AEC definitions
A proposal request asks the contractor to propose a price and a time adjustment for a change the owner is considering. It is not authorization to do the work. If the owner accepts the proposal, a change order follows. If the work must start before agreement, the contract uses a change directive, not a proposal request.
Definition
The architect usually issues the request, describing the change with sketches or revised sheets. The contractor prices it under the change clause: labor, material, subcontract, and the allowed markup, plus any time. The owner accepts, rejects, or negotiates. Until a change order is signed, the contract sum and the contract time are unchanged. Teams that treat the proposal request as a notice to proceed build unpaid work. Teams that call it an RFP confuse it with the solicitation that awarded the project.
In depth
Attach the sketch or the revised detail. Name the spec sections. A sentence that says 'upgrade the lobby' is not priceable. The contractor's proposal should itemize, not answer with a single unexplained lump, unless the contract allows that.
Time impact is part of the proposal. A price with no days, on work that affects the critical path, is incomplete.
The general conditions or the supplements state overhead and profit on changes, including tiers of subcontractors. A proposal that invents a different stack will be sent back. So will a proposal that omits a markup the contract allows.
Unit prices in the contract are used where they apply, instead of a fresh lump.
Accepting is a change order. Rejecting closes the request. Partial acceptance should be written so the unaccepted part is not built. The proposal's validity date matters. A number from six months ago is not a current price.
Silence is not acceptance. If the owner wants the work, the signed change order is the authorization, and the field should not start from the request alone.
If the owner needs the work to proceed before agreement, issue a construction change directive.
The proposal request path is for changes that can wait. Mixing them is how a contractor starts work on a pricing exercise.
Examples
The architect issues a proposal request with a revised finish plan. The contractor returns a price and five days. The owner signs a change order for both. Then the work starts.
The owner rejects the proposal. The documents stay as they were. The contractor does not build the revision.
The work is needed before the price is agreed. A construction change directive authorizes it. The proposal request alone would not have.
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