Key takeaways:

  • Government procurement is a complex process that can generate a profitable income stream.
  • Every day, private sector businesses provide goods and services to governments.
  • Integrating online tools like Tenderwell into the bidding process significantly helps firms to ensure compliance, improve communication, and better track team efforts.

Not so long ago, governments provided all the needed goods and services - in-house. But these days, almost everything a government needs comes from the private sector. This is commonly referred to as public procurement, referring to the way in which the authorities are able to obtain products and works from third-party private vendors.

In this article, we’ll explain exactly how the government procurement process works and how your organization can identify and be awarded contracts that meet your company’s needs and abilities.

The government procurement process works through an organized and intricate system of government bidding.

State authorities of different levels will publish what is sometimes called an Invitation to Tender (ITT) in a public way, asking for private sector businesses to put in a bid (a price and other details such as dates for delivery) in order to select the best value for money in a transparent and fair way and award the contract.

Today, the sector has grown to become a multi-billion dollar industry. Navigating the government procurement process, entering successful bids, and being awarded contracts can be a very daunting task. But online platforms and tools, such as Tenderwell, can help.

Key steps in the government procurement process

Key takeaways:

  • Always adhere to the requirements described in the announcement.
  • Make sure you format and submit documents correctly.
  • Do research ahead of time so you can submit a competitive bid.
  1. First, it must be understood that every government follows a different procurement process. Sometimes different government agencies in the same country have different standards and requirements for their procurement process.
  2. Second, a government department or agency will identify a need for goods and/or services. This identification process is often governed by legal frameworks and regulations to ensure things such as transparency, fair competition, and value for money.  Furthermore, governments have budgetary restrictions in place, so all identified needs for the provision of goods and services must be aligned with their public goals.
  3. Once a government agency or department has identified a need that is aligned with its budgetary restrictions, public goals, and existing legal and statutory frameworks, the next step is to publish that need via a formal system of solicitation, sometimes called Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or Invitations to Bids (ITBs). These solicitations are published in the form of a government bidding system in which private entities are invited to make a formal offer to deliver those goods and services.
  4. Next, it is essential to understand that every solicitation published as part of the government procurement process will have a number of requirements, including deadlines, mandatory templates, and formatting instructions that must be met by the organization or individual submitting the bid.
  5. Once a formal solicitation to provide goods and services has been published, the government bidding system will follow an established set of criteria for how to evaluate these bids.  Bids must be assessed based on adherence to formatting requirements, deadlines, technical capabilities, compliance with other requirements or restrictions, and, of course, the cost.  These criteria are always made public as part of the procurement process itself.
  6. In many cases, the bids that meet the minimum necessary requirements are then analyzed to form a predetermined number of potential winners, also known as a shortlist.  When a bid has been shortlisted, this is an indication that there is a strong potential that the bid in question may ultimately be awarded by the contracting government agency.  However, not all government procurement systems include the step of shortlisting bids.
  7. The last steps in the procurement process are determining the winning bid and awarding that company the contract, formalizing the agreement to provide the goods and services, and a post-award phase to monitor performance and assess compliance of the implementing company’s work.

Best practices and challenges in government procurement

Key takeaways:

  • Always adhere to eligibility requirements.
  • Make sure you track every phase of the procurement process.
  • Using a platform like Tenderwell can make the whole process much simpler and easier.

Due to the strict requirements in place for government contracts, the need to adhere to deadlines and other standards, and the sheer volume of solicitations for goods and services published on a daily basis, savvy companies usually rely on software solutions to identify potential contracts, research rules and regulations, adhere to templating and formatting standards, formulate strategies for submitting a winning bid, and tracking their bids through every phase of the procurement process.

Online, the Tenderwell website, specifically designed for companies seeking to compete in the government bidding sphere, is designed to capture the profitable revenues that can come from successfully navigating the procurement process.

With just a few simple clicks, your company can easily locate government contracts that match their abilities and business needs using Tenderwell.  The app also has a wealth of research capabilities, ensuring that your organization will submit its bids according to the required standards and formatting, as well as gaining the capacity to study previously awarded contracts in order to better formulate winning bids.

Especially now that governments are increasingly moving toward entirely online e-procurement systems, it is more essential than ever that companies have a dedicated software capability to identify bids, submit them, and track their bids throughout the entirety of the procurement process.

Thankfully, Tenderwell.com makes handling the complex challenges of the government procurement system simple and easy. 

With a highly secure, encrypted cloud-based architecture, Tenderwell ensures that your organization will always be up-to-date on newly published government contracts, submission requirements, and awarded tenders.

Whether your company is just beginning to explore the lucrative possibilities available in fulfilling goods and services to governments or is an experienced veteran of the government bidding system, Tenderwell can help you more easily and quickly navigate the complex and ever-changing environment that is the government procurement process.

If you’d like to see what Tenderwell can do for your organization, please do not hesitate to contact us today.

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