Back on the GC side, once bids come in, click Compare Bids on the request detail. Every submitted bid becomes a column laid out apples-to-apples: sub name and bid number, status badge, total with subtotal and tax, the full line-item breakdown, and the proposed schedule. The cheapest bid gets a “Lowest” badge automatically. Cheapest is not always best; read the schedule and line items together, not just the total.
- Read the comparison columns: totals, line items, and schedules side by side, with the Lowest badge on the cheapest bid.
- Decline a bid individually when you know it is out of the running.
- Accept the winning bid.
- Watch what the accept did automatically: the other bids auto-declined, and a mirror project plus a company connection were created so the sub can start work inside the shared project.
When an accepted sub bid uses progressive billing, the request detail shows the bid’s billing card to the GC in read-only mode: contract, billed amounts, payments, and remaining balance, without changing the sub’s ledger. For that walkthrough, see Progressive Billing and Retention.
That’s the sub-bid + mirror project workflow. Next: RFIs for the question-and-answer flow.