Preparing an HVAC maintenance tender for public buildings

The HVAC systems in hospitals, schools, universities, municipalities and ministry buildings often consist of hundreds of units: split air conditioners, VRF systems, chillers, fan coils, air handling units and server room air conditioners. Maintenance of these units is usually awarded to a contractor by public institutions through an annual tender.

The quality of the tender directly determines the quality of the service received over the year. In this article we summarize, from our field experience, what the institution's technical units should prepare before the tender and what bidders should pay attention to. For details of legal procedures, the legislation in force and the regulations of the Public Procurement Authority should always be taken as the basis.

What legislation does a public maintenance tender fall under?

Public institutions' HVAC maintenance and repair procurements are made under Public Procurement Law No. 4734 and, depending on the nature of the work, are mostly tendered as a service procurement. The contract stage is subject to Public Procurement Contracts Law No. 4735.

The details of implementation are governed by the Public Procurement Authority's (KİK) implementing regulation, standard specifications and standard contracts for service procurements. Tender notice, document procurement, electronic bidding and result notification are carried out through the Electronic Public Procurement Platform (EKAP). The open tender procedure is generally used; for small-value work, direct procurement can also be used within the monetary limits in the legislation.

Why should an equipment inventory be prepared before the tender?

The equipment inventory is the basis of the tender's quantity schedule and estimated cost; if the inventory is wrong, the bids and the contract will be wrong too. The most common problem we see in public buildings is equipment lists prepared years ago and never updated.

For each unit, the inventory should include: equipment type, brand and model, capacity, refrigerant type, year of installation, building and floor, operating mode (seasonal or 24/7) and known faults. For VRF systems, outdoor and indoor unit counts should be listed separately; for chillers and air handling units, pumps, valves and automation components should also be listed.

Update the inventory a few months before the tender, if possible by comparing it with the maintenance reports obtained from the previous year's contractor. Units that were removed, added or scrapped come to light at this stage.

What should the technical specification include?

The technical specification is the document that defines in measurable terms what the contractor will do on each unit, how often, and how it will report. General statements such as 'maintenance will be performed' cannot be inspected at the acceptance stage.

• Maintenance intervals: How many visits per year by equipment type, and the pre-season maintenance dates.
• Work items: Filter cleaning or replacement, coil cleaning, drainage check, pressure, current and temperature measurements, electrical connection check.
• Fault response time: Stated in hours, separately for critical areas (operating rooms, intensive care, server rooms) and other areas.
• Spare parts and consumables: Items included and not included in the price, and how parts costs are calculated.
• Refrigerant: The scope of refrigerant charging and keeping leak check records.
• Reporting: A measurement form per unit at each visit and a year-end summary report.
• Personnel: Certificates and occupational health and safety (OHS) training required of technicians.

We covered separately how these headings should be reflected in the contract in our annual maintenance contract checklist article. In a public tender, the same headings appear in the technical specification and the draft contract.

A specific brand or model should not be requested in the technical specification. Under the competition and equal treatment principles of public procurement legislation, technical specifications are written so that they do not point to a specific brand; where this is unavoidable, the phrase 'or equivalent' is included. It may separately be required that spare parts be compatible with the unit and original or of equivalent quality.

How is the estimated cost calculated?

The estimated cost is the calculation the institution makes in advance to determine the market-condition value of the work being tendered, and it is kept confidential during the tender process. The calculation is generally made using market price research, the previous contract values of similar work and the unit prices of the relevant institutions.

For maintenance work, the soundest method is to build unit prices by equipment type and capacity group. For example, split air conditioners are grouped by capacity range, VRF systems by outdoor unit capacity and chillers by cooling capacity. If a separate item is opened for spare parts, the anticipated quantity should be based on fault records from previous years.

An unrealistically low estimated cost leads serious bidders to stay out of the tender and maintenance to remain on paper during the year. Describing the requested scope exactly in the price research ensures that the prices received are comparable.

How should similar work and the work experience certificate be defined?

The similar work definition determines what kind of work the bidder must have done before and will prove with a work experience certificate. The definition should be clear enough to secure the experience the work requires, and broad enough not to restrict competition unnecessarily.

A narrow definition such as 'maintenance of only a specific brand of chiller' can reduce participation to a few firms. On the other hand, a very broad definition such as 'any kind of maintenance' can allow firms without HVAC experience to qualify as well. Because work experience certificates issued for public work are recorded through EKAP, the institution can verify the submitted documents against these records.

In addition, bidders may be asked for documents appropriate to the nature of the work, such as a TSE Service Qualification Certificate and quality and occupational health and safety management system certificates. Whether the requested documents are among those the legislation permits as qualification criteria should be checked while preparing the tender documents.

How is maintenance inspected during the contract?

Maintenance is inspected by checking the work items and measurement forms defined in the technical specification at each visit. The more concrete the criteria the inspection is based on, the less disputed the acceptance and progress payment process will be.

In practice, the institution's technical staff accompany maintenance visits at set intervals and verify the values in the measurement forms on site on randomly selected units. Fault reports are numbered in a logging system; the time of the report and the time the technician reaches the site are recorded. This documents whether the response time was met.

These records are used as the basis for inspection and acceptance. The summary report prepared at year-end gives the institution valuable data for determining the next year's inventory, estimated cost and renewal needs. Once a healthy cycle is established, each year's tender is prepared more accurately than the last.

How should bidders prepare for the tender?

For the bidder, preparation starts with downloading the tender documents from EKAP and reading them carefully, and if possible seeing the equipment on site before the tender. The real condition of the equipment in the inventory directly affects the bid price.

When preparing the bid, the validity periods of work experience certificates, the bid bond and other required documents should be checked; the cost of each item should be calculated realistically in the unit price bid schedule. An abnormally low price may face the institution's abnormally low bid inquiry and the bid will have to be explained. After the contract is signed, the reporting and response time obligations in the technical specification form the basis for progress payments and acceptance.

We have collected which questions matter beyond documents when choosing a contractor in our article on the 8 questions to ask when choosing a technical service.

YOİ Mühendislik takes part in HVAC maintenance and repair tenders of public institutions and the private sector. With a team that holds the TSE HYB, ISO certificates and OHS training, we provide service across Türkiye under public tenders and corporate contracts.