And don’t receive bids at noon hour in congested areas; and never receive before noon; be sure to have signs directing bidders to the room of receipt; have ample parking; lock the room door at the “appointed hour”; time stamp all bids received; make requirement that faxed bids MUST have ALL pages printed out prior to bid time [responsibility of the bidder!]; electronic bids must contain time and must be received prior to bid time; don’t bid when storms are coming,the wind is out of due south, or in very remote locations that are difficult to find. Oh, and never under nimbo-cumulus cloud cover [i.e., the “dark” cloud hanging over…]
I can remember being at a bid opening at the State of Ohio and the deadline for bids had just passed and the door was locked … someone came running off the elevator and tried the door. When he found the door locked, he took his bid envelope and passed it over the top of the partition wall (walls, of course, did not go up to the ceiling) … the architect I was with and I both watched to see what happened. About a minute later, the envelope came sailing back up over the partition wall and out into the corridor.