Submitting the Tender
Submitting the Tender
Get your tender in on time, preferably the day before to reduce the stress of a last minute rush. If anything is going to go wrong, it will wait until that moment.
Step 1
Stop faffing with it!
Good tender writers never “finish” a tender. We only “stop”. Pens down, the exam is over. If you have been working on it for weeks, then the last few hours shouldn’t make any material difference, so just accept where you are and stop. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC.
Plan to have a hard deadline of 48 hours before it closes to give you plenty of time to compile it for submission and actually get it submitted.
These days most tenders are submitted online. Double check this is the case, and that you have the login details (and they work).
Step 2
Prepare the tender for submission
Read the submission instructions very, very carefully.
Sometimes they require several documents, with a specific format specified for each. If there are no specific formats specified then pdf’ing them into a single print-ready document is best.
Look at EVERY page, to ensure that nothing has “disappeared” and that you have included all required attachments. It’s safer to not zip the files together.
Pay attention to the labelling requirements.
Step 3
Submit the Tender
If submitting online allow a minimum of six hours panic time in case something goes wrong with the technology.
The power or internet may go down, you may get a virus on your computer: anything could happen, and if it is going to, it will wait until you are under pressure.
If anyone is holding you up, submit what you have anyway. You can always go back and replace the document being delayed when you get it. If it turns up late, at least you have something in.
Step 4
Answer the clarification questions
Unless you have done a sensational job, it is common to receive clarification questions from the evaluation committee.
Try to understand what they are getting at so you don’t frustrate them with a response that doesn’t satisfy them.
If submitting to government, there is a long process their end before they can announce the preferred respondent. It could take months before you hear something.
