ConEst Software Systems specializes in developing estimating and bid management software for electrical, low-voltage and data-cabling contractors. The vendor's BidTrac stores all bid data, including requests for information, proposals and phone-call notes, as well as job-specification data so estimators can quickly access information. In addition, BidTrac stores historical bid data to track competitors' order of finish, enabling contractors to better forecast their opportunity to win a particular contract, according to ConEst Software.

BidTrac includes built-in, user-definable templates that can be used for proposals, letters and memos. Likewise, BidTrac serves as a repository for scanned letters and attachments of JPEG files, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets into a single file per project. This bid management software also centrally stores all contact information -- such as addresses, phone numbers and email addresses -- for contractors, engineers, owners and prospects. BidTrac's built-in email and fax utilities also allow electrical contractors to instantly broadcast a bid to all involved parties, and keep a date-stamped notice of each transmission to track when each bid was submitted. There also is a built-in calendar.

If used in conjunction with ConEst Software's IntelliBid, BidTrac can import pre-defined pricing from the IntelliBid cost estimate and merge it into a standard template. This eliminates the need to complete a separate proposal for each contractor and bid, according to the vendor.