A public bid is rarely just a base price. The owner asks for additive or deductive alternates and unit prices, and the way a general contractor handles them can move the apparent low bid and decide the award. Read them wrong and the number that wins is not the number that profits.
What alternates and unit pricing do to an award
Alternates let an owner add or subtract defined scope after bids open, so the award can be made on the base bid plus selected alternates, not the base alone. Unit prices set a rate for added or removed quantities, used when the final quantity is unknown at bid. Public agencies use both to fit a budget and to compare bidders on the same basis. The bid form dictates exactly how each is entered, and an alternate left blank or a unit price misread can shift who appears lowest.
Why alternates and unit prices are easy to mishandle
The alternates and unit price schedules sit in the bid form and Division 01, with instructions on how the owner will evaluate them. Under deadline a contractor can price the base and treat the alternates as an afterthought, or miss that the award is based on base plus alternates one and three. Across many solicitations the evaluation method for alternates is the detail that quietly decides the result.
How an AI bid agent tracks alternates and unit pricing
An AI bid agent reads each solicitation and extracts the alternates, the unit price items, and the stated method for evaluating them into the award, and surfaces them on the opportunity. The estimating team sees every additive and deductive alternate and the basis of award before bid day, not in the final hour.
You can see how the agent structures a solicitation in our AI bid agent demo for general contractors. The same reading that scores fit pulls the bid form so alternates and unit prices are in front of the estimator from the start.