Tender Management Process
The Tender Management process begins when the decision is made to pursue a procurement activity through a tender, normally either an ‘open tender’ (the opportunity is advertised widely inviting responses from a broad market base) or a ‘restricted tender’ (the opportunity is only advertised to selected respondents). The process concludes when a procurement decision is reached, and unsuccessful tenderers have been advised.
The key elements to be considered in a Tender Management process often result in standalone documents being developed. Each element informs the Tender Management process and helps ensure that the resulting procurement delivers what the organisation truly needs. They provide an evidence based an auditable system for understaking this form of procurement methodology. Depending on the complexity and value of your procurement activity, some or all of the following should be considered:
Tender Management - Key Elements
- Concept Design
- Needs Analysis
- Operational Specifications
These documents have a role in ensuring your organisation understands what products or services are required to meet defined objectives. The detail will be driven by the complexity of the goods or services required, and potentially, the value and risk to your organisation.
- Tender Component Development, including:
- Conditions of Tender
- Conditions of Contract
- Tender Specifications
- Statement of Work
- Financial Requirements
The documents that are released to the market in order to inform the market of the required goods and services.
The detail will be driven by the complexity of the goods or services required, and potentially, the value and risk to your organisation.
- Method for announcement of tender to the market
- Briefing to potential suppliers (commonly called an industry brief)
- Receipt of Tenders
The process and controls that will be used to ensure efficiency and adherence to a tender budget and schedule.
- Evaluation of Tenders
- Award of Preferred Supplier
- Contract Negotiations
- Award of Contract
- Debrief of unsuccessful tenderers
Necessary to ensure that the organisation has a transparent, auditable evidence based series of documents that are the basis for the procurement methodology.The detail will be driven by the complexity of the goods or services required, and potentially, the value and risk to your organisation.
The decision to ‘go out to tender’ by the Purchaser should be taken when there is a very good understanding of the components required (above), the tender schedule and budget. The common alternatives to a tender process is to procure via a sole source procurement or a panel procurement process. The pro’s and con’s of these procurement methodologies will be discussed in future AML blogs.
AML has assisted in tender management for a number of government and commercial clients across a variety of sectors. Since establishment in 2003, AML has successfully managed, written and won in excess of 50 tenders. The values of the tenders that AML has managed range from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of millions.
For our clients seeking to procure goods and services throughthe tender process, AML can assist you with:
