing every last penny out of a company something has to give. Has anyone out there got an opinion on this?

Posted By Gerry Knowles I have had some experience of E auctions. I found where you were after the cheapest bid for an item of equipment it worked reasonably well. However I did have a bad experience where a company was after a contractor to provide a service. The lowest bid was accepted and the contract was set up. The contract was a disaster and ended up with a manager form the company effectively sitting on the contractor for considerable periods of time ensuring that standards were met and maintained. This was despite all the tnder companies having had a specification of the tasks and standards required. It was not cost effective at the end of the day. I would always prefer to do an eyeball to eyeball with each of the companies who are tendering. Gerry Knowles

Posted By Tyler Soon enough we having tenders put through ebay! My wife bids for handbags on these e-auctions and often waits until the last minute to put the last bid in. When the goods arrive they are usually not worth the money. Hey! Maybe its a sign!!! In other words, cheap is very often not cheerful!