If you are familiar with the eTendering process in India, the term ‘Tender notice’ is one you should be familiar with. When a tender is announced by a government department/ministry, a tender notice is released with all the details of a tender. These notices are published on the Central Public Procurement portal for procuring materials from Indian business establishments.
This article discusses the meaning of a tender notice, what it contains, how to find and read a government tender notice, and next steps following a tender announcement.
What is a tender notice?
An invitation or a notice released by the entity inviting tender proposals from businesses is called a tender notice. This notice contains all the details like tender eligibility criteria, important dates and guidelines on how to write a tender proposal including the format for the proposal.
Let us have a look at some of the common contents that typically appears on a tender notice:
- Tender document
- Terms of reference and purpose
- Format for technical and financial bids
- Guidelines for the formulation of technical bid
- Checklist for technical bid
- Instructions for online bid submission
- Tender acceptance letter
Note: A tender notice can also be known as tender invitation or tender announcement. Based on the nature of tender notice, tender authorities may release an RFP, RFI, RFQ or RFT.
How to create a tender notice?
A Tender request can be raised by government departments/organisations (e.g., Pune Municipal Corporation tenders), state governments (e.g., Tamil Nadu portal tenders) and large private companies for specific procurement requirements (e.g., fire safety tenders).
Many private businesses often use eTender management systems to manage their tender documents and tender notice.
If you are a company in India looking to invite tenders from other businesses, then you will have to learn how to draft tender notices. Tender notices should be prepared with care as you must ensure that you mention all your requirements and state the terms and conditions clearly in a simple language that everyone can understand.
Given below are steps that can help you to create a tender notice. Creating this notice should be done in two stages. First phase would be gathering all details for notice and then creation of the tender notice, while the second phase requires preparing the tender notice document:
Phase 1 – Gathering necessary details
- Write down the requirements of the tender clearly.
- Decide on the eligibility criteria of the participants.
- Note down the tender documents that you would need from the applicants.
- Identify the prior experience that the tender applicants would require for successfully completing your tender contract.
- Set bid opening date and bid closing date. This involves setting a date and time for opening technical and financial bids.
- Decide if the applicants have to pay any tender fees and how much is to be paid to apply for the tender.
Phase 2 – Drafting the tender notice
There are some model tender document formats or tender notice format available online that all tender authorities can refer to and follow for a basic structure to maintain consistency and convenience. Listed below are the basic components of a tender notice that most businesses follow when drafting the tender invitation notice.
- A tender notice starts with a short description of the tender offer followed by a table of contents for easy reference.
- The tender document comes after the table of contents which mentions eligibility requirements for a tender, important dates, documents to be submitted for the application, evaluation criteria of financial and technical bid, any EMD to be paid, process of submission and general terms and conditions.
- After preparing the tender document, the next step is to write the guidelines for the creating of technical and financial bid. A format must be provided for submitting the bids and is typically in a table
- You can include a checklist for technical and financial documents to be submitted to make the submission of documents requirements easier and to ensure that there are less chances of applicants missing any documents while applying.
- You can also include the requirement of a tender cover letter to highlight the unique proposition of each bidder, and a form for tender acceptance letter that the companies can fill in and submit on the tender acceptance date.
You can refer to government tender notices for examples of tender notices.
How to find government tender notices?
You can go to the CPP portal and find tenders using the search option. Clicking on any of the tenders displayed on the list will take you to the tender details page. On this page you will be able to download the tender notice both in English and Hindi.
Government tender notices are prepared by respective government departments. It includes the tender document pdf, financial bidding criteria and the rest of the information as mentioned above. Government tenders charge tender fees and EMD to bid for a tender. MSMEs are exempt from paying EMD as a part of the Public Procurement Policy of India.
What to do after finding the right tender notice?
If you are a business owner, looking to publish tenders, there are many private e-tendering portals that will let you sign up and float your tenders on the platform. Signing up for these platforms has multiple benefits including an existing customer base.
If you are a MSME owner, looking at participating in government tenders, you can explore private tendering portals, such as Tata nexarc’s Tenders & Quotations to find government tenders easily. It saves you time and the hassle of logging in to the government tendering portal every day to check on active tenders and latest tenders. With a subscription, you will also receive tender updates and information on newly announced tenders and never miss a relevant business opportunity.
When it comes to taking action after finding suitable tender notices, ensure the same:
- Read the tender requirements carefully. All tender invites come with details on bidder’s eligibility, qualifications, procurement requirements, due dates etc. Ensure that you meet the criteria to stand a chance at winning.
- Identify the relevant tenders. Not all tender requests will be suitable for your business. Evaluate if the tender announcement is the right fit.
- Maintain a tender bidding team to prepare the tender proposal documents. Alternatively, hire bid consulting services to ensure that your tender proposal is written in a compliant manner.
