Invitation For Bid - IFB

It’s finally time. We can’t believe it, but after several years of design and construction, our castle is finally built and furnished and it’s time to build the moat.

But we don’t want just any moat, mind you; we want a moat that is wide enough, deep enough, and long enough to accommodate two wakeboard boats at the same time, and also has a shallow play area off to one side for the kiddos. We want it to blend into the landscape, like all natural moats do (right?), but we also want it to have plenty of underwater lights for nighttime moat fun. Oh yeah—and it also needs to be spannable by our drawbridge and protect us against our mortal enemies and all that.

Anyhoo, now that the dream moat has been designed, it’s time to issue an IFB, or invitation for bid. What this means is that we’re asking for bids on the project from contractors who, uh...do these sorts of things. After a specified time period, we’ll review all the bids and select the best moat builder for our needs. Maybe budget is our primary concern, or maybe we’re looking for a construction firm with a strong modern design, or one that builds green. Regardless, the bids we receive should all have all the information we asked for in the IFB—cost, schedule, design, team members, payment terms, etc.—so we can easily compare and make our choice.