04 Apr Post Tender Submission Patience
By Louise Lewis, Tuesday 4th April 2017
After submitting your tender it can take some time before you’re informed of the outcome.
Be patient, avoid pestering the buyer after the expected award date has passed as there could be many reasons why you may not have heard back immediately. For example, the award date may have been changed which can happen quite frequently for many reasons including mistakes in documentation, prospective bidders requesting more time, poor response or unforeseen circumstances like an emergency situation.
Do not worry, remember the buyer is adhering to the internal procurement process and the evaluation process takes time with many applicants submitting a tender. There can be delays in getting the tender board together and there may be further clarifications required before the contract is awarded.
These are situations that are out of your control but if you make sure your documents are clear and comprehensive, ensuring the procurement rules and stipulations of the solicitation documents are adhered to then this will ensure that you will be contacted in due course. Remember they want to make sure the best supplier is chosen, but if unsuccessful, they will also let you know the reason/s for this and why.
If you are successful – that is fantastic! Well done. Now make sure you read all the documents carefully they may send for you to sign. Put into practice the approach you said you’d adopt in the Tender.
If on receiving the Final Decision, it is not clear why you were unsuccessful, ask for more Detailed Feedback, and stress this is so you can improve and learn from this, rather than using a threatening tone that you feel they’ve made the wrong decision.
