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The engineering & bids desk

Can we send a sized, costed proposal by Friday?

From a client's package of PDFs, spreadsheets, drawings and email threads to a review-ready technical proposal — with every design figure traced to the equation behind it.

Live today running in client systems Prototype built and demonstrable Design ready specified in detail, custom-built for each client
Fig. 1 — How the engineering desk works — sources are pulled in, experts' rules and deterministic code produce every figure, and only then does AI explain it.
Live today

Client package reader

What exactly is the client asking for, across everything they sent?

  • Reads PDFs, spreadsheets, CAD drawings and Outlook threads in one pass
  • Pulls every requirement into one list, with the page it came from
  • Keeps a readable text layer between the raw files and the design
Riverstone Textiles · effluent treatment package received 23 SepDemo project
pdfRFP_Effluent_Treatment.pdf42 pages · 118 requirements extractedRead
xlsxEffluent_Characterisation.xlsx3 sheets · 26 parameters, 90 days of samplesRead
dwgSite_Layout_Rev3.dwg12 layers · available plot 62 m × 38 mRead
msgClient correspondence (14 emails)6 clarifications that change the RFP2 conflicts

Email of 19 Sep overrides the RFP: discharge limit tightened from COD 250 to 150 mg/L. The design uses the email.

Live today

First-principles sizing

How big does the plant need to be — and can the reviewer check every step?

  • Sized from mass and energy balances, not a rule-of-thumb estimate
  • Every figure shows its governing equation and its inputs
  • Change an input and the whole design recomputes
Aerobic stage sizing design basis Rev BDemo project
Design flowfrom RFP §4.2850 m³/day
Organic loadQ × CODin ÷ 1,000 = 850 × 3,200 ÷ 1,0002,720 kg COD/day
Removal required(3,200 − 150) ÷ 3,20095.3 %
Aeration volumeLoad ÷ OLR = 2,720 ÷ 1.2 kg/m³·day2,267 m³
Hydraulic retentionV ÷ Q × 24 = 2,267 ÷ 850 × 2464 hours
Oxygen demand1.1 × COD removed = 1.1 × 850 × 3,050 ÷ 1,0002,852 kg O₂/day

Discharge limit COD 150 mg/L, per client email of 19 Sep.

Design ready

Gaps and assumptions

What didn't the client tell us, and what are we assuming instead?

  • Lists every missing or contradictory input the design depends on
  • States the assumption used and what it does to price if wrong
  • Drafts the clarification email in the client's own terminology
Open assumptions ranked by cost impactDemo project
Peak flow factor not statedAssumed 2.5× average · if 3.0×, clarifier grows 20% (+$29k)Ask client
Ambient temperature range missingAssumed 18–42 °C · below 15 °C needs heated aerationAsk client
Sludge disposal route unclearAssumed off-site by client · RFP §7.1 is silentExclude
Power supply voltage415 V confirmed in email of 12 SepResolved
Live today

Proposal draft

How close is the proposal to going out?

  • Assembles the technical proposal from the design, not from last year's template
  • Each section shows its status and who needs to review it
  • A compliance matrix maps every RFP requirement to where it's answered
Technical proposal draft 2 · due 3 OctDemo project

Effluent treatment plant, 850 m³/day
Technical proposal for Riverstone Textiles

Compliance112 / 118
✓Design basis and process descriptionReady
✓Mass balance and equipment sizingReady
General arrangement drawingNeeds layout engineer reviewIn review
Performance guaranteesWaits on peak-flow clarificationBlocked
Design ready

Bid or no-bid

Is this tender worth the engineering hours it will take?

  • Scores fit, capacity, margin and win odds before anyone starts designing
  • Win odds learned from your own past bids against this kind of client
  • Records the decision and the reason, so the next one is faster
Bid assessment Riverstone TextilesDemo project
74of 100
Recommend: bid
Technical fit9/10
Expected margin8/10
Engineering capacity in October5/10
Win odds (textile clients, last 3 years)6/10
Payment-terms risk7/10

Weighted 30 / 25 / 15 / 20 / 10. Capacity is the constraint: two other proposals are due the same week.

Design ready

Cost and margin guardrail

Does the price still hold if steel moves before the client signs?

  • Costed bill of quantities built from the sized design
  • Linked to commodity indices, so the estimate moves with the market
  • Warns before the quoted price drops below your margin floor
Estimate and margin quoted price $1.2MDemo project
PackageCost
Civil works$456k
Aeration system$228k
Clarifiers$144k
Electrical and instrumentation$108k
Commissioning$48k
Total cost$984k
Margin at estimate17.2%Floor 15%
After steel index +4%16.4%$10k of headroom used

Agents on this desk

Tenders don't wait for someone to check the inbox.

Design ready

Tender inbox watcher

Picks up new RFPs from the bids mailbox and opens a project automatically.

→ Bids manager
Design ready

Specification change

Flags when a client email changes a requirement the design already used.

→ Lead engineer
Design ready

Commodity re-pricing

Re-costs open quotes when steel, cement or copper indices move.

→ Estimating
Design ready

Submission deadlines

Counts down to each tender deadline and names the blocking sections.

→ Bids manager

Next desk

CFO Desk →

Start with one decision

Pick the screen you wish you had on Monday.

We'll scope the smallest system that puts it in front of you — on your own data, not a demo.

Tell us the decision you're trying to make.

We'll tell you what it takes — and whether you need a custom build at all.

Emailhello@stakeinsights.ai WhatsApp+65 8488 0512