Govt E-Tenders Website: Has anyone had any success with the contracts on this site.

[Latrade]

Re: Government E-Tenders Website

with you on this and as also posted tenders in past we have found there are companies who apply for any and all tenders - it must be relevant to the work you are doing and that you are fully confident that you can produce the goods if you are awarded.
Won 4 out 7 in past year - very much industry and experience specific.

And to just say, won another tender just today.

I think there's an element of art to doing tenders. Mind the art is just provide the information the tender asks for and read carefully. Many don't want electronic copies, only hard copy and some want 3 copies sent, etc.

If it looks like a cut and paste job, it's not likely to do so well on the scoring system.

 

[AlbacoreA]

Re: Govt E-Tenders Website: Has anyone had any success with the contracts on this sit

It can be interesting to ask people tendering to find their own information in their submitted tender. They often can't do it.

 

[galwegian44]

Re: Govt E-Tenders Website: Has anyone had any success with the contracts on this sit

I've been notified that I'm on the shortlist for a tender and I'm delighted to get this far as it's the first time I've used this eGov site. My company has been asked to give a presentation as the final stage to determine the winner; is this standard practice or unusual?

Also, does anyone know if there are standard questions that are usually asked at these presentations before getting into the nitty gritty?

Thanks for all suggestions.

It can be interesting to ask people tendering to find their own information in their submitted tender. They often can't do it.

 

[Complainer]

Re: Govt E-Tenders Website: Has anyone had any success with the contracts on this sit

I've been notified that I'm on the shortlist for a tender and I'm delighted to get this far as it's the first time I've used this eGov site. My company has been asked to give a presentation as the final stage to determine the winner; is this standard practice or unusual?

Also, does anyone know if there are standard questions that are usually asked at these presentations before getting into the nitty gritty?

Thanks for all suggestions.

Be ready to answer questions on all the stuff detailed in the tender. They will be marking you based on the weightings/criteria detailed in the tender, so you should focus on these issues. Ask them beforehand if there are any particular issues you should focus on, or anything unclear in your tender that you need to expand on.

 

[Purple]

piece in the Enterprise Ireland magazine "The Market" might be of interest to some of the people whio posted in this thread.

 

[csirl]

My employers do well at this sort of stuff and I've been involved in quite a few over the years. Some tips

1. Supply ALL the information required IN THE EXACT FORMAT required. Not more, no less. If you are asked for A, B & C you supply A, B & C in that order. You'd be amazed how many people send in generic info, such as brochures, price lists etc. instead of tailoring their reply to the competition. Generally speaking, you get disqualified if you dont supply all the info required - supplying 9 out of 10 answers is no good no matter how good each of the answers are. Also, those who mark the tenders wont go thru dozens of pages of extraneous information to find the specific answers they need - if its not in the correct format, it wont be read.

2. Make sure your business has all the certs required and supply them. Forgetting to send in your companies tax clearance cert is sometimes enough to get disqualified - have seen this happen. If the tender requires your staff to have certain specificed qualifications, they must have them AND you must supply the cert to prove. If you are required to have e.g. ISO 9001 etc., you must supply cert to prove. No good saying "my staff are experienced enough, even though dont have the formal cert"...or "my systems are good enough for ISO cert etc. etc." - either you have it or you dont full stop.

3. Get it in on time. Procurement law requires that any tender or part of tender received after the deadline cant even be opened by the recipient.

4. Remember that there is a wider world out there. Its no use being the best in Ireland in your field - tenders are generally done EU wide. This is an EU rule which the government can do nothing about. Irish firms always complain about it saying foreign firms are taking their customers, but they forget that it works both ways - very few Irish firms bother to tender for contracts with other EU governments. Can be very lucrative tendering in other countries, notably the UK as language and distance isnt really a problem - huge market out there for those who chase it.

5. Get feedback. FOI is wonderful, but most places will give you feedback plus a breakdown of your marks/price versus the winning tenderer outside of FOI.

On the size issue, I asked the logic on it once - there is some overall government policy that a tender should not be given to some firm if the contract price would be most of their turnover - dont like dealing with companies that are solely dependent on a government contract to survive as there are too many risks.

 

[Complainer]

Some interesting new guidance from Dept Finance on turnover criteria and other things that hurt SMEs.

From [broken link removed]

Summary of Measures by Contracting Authorities
to Facilitate the Participation of SMEs in Public Procurement

• Contracting authorities are to advertise all contracts for supplies and services with an estimated value of €25,000 and upwards on www.etenders.gov.ie (eTenders) (Section 2).
• Contracting authorities should, as the norm, use the electronic tendering facility on eTenders (Section 2).
• Contracting authorities are to use “open” tendering procedures for advertised contracts for supplies and services up to €125,000 in value, and for advertised contracts for works and related services up to €250,000. Beyond these levels they may decide which tendering procedure is most appropriate in each case (Section 3).
• Contracting authorities must ensure that any capacity levels they set for tenderers are relevant and proportionate to the circumstances of the particular contract (Section 4).
• Contracting authorities should allow applicants to self-declare their capacity to undertake the contract, and should seek verification or evidence of such capacity only in the event of the tenderer being short-listed or coming under consideration for the award of a contract (Section 4).
• Contracting authorities should be flexible in accepting alternative means of verification of capacity if suppliers are having difficulty in providing one kind of evidence sought (Section 4).
• Contracting authorities may only set insurance requirements that are relevant and proportionate to the circumstances of the contract, should require tenderers only to declare that they can obtain the cover, and should only seek evidence of the cover in place from the winning tenderer to allow for the award of contract (Section 5).
• Contracting authorities are not to use arrangements that involve potential tenderers having to pay so as to access opportunities to compete for public contracts (Section 6).
• Contracting authorities should provide constructive de-briefing to unsuccessful tenderers (Section 7).
• Contracting authorities may only short-list on an objective and non-discriminatory basis (Section 8).
• Contracting authorities should avail of the possibility to award contracts in “lots” where this can be done without compromising efficiency and value for money (Section 9).
• Contracting authorities should ensure that framework agreements facilitate the inclusion of smaller businesses where these could meet requirements or compete for particular lots (Section 10).
• Contracting authorities should encourage joint bidding among SMEs and sub-contracting in the case of larger contracts. They should be aware of the potential of SMEs as suppliers of innovative solutions and in contributing to eco-innovation (green procurement) (Section 11).
• Contracting authorities should describe their requirements in functional terms where appropriate (“ask for a solution, do not prescribe it”) (Section 11).
• Contracting authorities should use the online tax clearance system put in place through the Revenue Commissioners website www.revenue.ie (Section 11).
• Contracting authorities should use simple, and where possible, standard documentation to assist suppliers, have better structured tendering, and “de-mystify” the public procurement process (Section 11).

 

[censuspro]

Deloitte & Touch awarded the contract for the provision of internal audit service to NAMA:

[broken link removed]

 

[werner]

Hi guys,
What you have to remember is that 'most' of these tenders are already unofficially awarded. This is obviously not meant to be the case but alas its true.
The company that is 'awarded' the tender, in most cases write the tender documents to the specification of their offering.
I have given up on these tenders as they have proven in my particular case to be a waste of time and effort for zilch at the end.
d

+100

Very True!

 

[Complainer]

Hi guys,
What you have to remember is that 'most' of these tenders are already unofficially awarded. This is obviously not meant to be the case but alas its true.
The company that is 'awarded' the tender, in most cases write the tender documents to the specification of their offering.
I have given up on these tenders as they have proven in my particular case to be a waste of time and effort for zilch at the end.

+100

Very True!

Just in case you missed Diddles others posts on this thread, you might want to check out the post where he confesses to colluding with a public body to corrupt a tender process.

It is therefore difficult to take his concerns about corrupt tender processes too seriously. If you have any evidence about corrupt tender processes, please get that evidence into the public domain.

Sometimes conspiracy theories are easier for people to accept that plain old 'we weren't good enough' theories.

 

[Purple]

Excellent posts from Complainer and CSIRL on this thread. Should it be a edited into a key post?

 

[amabellent]

certification requirements to apply for a tender with the US government

I am tasked by my boss to find out what are USA's certification requirements in order to apply for tender?

I have no idea at all. Can anyone be so kind to provide me links where to find these info?

Thanks

 

[Complainer]

I'd guess that it all depends on the type of product or services involved. You'd have to give more detail, and ideally a link to the US tender in question.

 

[johnm]

Find out first which agency/department issued the tender. There are many levels of jurisdictions, i.e. federal (national), state, county, local, and they'll all have different rules. If it's federal, you may not qualify unless you have a US presence.