A consortium of 20 contractors late this month will choose an Internet company to develop a common platform for the construction industry to conduct business on the World Wide Web.

     The consortium, which adopted the name Twentypounds, hopes to circumvent the barriers to e-commerce facing the fragmented construction industry by creating critical mass needed to quickly develop an industry standard.

     The group, which includes Turner Corp., New York City; Beers Construction, Atlanta; and Dallas-based Centex Construction Group, has narrowed the choices to four California business-to-business e-commerce companies, says Eric Lamb, manager of Twentypounds and executive vice president of DPR Construction, Redwood City. They are Bidcom Inc. and buzzsaw.com, both in San Francisco; BuildPoint Corp., Redwood City; and Palo Alto-based Cephren.

     The contractor group will use the Internet firm's system and, in turn, advise the provider on how it would like the portal to work, says Lamb. The site will have three primary functions--project management, bid solicitation and procurement, he says.

     The consortium offers the Internet provider a ready-made client base that represents $25 billion in buying power, notes Lamb. "There is only room for one major operating system, and the one to crack the critical mass [of users] first will be the winner," says Leo Linbeck III, president and CEO of Linbeck Construction, Houston.

     Internet companies have traditionally marketed their services to individual contractors. In this case, the linked contractors will have the advantage of being able to choose the platform they prefer, Linbeck says. That linkage also puts development of the system on a fast track, he adds.

     The consortium also plans to take an equity position in the Internet company. "That's a secondary consideration from my standpoint," says Mike Goodrich, president of be&k, Birmingham, Ala. He is more interested in the ability to influence the functionality of the system. The chosen company has the potential to redefine the construction industry's use of the Web, says Hoyt Lowder, senior vice president of FMI Corp., Tampa. "We hope it will be a platform for continued innovation and growth."