Canada’s most advanced online bidding solution is completed this week with the activation of a fully digital solution for submitting bid bonds on construction procurement projects.
The introduction of e-bonding technology to the British Columbia Construction Association’s BidCentral platform brings the full spectrum of bid and project management tools online into one place. The protocol involves advanced, legally-rigorous digital signing and sealing procedures.
With millions of project dollars being managed through BidCentral, meeting the highest standards of the Surety Association of Canada (as well as the business needs of owners and contractors) is vital.
The law firm of Jenkins Marzban Logan LLP reviewed the legal requirements of a valid and enforceable bid bond in an electronic transaction. They have published a paper (Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Legal Analysis of the Validity and Enforceability of Electronic Bid Bonds) that finds “there should be no legal impediment to the validity and enforceability of electronic bid bonds in British Columbia or any other jurisdiction with similar electronic transactions legislation and common law principles.”
The e-bonding protocol moves the construction industry to a new level of sustainability, speed, accuracy, and security.
BidCentral Online Bidding for Subcontractors (BOBS) requires the parties to a bid bond contract to be authenticated through an online process and to digitally sign and seal bonds. It is anticipated that owners accepting prime contractor bids online will shortly move to this new protocol. The technology was developed for the BCCA by Infinite Source Solutions, Inc.
“BidCentral and BOBS is now a complete, secure online system for the entire procurement process and provides the construction industry with technological advances that should be the envy of other sectors,“ says Manley McLachlan, BCCA President. “Construction owners and contractors are increasingly looking to move their projects online and to be able to offer this to our industry is a major step forward.”
The e-bonding protocol will make it easier for more private and public owners to move their bidding projects online, thereby increasing the transparency of the process and serving the best interests of the industry, as detailed in “Fair and Transparent: Implementing the CAMF in British Columbia”.
BidCentral is managed for the industry by the BCCA and its four regional construction associations.
www.bidcentral.ca
