The real talk - errors of tendering affecting bidding
MBABANE – Six errors of tendering that cost you all your bidding efforts and resources!!
This is the first of many articles to come on the burning subject of procurement and supply chain across the three economic sectors; public, private and third sector.
In our opening, we will embark by defining procurement in a way that relates to our daily lives.
In a nutshell, what is this much-talked about procurement? What does it seek to achieve? Why do we even have to hire professionals to execute procurement duties?
Value: Retail shops will normally run specials towards the end of every month and consumers take time to do comparison of commodities and brands which are perceived as quality in their households and offering competitive prices.
This mindset is true also in the procurement space. Practitioners are tasked with significant roles of doing a due diligence on products or services before organisation’s funds can be committed and that is being proactive, strategic and also a value-add.
Tendering: There are various procurement methods that are global standard, and some are enacted by the Public Procurement Act of 2011 enforced in our jurisdiction. Tendering is a strong mechanism which tends to determine how much value an entity will achieve from a single procurement exercise and the same is true on the supplier side. When done effectively, this is set to yield great results for both parties but there is so much that can go wrong in the process.
Supplier side: We highlight the setbacks of tendering that have seen suppliers casting in their fishing rods with a bait and coming back home with either no fish and or subsequently losing the zeal to forge forward.
Your proposal – your brand image 1. Poor planning – every tendering process should be deemed as a project! Tenderers have a tendency of waiting until the last minute to put together their response. A typical project has a team, start and finish date, milestones and a budget. From the day a supplier decides to download a tender document from a website or an organisation’s procurement notice, think about how you will structure your response process. Derive a team and allocate tasks. Example: who is responsible for eligibility documents, who is doing costings, who is focusing on instructions etc.?
2. Clarifications – most tenders will give room for tenderers to seek clarity on any provisions or requirements set in an Invitation to Tender. Some bidders would prefer to respond to ambiguous specifications based on assumptions than proactively engaging the entity for clarity during the open window period.
3. Evaluation Criteria – lack of understanding of the evaluation criteria stipulated on the Invitation to Tender or Request for Proposal. The criteria are basically a driver or guide on how the tender will be evaluated thus it is imperative for a tenderer to understand the various evaluation criteria. After successfully compiling a response, the bidder must atleast have in mind the possible outcome of the tender they are bidding for. EXAMPLE: A WORKS Tender Evaluation, Technical Requirements: TOTAL SCORE - 100
• Machinery (TLB, Excavator, 4-Tonne Truck, 1 LDV van) – SCORE 20 Project Team CVs (Project Manager, Fitters, Foreman …etc.) – SCORE 30 General Experience three Projects all summing up-to E300 000.00 – SCORE 20
Specific experience two (related to this particular job) – SCORE 30 Given this scenario above, a tenderer already knows if they have the experience required for this project. If they have done only one specific project similar to the one tendered for, chances are they will get maximum score 15 on this criterion
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Another pitfall is, evidence for all the requirements is a necessity.
Certificate of completion for the projects, copy of blue books, CV and qualifications of the project team and some tenderers tend to take this with a pinch of salt.
4. Late submissions – This is a serious cause for concern. Imagine all the innovation, research, resources utilised to come up with a cutting edge proposal and then in the end miss the big small box? On the day of submission everyone is a spectator, even the surrounding walls can tell a tale on how many disputes have erupted from this subject. Where do we lose the plot? We shall have a broader discussion on the same in our next articles probably with consented real life supplier experiences.
5. Submission Premises – It is crucial to know the venue for tender submissions, normally boldly written on the tender document. Picture a scenario whereby, the entity is located at the 6th floor of a building. Being at the foot of a client’s building during submission time doesn’t place your bid inside the box! There has been numerous debates on this issue, some tenderers even citing faulty lifts, delays at the parking lot, the annoying security guard who won’t just let you just slide in without proper registration. Well, that is what he is paid for and probably unbothered by your almost millions wrapped in brown envelopes.
6. Public Procurement Legislation – The Public Procurement Act of 2011, instils supplier rights which are meant to promote fairness, transparency and other principles stipulated on Section 38 of the PPA and also where a tenderer has some concerns about an outcome of a tender which they participated in, the procedure is outlined in Section 47, 48 & 49 of the Public Procurement Act (this will be elaborated in next articles)