Several stakeholders in the Pakistanconstruction industry have expressed concern about theapparent poor response to recent international and localbids. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the levelof response to recent international and local tenders and toassess the level of interest of international firms to bidon projects in Pakistan. The response to recent invitationsto bid on projects across Pakistan has been poor from bothinternational and local firms. Although, tendering was opento both international and local contractors, most firms thatsubmitted bids have been local. Generally, the same set offour or so contractors repeatedly bid for projects acrossthe country, and the lowest bidder always won the contract.There was apparently minimum weight-age given to anevaluation of the technical capability of the lowest bidder.The lack of response in bids and the high prices beingquoted can be considered as indicators of supply and demandgaps. There seem to be abundant opportunities for work, andlimitations in the contractor ' s capacity to do workare being tested by the current market situation, wherethere is ample work and the contractors are in a position tochoose the works which interest them. In such circumstances,the short-term implications are clear-contractors willdemand high premiums for less attractive work and responseto bids for work in difficult remote areas with higher risksshall remain especially poor. In a market driven economy, itwill take some time until the supply demand situationachieves stability, while for the short term, the clientswill be faced with accepting higher bid rates in order todeliver upon their development goals and also accept therisk that the limited pool of contractors may not be able to deliver.
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