Sometimes the most difficult thing is knowing where to start when it comes to applying for public sector tenders. Hunting for tender opportunities can be a slow and laborious task if you don’t know where to look. The big, high value tender opportunities are available on TED (Tender Electronic Daily), which is run by the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and publication on this site is a legal requirement for contracting authorities, such as your local council. Smaller value contracts, however, are more difficult to find. These can be hidden away on the websites and procurement portals of your local authority and occasionally make it to the UK Government’s Contracts Finder Website. Occasionally being the operative word.
Tendering can also take a long time. Depending on the value, a tender or quotation process can last anywhere between a week to a year. These value thresholds come down to who is buying what.
Contracting authorities must abide by a set of rules and give suppliers, like you, enough time to put together a tender submission. For contracts over the above thresholds, a single stage tender process, whereby you are asked to quote and answer quality questions, will allow you a minimum of 30 days to write and submit your tender. Sometimes tenders can be run in two stages. These can only be used when the value is above the thresholds and allow contracting authorities a chance to shortlist candidates against a set of criteria. This can extend the time to a minimum of 55 days for both stages combined. Quite the commitment, but bear with me.
Both one and two stage tender processes, over the above thresholds come with an extra 10 days standstill period (called the Alcatel Standstill). This starts from the day the award decision is publicised to all bidders, and gives the losing bidders a chance to query, and possibly challenge, the decision.