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Glossary · Bid management

Scope of supply vs scope of works

Scope of supply is the equipment, materials and documents a party delivers. Scope of works is the labour and services on site that install, connect, test and commission them. A tender splits every item of plant between the two, often across different parties, and the equipment list with a column for each responsibility is where that split gets written down.

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Why does the split matter at tender?

Because each side of it is priced from different things. Supply carries the equipment cost, factory testing, freight, documentation and the warranty, while the works side is mostly hours: labour, plant hire, cabling, terminations and site testing.

The trouble sits at the joins. The switchboard supplier delivers to the plinth and the electrical contractor's scope starts at the incoming cable, so who lands that cable on the board's terminals, and who tests the joint? When the pack doesn't say, each tenderer assumes the other party does it, and the work appears in nobody's price.

What belongs in a scope of supply?

The equipment itself, with ratings and quantities, plus everything that travels with it: drawings for approval, manuals, test certificates and the other documents on the supplier data requirements list. Factory acceptance testing belongs here, and so does the delivery point, which matters more than it looks. Delivered to site is not the same as delivered to the plinth, set down and unpacked.

Spares and supervision are where supply quotes vary most. One supplier includes three days of installation supervision in the price, and the next leaves it out without a word.

What belongs in a scope of works?

Everything done on site. Civil work such as plinths, cable pits and trenches, then installation, cabling, terminations, earthing, site acceptance testing and commissioning, plus the temporary works and access needed to do it.

Commissioning is the usual grey zone. The installer runs it, but the equipment supplier often has to attend for anything beyond basic checks, and nobody checks whether that attendance made it into either price.

How does the equipment list settle it?

One row per item and one column per responsibility: supplied by, delivered to, installed by, connected and tested by, commissioned by. Filled in from the scope, the specification and the drawings, the list shows every blank cell at once, and each blank is a question for the clarification period.

Draw the battery limit too. A line on the single line diagram or the GA marking where your scope ends answers in one picture what three paragraphs of scope text leave open.

An equipment list with the responsibilities split (illustrative)

An equipment list with the responsibilities split (illustrative)
ItemSupplied byInstalled byConnected and tested byCommissioned by
11 kV switchboardContractorContractorContractorContractor, supplier attends
TransformerClient, free issueContractorContractorNot stated
Plinths and cable pitsNot statedNot statedn/an/a
Incoming HV cableNetwork operatorNetwork operatorNot statedNetwork operator

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FAQ

Common questions

Is a scope of works the same document as a scope of work?

Not always. Many packs call the whole technical document the Scope of Works, and inside it supply and site work are mixed together. Read it for both senses: what the document requires overall, and which of those requirements are things delivered versus things done on site.

What is a battery limit?

The point where one party's scope ends and the next begins, usually marked on the single line diagram or the general arrangement: the outgoing terminals of a board, a flange, a cable termination. Everything beyond it belongs to someone else, so a battery limit drawn in the wrong place moves cost between tenderers without anyone noticing.

Should a supply only quote include installation supervision?

Only if the tender asks for it, and then as a stated number of days with the rate for extra days and what the client must have ready before the supervisor arrives. A quote silent on supervision will be read by the client as including it.

Can Elora Grid sort the scope into supply and works?

It reads the scope of work and the specification and returns a clause by clause compliance checklist and a checklist for each supplier package, every row cited to its clause, with conflicts between documents logged in a conflict and variation register. Who carries an unassigned item, and at what price, stays your team's decision.

Put it into practice

From tender files to levelled bids.

Turn the scope of work into a cited checklist and supplier package checklists, with every conflict between documents logged.

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