Its our wish for our members to graduate from small businesses to medium and big businesses. One surefire way to the top is through access to tenders and winning bids! Here are some basics you need to master.
The First Rule=Meet set requirements on tender advert.A look at most tenders reveal the following requirements;
1) Registered company
2) Tax compliance,
3) Evidence of ability to deliver
4) Office premises existence,
5) Other legal requirements.
First Stage of Review
1) Do you meet set advert requirements? Submission on due date, submission in correct format, registration and compliance issues etc. Pretty basic box ticking exercise which thousands of bidders meet.
2) If yes you go to second stage Second Stage:
Quality Review
The over view of tenders is the ability to deliver advertised services or products at the best value. You need to provide proof of your abilities through references. You should also be of good standing in society.
1) Value for money analysis: Can you deliver value for $? Cost & price models. Have you bid with the least reasonable costs? The least cost does not necessarily mean value as someone with a higher price than yours can be selected.
2) Risk Analysis: Are you not a briefcase company? Can we visit your site and case studies too?
3) Presentation: How are your papers presented? Although not part of most checklists, still plays an important role.Remember for each tender advertised, there are thousands of bidders,Some more experienced than you!
4) ISO Certification: Although not a requirement on most bids, but in some cases may hep you earn a few points ahead of competition.
So you have to go the extra mile to win it.This is Olympics Stuff…You vs Serena Williams on a tennis match,Or you vs Lewis Hamilton on a formula 1 contest,Odds heavily stacked against you,
Prepare for tenders
The starting points~
1) National Budgets
2) Company financial statements
3) NGO websites
4) You can add more
You should not wait for newspapers to flight ads, its too late to respond,Later this year, Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube will allocate funds for 2022 expenditure ~ Do analyse allocations and start preparations!If 500 bridges are to be constructed, then be ready,The direction of funds flow is as follows;
Strategy,
Budgets,
Tenders,
If you skip strategy and budget then you have missed the train.
Prepare to fail 1000x Yes you will be rejected countless times but its part of the game,You gain experience although it comes at a cost of time, stationery and stress,After submitting a bid, always ask for feedback ~Who won? Why? Why did you lose?Most tenders have a briefing session where losers are addressed. Newbies often ignore this important feedback session~So how do you learn?
Tenders & Innovations
1) We have covered how to look for information before tenders arrive,
2) Secondly consider partnerships in bidding for tenders~very innovative as it can plug gaps in your entity,
3) There is growing interest in promoting new businesses, youth owned business and gender considerations. So irrespective of experience ~you may dribble seasoned players to the top.
Corruption
As a seasoned reviewer of tenders worth more than US$300m, Iam yet to bump into corruption as I have been part of teams where we have done our best in terms of transparency,However from as far back as 2003, heard of stories of 20% kickbacks… I won’t talk of something I have little knowledge of. I however strongly advise members to avoid kickbacks!
Disappointments
Zim businesses highly regarded across the region and yet few take interest.In one tender worth €9m across the borders, we had a Zimbo firm coming up as the top candidate.Impressive presentation,But when I checked compliance with audited reports submission, they had just submitted a financial report!So €9m went up in smoke for an audit that costs $5000? Unbelievable….I have also been on the side of preparing tenders and its a laborious and time consuming exercise.You can work 22 hours per day non stop, doing so for a week or so and still lose it,Every detail matters; words, grammar, page nos, images, font colour and size etc.
And if shortlisted, cleanliness of premises, staff clothing and demeanor, location, your presentation style etc. This is Olympics Stuff, preparation over years pays off.References:Look for how Strive Masiyiwa won the Mascom licence in Botswana.Weeks and weeks of preps,Tonnes of rehearsals,Kutsanya nekutsanya
Young adults say Its no kid’s games.
So prepare your business for future tenders. Look at basic requirements for tenders and tick them against your current business.
All the best
