Glossary
The Tender Terms, in Plain English
45 terms Malaysian contractors meet in every tender, from BQ to HIRARC.
- BQ (Bill of Quantities)
- The priced list of every item of work in a tender, with description, unit and quantity. The contractor fills in the rates, and the amounts add up to the tender sum.
- Rate Build-Up
- How a BQ rate is made: material, labour and plant costs per unit, plus wastage, plus overheads and profit.
- OH&P
- Overheads and profit, the percentage added to direct cost. AiTenderBid uses 8% as the company default unless you choose otherwise.
- Take-Off
- Measuring quantities from the drawings. AiTenderBid does an independent take-off and flags BQ quantities that differ by more than 5%.
- SMM2
- The Malaysian Standard Method of Measurement of Building Works, second edition (2000), sections A to W.
- SMM3
- The third edition published by RISM in July 2025 with CIDB and the Ministry of Works. 29 sections, adds IBS and MEP, and works with BIM.
- CESMM2 and MyCESMM
- Civil engineering methods of measurement: CESMM2 from ICE (1985, classes A to Y), and MyCESMM from CIDB.
- NRM2
- The RICS New Rules of Measurement for detailed measurement of building works.
- Provisional Sum and PC Sum
- Amounts in the BQ for work not yet defined (provisional) or for named suppliers and subcontractors (prime cost). Priced at the BQ figure or qualified.
- CIDB Grade
- The Construction Industry Development Board registration grade, G1 to G7, which sets the tender value a contractor may bid for, along with category codes such as CE (civil) and B (building).
- Bumiputera Sahaja
- A tender restricted to Bumiputera contractors only.
- ePerolehan and MyProcurement
- The Malaysian government's electronic procurement system and procurement information portal.
- JKR / PWD
- Jabatan Kerja Raya, the Public Works Department, a major public employer at federal and state level.
- PWD 203A
- The standard JKR form of contract for building works with quantities, used for many public projects.
- PAM 2018
- The Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia standard form of building contract, 2018 edition, common in private projects.
- CIDB 2022
- The CIDB standard form of contract for building works, 2022 edition.
- FIDIC
- International standard forms of contract published by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers.
- LAD / LD
- Liquidated and ascertained damages: a pre-agreed sum per day (or week) of delay that the contractor pays for finishing late, as stated in the contract.
- Bid Bond and Performance Bond
- Guarantees from a bank or insurer that the contractor will sign if awarded (bid bond) and will perform the contract (performance bond).
- Retention
- A percentage held back from each payment and released on completion and after the defects period.
- DLP
- Defects liability period: the time after completion during which the contractor must repair defects.
- EOT
- Extension of time to the completion date, granted for qualifying delays.
- Fluctuation
- A clause that adjusts the contract price when material prices such as steel move.
- Time Bar
- A deadline in the contract after which a claim can no longer be made.
- CAR Insurance
- Contractor's all risks insurance covering the works during construction.
- RFQ
- Request for quotation, sent to suppliers and subcontractors to price part of the works.
- RFI / Tender Query
- A written question to the employer or consultant during the tender period, answered for all tenderers.
- Addendum
- A change to the tender documents issued before closing.
- CPM (Critical Path Method)
- The scheduling method that finds the longest chain of linked activities, which sets the finish date.
- Float
- How much an activity can slip without delaying the finish (total float) or the next activity (free float).
- FS, SS, FF, SF
- Programme link types: finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish and start-to-finish.
- Histogram
- A chart of manpower or plant numbers over time, showing peaks.
- ITP
- Inspection and Test Plan: what is inspected or tested, when, against which standard, and whether it is a hold, witness, surveillance or review point.
- Hold Point and Witness Point
- A hold point stops work until released by the inspector. A witness point invites the client to attend.
- HIRARC
- Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control, scored on the DOSH likelihood times severity matrix.
- DOSH
- The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia.
- OSHA 1994
- The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, amended by the OSH (Amendment) Act 2022, in force from 1 June 2024.
- BOWEC 1986
- The Factories and Machinery (Building Operations and Works of Engineering Construction) (Safety) Regulations 1986.
- PQP
- Project Quality Plan, the document that sets out how quality is managed on the project.
- Method Statement
- A step-by-step description of how a piece of work will be done safely and to specification.
- Aluminium Formwork (Mivan)
- A system formwork for walls and slabs that allows fast floor cycles on high-rise buildings, typically 4 to 7 days per floor.
- IBS
- Industrialised Building System: prefabricated and precast components assembled on site.
- GFA
- Gross floor area, used to benchmark cost and quantities per square metre.
- SST
- Sales and Service Tax in Malaysia. RFQ prices default to excluding SST.
- Confidence Score
- In AiTenderBid, a 0 to 100 score for each BQ item showing how its figures were obtained: green 75 and above, amber 50 to 74, red below 50.
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