• Home
• News & Events
• Contact Us

BID2WIN Software in the News

Bidding To Win

Staff
February 4, 2005
Construction Bulletin

In 1994, the firm now known as BID2WIN Software Inc., created the first approved program to produce computer-generated bid sheets for highway authorities and departments of transportation.

"Today," said Paul McKeon, president, BID2WIN , "thousands of construction company estimators throughout North America are taking advantage of our services to provide the power, flexibility and ease-of-use that our system lends to the estimating process.

"In 1995, we introduced Power Bid — the first computerized estimating program designed exclusively for paving contractors.

"Three years later, we rolled out BID2WIN , the first construction estimating program built from the ground up for Windows 95 and Windows NT. In 1998, we achieved international recognition as the construction industry's solution of choice for cost estimating made simple.

"We worked with more than 50 major construction companies to make sure that BID2WIN would flow the way the estimating process flows."

BID2WIN , headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., has been nationally recognized as a firm that has the ability to create tailored estimating and bidding software for heavy/highway contractors throughout the U.S. The firm's software integrates with all available major accounting and project software, thereby making it easy to use as well as being cost-efficient.

"In today's fast-paced, competitive bidding environment, companies need innovative tools for forecasting profit as well as quickly generating quality cost estimates and winning bids," McKeon said.

No construction company estimator can better attest to the effectiveness of BID2WIN than Erik Beggs, an estimator for C.S. McCrossan Inc., Maple Grove, Minn.

"At the time we contacted BID2WIN , we really needed a sound system that could provide us with great support," Beggs said.

Beggs recalled the days when his company had 10 estimators and relied on an in-house spreadsheet system created by an employee who, unfortunately, was no longer with the company.

"If something went wrong with that system, there simply was no one who could get us out of a problem quickly."

It was then that C.S. McCrossan Inc. turned to BID2WIN . Early on, the firm's expertise paid off, as the software company's support staff was able to assist McCrossan's estimators through a last-minute glitch as a bid deadline approached.

The bid eventually submitted was one that eventually earned the company $40 million.

But even before the software system was presented with this major chance to prove itself, all 10 of McCrossan's estimators were easily won over by BID2WIN , according to McKeon.

"Among their favorite features were both the subcontractor management functions and the materials management functions," said McKeon.

"Both of which now help streamline the C.S. McCrossan company's process of working with subcontractors and material vendors."

The system has been credited with improving the construction company's internal communications as well by taking advantage of BID2WIN 's exports to the firm's accounting and project management software packages, Primavera SureTrak and Cheetah StreetSmarts.

"Just about every facet of BID2WIN has made it much easier for us to stay organized," said Beggs.

"And this is critical for a company that relies on a 10-person estimating team."

Support and training from BID2WIN play a critical role, according to Beggs.

"We have had a great experience with BID2WIN 's training services and with their support staff," Beggs said.

"The support is always there for us, whenever we need them."

More important, the system is user-friendly.

"BID2WIN is extremely intuitive and straight-forward," he said. "Anyone with a general computer knowledge will be able to use this program."

According to McKeon, estimators working for construction companies throughout the U.S. now are actively engaged in utilizing BID2WIN for expertise on major highway and street paving projects as well as grading, earthwork, excavation, bridge, tunnel, sewer & water, demolition, environmental, tunneling and various specialty contracting jobs.

Meanwhile, BID2WIN has announced the release of its 2005 Microsoft NET/SQL server version of its Windows-based construction estimating and bidding system.

"BID2WIN 2005 is the culmination of a three-year, multi-million-dollar development effort to re-engineer the existing application using the latest in Microsoft technology," said McKeon.

As the first in its field to become a Microsoft certified partner and the first to embrace NET technology for product development, BID2WIN 's efforts have led to enhanced power levels, performance and flexibility.

"Choosing the right development platform for a mission-critical application such as estimating and bidding can be the difference between success and failure in the construction market," commented Joe Stagner, development technologist for the Microsoft Corporation.

"That's why it is important that BID2WIN chose the Microsoft NET platform coupled with a SQL Server database engine to develop estimating and bidding solutions for contractors. Microsoft NET technology provides the most scalable architecture and flexible format that's easy to use.

"With the Microsoft NET and SQL Server at its core, BID2WIN can run on everything from a laptop computer to an enterprise server implementation that serves hundreds of users simultaneously."

According to McKeon, BID2Win software designers consulted with thousands of North American estimators, managers and IT professionals when designing the new software.

The result is a product for the construction industry that boasts more than 200 new user-requested features.

"This system will enable me to bid jobs must faster and with an even higher degree of accuracy and peace of mind," said John Brunner, project manager for Peter Baker & Son, a paving contractor in Illinois.

BID2WIN is scheduled to be prominently featured at the CONEXPO-CONN/AGG show in Las Vegas March 15–19.