QS News is the latest journal to publicise the NCCTP market research published last week (see 20 July post – Contract Journal wrote about it earlier this week); read "QSs back web portals" (strange that they chose to use the word ‘portals’ – not a word employed in the NCCTP news release at all). The article noted QSs’ strong commitment to extranets but went on:
The survey contrasts with a gloomier assessment of the e-tendering process from the RICS, revealed in QS News last month. The survey found that only 7% of QSs were sending and receiving documents purely electronically and that the vast majority (64%) that were using digital communications were using email rather than a web portal.
I’m not surprised there is a difference. Construction collaboration technologies (aka: project extranets) are much more widely used than online tendering tools, and familiarity quickly breeds enthusiasm. E-tendering tools are also a relatively more recent development and have also had to overcome occasional confusion with the more controversial topic of reverse auctions. As understanding and uptake of e-tendering grows, hopefully future RICS surveys will show a much greater uptake of the technology. In the meantime, you can read about the RICS e-tendering survey in this article: Why is the pen still mightier?, and a response: Paper Issues.
