How to win public tenders!

The application process for public tenders is always a challenge for your sales team. Once you have decided to participate in a tender, there are important questions in the room: How long should your application be? Which references do enrich your application?In our article "Public tendering procedures" we have already informed about the potential and the different types of awarding procedures. In this article, we will go even further and provide answers to the questions who gets an order how you get to know of new tenders and what action makes you the winner of a public tendering procedure.1. Who receives the order?2. How do I find out about public tenders?3. Checklist: Professional preparation of an applicationLearn more about public tendering procedures on our construction industry blog

1. Who receives the order?

Increase your chance of winning by only bidding for tenders if the required services are part of your core business. Your opportunity to receive the order increases again if you have already worked on similar projects.The presentation of your company should be as informative and short as possible. The client wants to gain an overview of your company in five to ten minutes. So instead of just mentioning the number of employees, you should also list their competencies. The same applies to technical equipment. Apart from the number of machines, it should be stated how you ensure that your machines are always operational.Despite the fact that all the formalities are complete, winning the contract depends on economic factors, too. This is not just the price. The future maintenance costs, delivery times, operating costs and references are taken into account.For this reason, it is particularly important to thoroughly check whether the tender complies with your ideas and abilities. The tenders are evaluated in four stages:

1. The formal examination,
2. The examination of the suitability of the supplier,
3. The price check
4. The assessment of all award criteria.

Tenders aren’t considered if there hasn't been a notice that you won the tender by the end of the contract period. Only on written demand, the place of remission informs the rejection of the tender.

2. How do I find out about public tenders?

Public tenders above the thresholds are published in the Official Journal of the EU, as well as in the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) portal.For public tenders below the threshold, there is a large number of information platforms in Germany: 11.054 municipalities and 294 counties provide information on assignments in magazines, newspapers and regional portals. On each source, the search criteria must be set separately with CPV codes to get only the hits that are relevant.Anyone who gains knowledge of a planned project at an early stage can request further information from the issuing institution. The downside, however, monitoring the mass of sources is time-consuming. Building Radar hosts data from thousands of sources and thus will save you valuable time:

Instead of pursuing different sources, use only one platform with Building Radar. The information about public tenders in Germany and Europe are accessible here. Your Customer Success Manager is the specialist on your side and supports you in setting up your search profiles. You save time in this way and quickly learn about new tenders.Find out why Building Radar enriches your businessIn general, the following rules apply to all applicants for a public contract:

• All applicants must be treated equally
• The competition may not be restricted to companies located in certain regions or places.
• Tenderers' organisations are to be equated with individual bidders
• To prove their suitability, the expert, performance, and reliability of the candidates or tenderers must be examined.

If the requirements in the documents are not formulated clearly, it is worthwhile to make a phone call. A clarifying conversation is better than getting angry at a missed opportunity later - or pulling a job that cannot be met.An invitation to tender requires all participants to comply with the formalities. Under certain conditions, applicants may be excluded. These terms may be insolvency, liquidation or formal errors. Anyone who surrenders too late is excluded from the process. Practice shows that many offers fail at formal mistakes. The application should be prepared with due diligence. Use the Building Radar Checklist

Checklist: Professional preparation of an application

1. General preparation

▢ Create your search profiles with your Building Radar Customer Success Manager▢ Compile frequently needed certificates of suitability!▢ Create an internal procurement to speed up and standardise internal processes!▢ Agree about your strategy with your bidding consortium!▢ see above

2. Use the Building Radar Platform

▢ Get to know your contact person!▢ Get to know your contact person!You receive detailed contact information with the search results on the Building Radar platform▢ Check if the search results match with your abilities:

• Does the subject correspond to your abilities? ▢
• Is the execution period compatible with your other orders? ▢
• Does the place of performance correspond with your expectations? ▢
• What qualifications/documents are required? ▢
• What performance is expected? ▢
• What deadlines are included in the public contract? ▢

3. Create a schedule

End of the period of participation

End of the period for requesting the documents

End of the offer period

End of the bid period

Date of sample creation

Meeting on location

Completion period

From: By:

4. Certificates

▢ Clearance certificate from the tax office▢ Certificate of the social health insurance about gapless payment of contributions▢ Certificate of the employers' liability insurance association about gapless payment of contributions▢ Commercial register excerpt (Gewerbezentralregisterauszug) 3 (GZR 3)▢ Commercial register excerpt (Gewerbezentralregisterauszug) 4 (GZR 4)▢ A declaration that there is no serious misconduct▢ Trade register excerpt (Handelsregisterauszug)▢ Business registration (Gewerbeanmeldung)▢ Business license (Gewerbeerlaubnis)▢ Affiliation certificate of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Zugehörigkeitsbescheinigung IHK)▢ Prove of coverage by a Public liability insurance▢ Prove of professional qualification▢ Declaration by the company that insolvency proceedings have not been opened▢ Declaration by the company that there is currently not in liquidation▢ Company profile about the technical equipment▢ Reference list of previous clients▢ Declaration by the company about the number of employees

5. Preparation of the tender

▢ Use the original forms of the client!▢ Don’t add own general terms of business (GTC) or other conditions like delivery or payment terms▢ Fill out all forms!▢ Do not make any changes/additions on the documents (e.g., deletions, margin notices, unintended entries)▢ Correct your own mistakes clearly! (Cross out and sign next to every correction with your name and date)▢ Do not attach any not required documents!▢ Dispatch the offer with a double sealed envelope and mark it obviously as an offer on a tender!▢ Signature in the designated places, with the date and company stamp!