Critical Thinking – Alternate Scenario (Contractor)

SCENARIO: James, an estimator at ADOT, is about to send a project he estimated out for proposal when he receives word from the environmental technician that the site being developed includes contaminated soil. He decides to include “Removal of contaminated soil” as an alternate to see if he can get the cost covered by the contractor.

You are the contractor seeking to win the contract. Which of the following would be the best option for developing an alternate estimate for the contaminated soil?

  1. Add the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item, then estimate the contaminated soil in the CBS and assign it to the pay item. Use the Suspend feature to toggle the pay item on and off, repricing the estimate each time.

  2. Use the Snapshot feature to create a second version of the estimate with the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item and estimate included. You can compare the original estimate to the snapshot copy of the estimate containing the alternate.

  3. Add the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item, then estimate the contaminated soil in the CBS and assign it to the pay item. Control whether the pay item is included using the Alternate Scenario drop-down.

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Critical Thinking – Alternate Scenario (Contractor)

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Which of the following would be the best option for developing an alternate estimate for the contaminated soil?

  1. Add the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item, then estimate the contaminated soil in the CBS and assign it to the pay item. Use the Suspend feature to toggle the pay item on and off, repricing the estimate each time.

    2. Suspending the pay item removes it from the estimate effectively, but this process is more cumbersome, since you have to suspend each item manually and reprice each time.

  2. Use the Snapshot feature to create a second version of the estimate with the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item and estimate included. You can compare the original estimate to the snapshot copy of the estimate containing the alternate.

    This gives you nice visibility of the two versions of the estimate side by side but is a bit laborious to develop and manage.

  3. Add the “Removal of contaminated soil” pay item, then estimate the contaminated soil in the CBS and assign it to the pay item. Control whether the pay item is included using the Alternate Scenario drop-down.

    This is the most efficient approach. The Alternate Scenarios drop-down makes it easy to select and deselect alternates, and the pricing updates automatically. This is the easiest way to toggle between scenarios with a few clicks.