Tender refers to a process that invites bids for a specific work, goods, or services. Likewise, government tender is also simply a process that requires the government to invite bids or submissions for a specific work or project to be done in a certain period. The government offers a wide range of tenders that include cleaning, infrastructure, health, and many more. Under government tenders, suppliers can face a stiff competition. This is because the government tenders provide a good amount of work, timely payment, and the certainty of payment.
Therefore, there are usually many suppliers that bid for the government tenders, leading to a healthy competition between the potential suppliers. Remember that there are certain channels the government uses to advertise the tenders. This article discusses the best way to find public sector tenders.
Public sector tenders
Public sector organizations are required to follow certain rules when it comes to the publication of tenders as well as management of the tender process. On the other hand, a private business is not required to follow these rules. In some cases, private businesses may choose to do their tendering process in a similar way, but they don’t need to follow these rules. Therefore, if you want to bid for public sector tenders, you need to understand how the government tendering process works. Even within the public sector, you may find that there are some thresholds that allow some types of entities to by-pass the tender process.
That said, you can access most public sector tenders for free. This means that you don’t have to pay any money to access the tender documents. The only thing you need is to invest your time and resources so that you can search for tenders and register for the tendering process. Here are some of the ways you can find public sector tenders:
Tender alert services
You can try to Google how to find tenders to get a list of the available tenders. But you should note that the list may have some companies that find government tenders on your behalf, so you have to pay a fee. And, the fee can vary depending on the company you choose to work with.
They are a good option, especially if you intend to get one or two specific and high value tenders each year or you desire to find and bid for many government tenders every month. You can find many platforms that provide tender alert alerts, but you should always use the reputable ones. For example, you can find tenders & contracts at Tracker Intelligence. If your time is limited, this option is worth consideration.
Do it yourself
If you don’t want to use a tender alert service, there are several places online where public sector tenders are published. But it requires a lot of effort to find the right public sector contracts.
Keep in mind that most public sector tenders that reach a certain value need to be advertised. This means that the ad must be publicly available. The nature and value of the contract tends to determine where to place such ads.
In the UK, the most used and well-known sites where public sector contracts are advertised are the Contracts Finder and the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED). You should note that TED publishes all notices that are advertised in the OJEU, which is the Official Journal of the European Union. Contracting authorities need to follow the strict rules, so all contracts that reach a certain value have to be published on this site regardless of whether or not they are published elsewhere. And, they usually revise the thresholds for the contract type annually.
When it comes to the Contracts Finder, this is a website for the UK Government and it lists all contracts that are more than £10k. Besides, the site also has links to other similar sites. You should also note that you can find contract notices on sites of individual government agencies, organizations, and procurement portals. Coadmin sentenced to years
Once you go through Contracts Finder or TED or any of the procurement portals, it’s a good idea to save the search parameter. You should also set up email alerts so that you can know about future tenders. In this way, you don’t need to go back and search for them every couple of days. Remember that this is what paid-for tender alert services do for you to some extent.
You also need to create a great bid strategy so that you can narrow down your search. For instance, you can choose to look for public sector tenders in your local region or contracts with the NHS. You should also consider the contract value, direct service contracts, a framework, and many more. You need to understand these things so that you can structure and streamline your searches.
Registering as a supplier
When you decide to register as a supplier with a government agency, procurement portal, or organization, they can ask you to provide more specific details about your business. You can also ask for access to the entire tender documents for the contract. You should note that you can also decide to register in advance as a supplier with several government agencies, procurement portals, and organizations and sign up for alerts.
When you choose to register as a supplier, someone at your company needs to do it. It can be hard to outsource this part to a tender services company because any contract information needs to be specific to your business. The alerts can be sent to the email address that you give. Any correspondence associated with the tenders can also be sent to this email address.
Regardless of the option you decide to use, you may still have to register so that you can access the tender documents from the buyer who is running the tender process. And, if you are looking for tenders in a specific sector like in a specific region or not for profit, then it can be a good idea to register as a supplier and sign up so that you can receive alerts. If you can offer your services or goods to all sectors in the region, you should sign up for contract notice alerts via Contracts Finder and TED.
