Your Proposal Agent Checks Every Form and Bond Before the Bid Goes
The EngageSuite360 Proposal Agent assembles everything a bid package needs besides the price: the bid bond, the insurance certificates, the signed forms and every addendum acknowledgment. The person it frees is your estimator, who today spends the final hours before a deadline hunting for forms instead of finishing the number.
What it takes off your plate
Every estimator knows bid day. The takeoff is done and the sub quotes are coming in. Then the requirements list comes out: bid form, bid bond, acknowledgment of each addendum, a list of subcontractors, a non-collusion affidavit, insurance certificates, licenses. Some are fillable, some need a notary, some need the owner's signature.
The bond request goes to the surety late. An addendum issued last week is missed in the acknowledgment. Someone prints the old version of the bid form. The bond amount is figured under pressure and comes out wrong. A strong number gets rejected as non-responsive, and the whole preconstruction effort is lost for a paperwork reason.
What the Proposal Agent does, step by step
The Proposal Agent starts with the requests that take other people's time, then checks the package behind them.
- Requests the bid bond early. As soon as a bid is set up, the agent emails your surety agent with the project, owner, bid date and bond requirement, and follows up until the bond is in hand.
- Collects certificates and licenses. It requests current insurance certificates from your broker and confirms licenses on file are current for the project's location.
- Tracks addenda. It checks the plan room or owner's portal for addenda, alerts the estimator to each new one, and makes sure each is acknowledged on the bid form.
- Asks for signatures in time. It sends the forms that need an owner or officer signature, or a notary, with the deadline and follows up.
- Fills the forms. It populates company information, license numbers and project details into the required forms from your records.
- Checks the package. It compares the package against the requirements list, confirms the latest version of each form, and cross-checks the bond amount against the bid requirement once the estimator enters the final number.
- Packages for submission. It assembles the files in the order the owner asks for and confirms receipt after submission.
The price and the decision to submit stay with the estimator and the owner. The agent makes sure nothing else holds it back.
Where the work is recorded
Every step lands in EngageSuite360, the CRM built for construction. On each bid, the requirements checklist shows each item, its status and who was asked, with the next step written out: "Bond received from surety; addendum three acknowledged; owner signature on bid form due at noon."
On the contacts for your surety agent, broker and the owner's representative, every request and reply is logged. Bid documents live in the project management and estimating tools you already use, such as Procore and PlanSwift, with the agent linking the final package to the bid.
The next morning, the estimator opens a short list: bids this week with missing items, bonds requested and received, new addenda, and signatures still out.
What your people do instead
Your estimator stays on the number: scope review, sub coverage and the conversation with the owner about value. Your principal spends bid day on strategy, not the copier. Your project managers answer the client's pre-bid questions with a clear head. When an owner's representative calls with a question about the bid documents, the person who answers can see every addendum, every request and every reply on the bid record, and gives a confident answer instead of promising to check. That calm on bid day is something owners remember when they build their next list of invited bidders.
That is the division of work. The Proposal Agent keeps the requests, forms and checks moving. Your people win the work and keep clients confident. For the sub quotes that feed the price, see how the subcontractor quote collection agent reclaims your estimator's focus. After award, read how the submittal agent frees your project manager.
One next step
Put the EngageSuite360 Proposal Agent on your next bid and let your estimator get back to the number. Start with the CRM built for construction companies, where contacts, clients, projects and bids already have their own records.
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