In any civil engineering tender, one hot potato is the preliminary clause. this general item includes various seemingly minor items, ranging from site hoarding to pedestrian and vehicular traffic rerouting, billboards, security, temporary services, cleanliness and hygiene, to provisions of sanitary facilities and insurance against health and safety risks for the workers on-site for the duration of the project. A lump sum is often quoted or sometimes this is omitted, claiming that this item is absorbed in the other rates quoted.