Listed below are the first few steps you need to master before starting any tender. Once you have conquered them, it will make the submission of the tender a lot easier as you will know your way around the portal and know exactly what the buyer is asking for.
TRACKER:
You will first need to find the correct opportunity for you. Paying for a tracker service is a good way to be notified of any opportunities for you without you having to search for them daily. We highly recommend B2B Quote (I will include their details at the end of this blog). The majority of tracker services will ask your business category and the areas you cover, they will then track all current tender opportunities and send you alerts. B2B will also track any opportunities that are under the OJEU threshold (low value contracts).
REGISTER INTEREST:
Once you have been notified of the opportunity and you decide you want to investigate it further you will need to register your interest. This is normally done via an e-portal. You will need to register your business details in order to obtain a username and password. Once you are registered on the portal, you will be able to register your interest in any opportunity that is released on that portal. You will then need to select a business category; this helps the portal to notify you of any tenders that they are hosting that may be of you interest. These portals are free to register on and once you have registered interest you are not obliged to apply for the tender if you don’t want to.
DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS:
When you have registered your interest, you will then be able to view the tender documents for that opportunity. It is important that every tender document is downloaded and read through thoroughly. It is within these documents you will find the mandatory criteria that you as a company need to complete, if you don’t meet all of these you can be thrown out. Be careful not to miss any documents – sometimes they can be hidden within the online submission questions. If you have any trouble downloading these, give us a call and we are happy to help. We tend to be whizzes with these portals!
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