Tendering Online – Bringing your A Game

Tendering Online – Bringing your A Game

Tendering online in 7 (easy-ish steps)

 

How do you even begin in this process? It can be fairly daunting right? Perhaps starting with what NOT to do is a good way to go. In order to really learn what not to do when tendering online, you should check out How to stuff up a Tender. South Africa is quite au fait with the term Tenderpreneur. In fact, we actually have a top Ten list. Although it is a tongue in cheek kind of humorous thing to refer to (South Africans love to make fun of themselves in a way the rest of the world is baffled by), it is a serious issue in South Africa. Here are a few news articles on the Topic of Tenderpreneurs for you to browse:

http://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/115828/tenderpreneurs-vs-the-rest-of-the-anc-in-south-africa/

http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Meet-the-R77m-tenderpreneur-20150429

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/a-guide-to-being-a-tenderpreneur-2013-02-01

 

But I reckon the reason you are here reading this post is because you want to do Tendering online as well. So let’s take a look at some steps to help you with tendering online:

 

Step One

Get yourself a desktop/laptop/tablet or just simply use a smart device.

 

Step Two

To be online you need to be hooked up to the World Wide Web. Yes, the Internet. The purveyor of many evils and sometimes, a little surprisingly, just as much good.

 

Step Three

Sharpen your pencil, because here we go….

You need to find Websites that provide tender notices. Or instead, a service provider that will wonderfully just deliver the notices to your email daily (shameless punting I know – but hey – you are reading our blog).

Store this list of websites on a word document (or just open your email inbox if you are subscribed to our services). Check this daily to see whether there are new tenders that match your criteria.

 

Step Four

Are you registered on the Supplier Database for the particular Municipality putting out the tender? Check with them if this is required. It would be a pity to submit the perfect bid and not meet this criteria.

 

Step Five

OK, so you have identified what tenders you wish to bid on. Yay! Half way there. If you want to know what procedures you need to follow, I will leave that to the Pro’s to tell you. Check this link out for tender procedures and more steps to help increase your chances of getting your foot in the door.

Making sure you have the correct documentation is important. Check out a comprehensive guide for making sure you have all your ducks in a row (so to speak).

 

Step Six

Check where the Site Inspection is (if applicable) and whether it is compulsory. Wouldn’t want to miss out on that!

 

Step Seven

Sharpen your pencils and do your calculations – put your bid together. Make sure you have all the necessary forms to submit with your bid along with the correct place to submit it by the correct date.

 

So the big questions is…..

 

How Do I Win A Tender?

 

Well, listen up close. If you want to win.. you need to be persistent. Its unlikely to happen on the first tender, so keep at it. Some winning tips may help you though. Ultimately, tendering online streamlines some of your processes, but isn’t so much different from doing it old school in that attention to detail, diligence and persistence will take you a long way to earning a winning bid.

 

So from the desktop….. to you on the other side of the Web, good luck with your tender. I hope to hear of your success.

 

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