Arrangements for administrating and managing a construction project

Abstract

In some embodiments, a construction project administration system and method are disclosed that queries an administrator as to ownership, construction specifications, bidding parameters etc. for a proposed construction project using active first, second and third level questions and accepts and stores replies to the active questions. The stored replies can be compared to predetermined answers, and questions that become irrelevant based on the answers can be deactivated and taken off a list of questions to be asked. After a sufficient amount of questions are answered, the system can auto-configure a process for online construction management. For example a website can be set up that can be used by all parties to the project to automate communications, the exchange of data, status updates etc. including the submission of bids, acceptance of bids, and the award of contracts and many more paperless construction management features.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer program product to facilitate configuring and administration of a bid letting for a construction project using bid parameters, including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
 publish an invitation to bid via a server, the invitation having a contractor registration form to accept contractor information, and provide contractor qualifications, bidding requirements, bidding deadlines, and construction specifications to potential bidders using a client based browser;   acquire information to determine if the potential contractor is qualified as a bidder, using the server to communicate with the potential contractor's client machine running a browser application, the server querying the potential contractor via the client machine using a hierarchical menu driven format to request and accept information about the potential contractor, the information to include contact information, credentials, and answers to specific qualification queries transmitted; and   where the queries sent to the client machine are organized and sent in a hierarchical format where a potential contractor's answers to an initial group of questions will have the highest likelihood of disqualifying the potential contractor from the bidding process, and make certain subsequent questions for the potential contractor moot.   
     
     
         22 . The computer program product of  claim 21 , further comprising storing input from the potential contractor and comparing the input to predetermined answers and templates at the server and registering the potential contractor as an authorized bidder if the contractor information is in compliance with bid parameters. 
     
     
         23 . The computer program product of  claim 21 , further comprising storing input from the potential contractor and comparing the input to predetermined answers and templates at the server and not registering the potential contractor as an authorized bidder if the contractor information is not in compliance with bid parameters. 
     
     
         24 . The computer program product of  claim 23 , further comprising transmitting a notice of non-compliance with one of the bidding requirements and contractor requirements in response to the not registering of a potential contractor. 
     
     
         25 . The computer program product of  claim 24 , further comprising transmitting possible remedies to the potential contractor suggesting possible remedies to bring the potential contractor into compliance. 
     
     
         26 . The computer program product of  claim 21 , further comprising classifying potential contractors as one of an administrator, an architect, an engineer, a general contractor, a materials supplier, an inspector or a sub-contractor. 
     
     
         27 . The computer program product of  claim 22 , further comprising automatically sending login credentials for access to additional on-line bidding processes, on-line bidding information and construction project information to qualified bidders. 
     
     
         28 . The computer program product of  claim 27 , further comprising classifying potential contractors as one of an administrator, an architect, an engineer, a general contractor, an inspector or a sub-contractor and providing and restricting access to certain information of the on-line bidding process and construction project information based on the classification of the potential contractor using the login credentials sent. 
     
     
         29 . The computer program product of  claim 22 , further comprising automatically sending updates to authorized bidders if updates are made to the bidding process. 
     
     
         30 . The computer program product of  claim 22 , further comprising automatically sending reminders to authorized bidders based on a preconfigured reminder settings and published deadlines for the bidding process. 
     
     
         31 . The computer program product of  claim 21 , further comprising electronically publishing to update authorized bidders the status of the bid process and approaching deadlines associated therewith to include: bid successfully submitted, bid accepted, a bid let and who was the winning bidder. 
     
     
         32 . The computer product of  claim 21 , further comprising automatically monitoring online activity to detect abnormal behavior regarding access to and behavior with respect to activities on one or more websites used to facilitate the process and to determine compliance with parameters based on the preconfigured process. 
     
     
         33 . A method for managing a construction project bidding and bid letting process using bidding framework parameters, vis a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
 publish an invitation to bid via a server, the invitation having a contractor registration form to accept contractor information, and provide contractor qualifications, bidding requirements, bidding deadlines, and construction specifications to potential bidders using a client based browser;   acquiring information to determine if the potential contractor is qualified as a bidder, using the server to communicate with the potential contractor's client machine, the server querying the potential contractor via the client machine using a hierarchical menu driven format to request and accept information about the potential contractor, the information to include contact information, credentials, and answers to specific qualification queries transmitted; and   where the queries sent to the client machine are organized and sent in a hierarchical format where a potential contractor's answers to an initial group of questions will have the highest likelihood of disqualifying the potential contractor from the bidding process, and make certain subsequent questions for the potential contractor moot.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising classifying the potential contractor as one of an administrator, an architect, an engineer, a general contractor, a materials supplier, an inspector or a sub-contractor based on the accepted information. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 registering the potential contractor automatically by the server as an authorized bidder if the contractor information is in compliance with bid parameters;   notifying a potential contractor automatically by the server as not in compliance if the information accepted from the contractor is not in compliance with predefined bid parameters;   transmitting a notice of non-compliance automatically by the server with one or more of the bidding requirements in response to a potential contractor not being in compliance with the predefined bid parameters based on the accepted contractor information; and   transmitting prospective corrective actions automatically by the server to the potential contractor in response to not registering the potential contractor.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising transmitting bid and construction specification change notices to qualified bidders based on the classification of the qualified bidder. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising sending login credentials automatically by the server to qualified bidders to be used by the qualified bidders for access to additional on-line bidding information and processes and to additional construction project information. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising automatically electronically transmitting by the server a status of the qualified bidder to the qualified bidder in a bidding process, upcoming deadlines and any compliance issues with the bidding parameters. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising providing general contractors' access to use the server to accept bids for multiple subcontractors. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising automatically awarding a bid to a qualified bidder based on acceptance of the qualified bidders bid submission according to the method by publishing the bidding results via a website.