Definition
A decision mode is the award standard a general contractor applies when ranking the subcontractor bids it receives on a scope package. Once the bids are leveled to one scope of work and scored, the decision mode decides which number wins: it sets what "best" means for this particular award and weighs the six scoring dimensions — price, scope, schedule, compliance, performance, and risk — accordingly. The same leveled field can produce a different winner depending on the standard you choose.
Bid Reasoner ships seven decision modes: Lowest Responsible Bid, Best Value, Lowest Risk, Schedule Priority, Scope Completeness, Budget-Constrained, and Custom Weighting. Lowest Responsible Bid puts the most weight on price (40%), with scope and compliance next at 20% each. Best Value blends price with scope, schedule, performance, and risk. The others tilt the weighting toward whatever the package demands — a tight calendar, full scope coverage, a tight budget, or a mix you set yourself.
A worked example
You have a field of nine leveled bids on an earthwork package. The low bidder comes in at $1,180,000; the next two sit at $1,225,000 and $1,260,000. Under Lowest Responsible Bid, the low bidder ranks first — the price is real and the bidder clears compliance. But that low bid carries a scope-coverage gap worth about $48,000 and a thin performance record on similar work, while the $1,260,000 bid covers the full scope and has a strong record. Re-run under Best Value, where scope and performance carry more weight, and the low bidder can drop to third: the $1,225,000 bid ranks first and the $1,260,000 bid second, because each buys down risk worth more than the price spread. Same nine bids, two defensible orders.
Why it matters when you evaluate sub bids
On a heavy-civil package with 5 to 15 bidders, the leveled tab tells you what each bid costs for the same scope — but it does not tell you who to award. The decision mode is that judgment, made explicit. Choosing it up front keeps the award honest: you commit to a standard before you see who it favors, instead of reverse-engineering a rationale around the bidder you already wanted. It is also what you defend to an owner or a project executive later. "Lowest responsible price for the full scope" and "best value once risk weighs in" are different commitments, and the decision mode is where you record which one this award rests on.
How Bid Reasoner handles it
Bid Reasoner scores the leveled bids across all six dimensions, then applies the decision mode you select to rank the field. Picking a mode previews its weights, and re-running the analysis re-ranks the field under it, so you can see how Lowest Responsible Bid, Best Value, and Lowest Risk order the same bids before you commit. The four deterministic pricing rules — unbalanced unit prices at or under $1.00, peer outliers at 2x or more or 0.5x or less of the pay item's median (3+ bids), total-bid outliers 20% or more off the median total (3+ bids), and front-loaded mobilization at 10% or more of total — add up to a separate risk score on the Compare page. The six dimension scores come from the AI analysis, with price calculated from the leveled totals, so a mode like Best Value is weighing an analysis of the bids, not a hunch. If you override the mode's top pick, the award page asks for a category and a reason, and both print in the award memo you hand up the chain.