It shows that, while there is a significant increase in the numbers of tenders where the contractors are sent electronic documents, firms are choosing to send them by post, rather than electronically via the internet - the equivalent of typing a telegram and sending it by pigeon post.

Although the vast majority of the survey respondents recognize the key benefits associated with e-tendering, the use of web based e-tendering portals increased very little.

There is still a huge amount of wasteful re-keying of information in the industry where documents, that are intended to be completed by the contractor (pre-qualification questionnaires, pricing documents, etc), are supplied in hardcopy.

The strangest result is the means that firms are choosing to communicate the electronic documents. There has been a welcome move away from e-mail but a strong growth in the practice of sending them on discs through the post. This must add four to five days of non-productive time to the tender process.

The main barriers perceived by the respondents are cost and lack of client interest ― seemingly with little appreciation of the possible savings.

The RICS eTendering service provides sophisticated web-based tendering solution for £500 per tender, which will save more than the cost in tender analysis alone.

I am not quite sure what the client has to do with it. Surely, the efficiency of the profession is a matter for the profession, from which the clients will benefit.

Full results of the survey are available from www.bcis.co.uk/etendering

Details of RICS eTendering are available at www.ricsetendering.com