Two MWBE outreach ads went out this week for a boilers-and-asbestos abatement job at CUNY Baruch College's South Campus — one due November 2, the other November 3 — pointing subs toward Vernon Construction & Development as the prime chasing the work. Anyone pricing off those ads alone would be working blind.
The actual prime contract is a DASNY solicitation, number 381120, and DASNY's own site carries real numbers the board doesn't: an estimated $6 million to $7 million range, a project labor agreement governing the trades on site, a pre-bid meeting on October 15, and a bid date of November 5 — two days after the later of the two sub-ad deadlines. None of that made it into the board's note for the matching RFI row.
“A sub quoting off the ad alone has no idea the prime hasn't even opened bids yet.”
That's backwards. A sub quoting to Vernon off the November 2 or 3 ad needs to know the prime doesn't even open bids until November 5, that there's a PLA setting wage and hiring terms for the job, and that the job is priced in the $6-7 million band before putting a number on paper. Subs who build their number around the ad date alone risk submitting into a vacuum — the prime isn't committed to anything until its own bid opens.
The lesson here isn't about this one job. It's that a sub-outreach ad and a prime solicitation are two different documents with two different deadlines, and the prime's own agency page — not the ad soliciting you — is where the real bid date, estimate, and labor terms live. Check the agency's own posting before you price off someone else's flyer.