Public procurement is big business. Unfortunately not everybody is profiting it in the same way as you have already read in our previous blogpost (what-is-a-tender). Large enterprises are way more involved in public procurement than SME's. One of the reasons that SME’s are less visible in this field of business, is the fact that they lack the time to figure everything out and often have no idea where everybody is talking about. Therefore we came up with a list of terms you need to know when you want to find your way in public procurement.
Public Procurement
Governments, at all levels, as wel as semi-public institutions (think public transport, schools, health organizations, fire brigades etc. ) all need supplies and work to be done that can’t be done by its own employees. Buildings need to be maintained, roads to be contructed, schoolbooks to be written. The entirety process of services and supplies searched, obtained and acquired by the government is known as public procurement.
Tender
A public body writes a contract notice (also called request for proposal) in which it clarifies what it needs and invites supplyers to do an offer. This offer needs to be submitted within a deadline and has to be written in a set format. Officially the word tender entails more than just the notice. It covers the whole procedure of publishing, bidding and selecting the best offer based on set criteria. It is used for both the notice as the process.
Buyer
An organisation wanting to obtain or acquire a good or service. In public procurement this is often a governmental or semi-public body. The goods or services needed are stated in a contract notice.
Supplier
An organisation wanting to provide certain goods or services requested by the buyer. Also called a vendor.
Bid
A set of documents submitted by the supplier in response of a tender invitation in which it states what goods or services it offers and for what price and criteria.
Award
A written notice that the bid of a supplier or vendor is accepted by the buyer. In public procurement award notices above a certain threshold need to be published by the buyer.
Now you know the most important terms to start in procurement. Next step is finding the interesting tenders. Since most small companies don’t have a special procurement department, efficiency is everything. This is where we step in. Tender-it developed a user-friendly, low cost search engine to find the best tender opportunities in your area of interest and location. By setting your own search profile interesting tenders will come to you by email and make it possible for you to compete with the big guys.
We hope het this blog clarified the field of public procurement a bit and gave you a clearer image of how tenders can be new business opportunities for you. If you have any questions or remarks please contact us at info@tender-it.com or check us out at www.tender-it.com
In our next blog we'll shed some light on the CPV-codes, used to categorise contract notices. Keep posted!
