Governments regularly invite private companies to bid on contracts for providing goods and services, often through Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or tenders.
These tenders are structured in a way so that businesses submit the best price for the works, and thus public money is spent in an equitable and transparent manner.
Whether it’s a national government department, an agency, or even a regional government, businesses that can successfully fulfill these tenders have the opportunity to develop a profitable income stream.
The money for government contracts comes from taxpayers; therefore, it is imperious to ensure transparency and equitability in its spending.
That’s why bidding on tenders has developed into a highly complex, often tendentiously bureaucratic procedure, which can make it difficult for newcomers to successfully compete in winning these lucrative contracts.
In this article, we’ll describe tender best practices for bidding on government tenders so that your organization can understand and be able to successfully identify suitable contracts, develop a strategic plan for submitting bids, adhere to the rules, and be awarded government bids.
Understanding the tender requirements
No two tenders are exactly alike, and every government solicitation for the fulfillment of goods and/or services has its own deadlines, templates, formatting requirements, bid submission rules, legal frameworks that must be adhered to, and eligibility criteria. As such, identifying and understanding the requirements, terms, and conditions is absolutely essential before beginning the bid process.
For businesses seeking to enter the world of fulfilling government contracts, the first step is being able to identify the essential elements of a published tender in order to assess whether or not they can meet its eligibility criteria, technical specifications, deadlines, and compliance requirements.
How can you spot the task that fits your business among the thousands of published government tenders? Thankfully, specialized apps like Tenderwell have advanced search and filtering tools to make it much easier to identify calls that match your organization’s interests and capabilities.
Furthermore, Tenderwell gives you one-click access to all of the additional information that a tender comes with to winnow down the results to optimize your bidding strategy:
• Required bid submission forms
• Necessary templates
• Compliance requirements
• Eligibility criteria
Crafting a competitive bid
Okay, so now that you’ve identified some government tenders that match your organization’s needs, capabilities, and business strategy and have access to the required templates and compliance requirements it comes with, what comes next?
Your proposals for executing public tenders need to be carefully formulated so they adhere to all mandatory submission requirements as well as have the best chance of success.
Formulating these bids in a way that will maximize your organization’s chance of successfully being awarded the contract is not an easy task.
Tenderwell comes with advanced research capabilities so that you can examine similar, previously awarded tenders as well as bids submitted by your competitors in order to better understand the strategies used by others to submit a winning proposal.
This invaluable information will help your organization craft better proposals and showcase your company’s unique offerings, expertise, and ability to deliver the required goods and/or services in a cost-efficient manner that simultaneously aligns with the tender’s objectives.
The last important component to bidding on tenders is making sure that your proposal adheres to your organization’s budgetary constraints and business capabilities.
Efforts to ensure that you submit a realistic bid in terms of pricing and the ability to deliver will ensure that your bids remain competitive without running the risk of compromising your organization’s profitability or ability to deliver top-level quality when fulfilling the terms of the tender.
Submission and follow-up strategies
All right, you’ve identified a government tender that is suitable for your organization, and you’ve submitted a bid in adherence to the formatting rules, deadline, and other requirements at what you believe is a fair price. Is the bidding process over? No, and here is what comes next.
1. Monitoring the outcomes.
In some cases, the government agency may request additional documentation from your organization, so double-check that you have provided all required documents well ahead of the bid submission deadline. But even if you do so, it is highly important to monitor any updates to the conditions of the tender as a result of legislative changes, or your organization was requested to provide those additional documents. Tenderwell helps you to track this progress.
2. Once the submission deadline has been passed, it is important to keep an eye on the process of the government agency assessing and evaluating the bids it has received. In some cases, the government agency may filter the most promising bids into what’s known as a “shortlist,” a clear indication that those bids have a good chance of being awarded the contract. Be sure to monitor whether you’re on the list or not.
3. And, of course, if your organization is awarded the contract, it is essential that you meet all deadlines and other compliance requirements (including post-implementation assessments) when providing the solicited goods and/or services.
Wrap-up
Tender best practices for bidding on government contracts include understanding all of the requirements, terms, and conditions for fulfillment when assessing a tender for a potential match for your organization’s business strategy and core competencies. Furthermore, it is crucial to stay abreast of all deadlines, eligibility criteria, technical specifications, and compliance requirements.
And when your organization does submit a bid, it should be in line with your budgetary capabilities and ability to deliver high-quality results in a profitable manner. After the bid has been submitted, tender best practices include monitoring every step of the process, including being shortlisted and/or awarded the contract.
Savvy businesses understand that winning government bids can be an ideal revenue stream for them, which is why they rely on tailor-made apps like Tenderwell to streamline and simplify the entire process.
Tenderwell lets you easily find suitable tenders for your organization’s needs and capabilities and gives you one-click access to all the eligibility criteria, formatting rules, and submission templates.
Tenderwell also gives you powerful research tools to examine previously awarded bids to maximize your chances of crafting a winning proposal and a competitive price. The app makes it simple to stay on top of deadlines, updates, and notifications when a tender has been shortlisted or awarded.
If you’d like to see how Tenderwell can help your business follow tender best practices and improve your chances of identifying and winning government bids, request a demo today.