Those of us who have been in the business of designing and building blast resistant buildings for a long time have seen RFP and Tender documents evolve from a single line statement (e.g. “Meet ISC Security Criteria”) to long lists of referenced documents and required approaches.   The problem is, that if not carefully and meticulously developed, these longer long lists can be less informative and more confusing than that single statement we used to get.

RFP and Tender documents, whether they be for design or assessment, for new or existing buildings, are often incomplete and/or self-contradictory.  This can lead to proposals from consultants and contractors that:

• Do not address all of the blast resistant requirements that the owner intended, and
• Are so different from each other that it is impossible for the owner to adequately judge which is the best value offer.

While there are many complexities and nuances that need to be considered, there are a few items that must be included and considered in RFP and Tender Documents.

The three major essentials are:

• Threat Scenarios.  Conveying the applicable threat scenarios is critical because this is what tells the blast engineer what loads are going to be imposed on the building façade and structure.   The threat scenarios can be included as explosive weights and locations, pressures and impulses, or based on a reference to a standards document (available to all bidders) that clearly defines the same.
• Level of Protection.   The level of protection defines the response of the structure or façade elements to the blast loads.  This can be conveyed as an actual level of protection (e.g. Low, Medium, High) as defined by a referenced criteria or standard document, as specific response limits (calculated ductilities and rotations for different structural and façade elements), or in narrative form describing the acceptable types of damage and injuries.  Note that the narrative form can still result in inconsistent tender responses because it leaves the interpretation of the narrative up to each of the different bidders.
• Governing Guidelines, Criteria, or Standards Documents.  Since the September 11^th attacks, the number of government agencies, engineering and design organizations, and private companies who have developed guidelines, standards, and criteria documents is overwhelming.   Just trying to keep an updated list of all the documents (and their most recent versions) can be a full time job.  While all of the documents have the same objective – provide direction on how to implement blast resistant design – they vary widely in their approach and protection philosophies.  Prior to developing an RFP or Tender document, owners should determine which documents (or portions of documents) they want their project to use, and should make sure they understand the implications of that decision from both a cost and a protection standpoint.  By referencing a specific document, owners can provide clear direction to bidders with respect to analytic approach and requirements.

Our next blog post will discuss how to select the appropriate guidelines and criteria documents, or how to develop your own.

Check out our upcoming Webinars and Face-to-Face Course for more in-depth information.