From notice to contract: the steps of a bid

Answering a tender is not sending a file. It is a chain of steps that starts well before you submit and carries on long after you sign. Here is the full map, so you know where you are and what comes next. It describes the most common case, a public contract put out to tender. Names and time limits change with the country and the funder, and a private buyer may skip several steps, but the order stays much the same.

Before you submit: you act

1. 1

   Spot the notice

   The buyer publishes a tender notice in a newspaper, on a public procurement site or on an international portal. You find it and immediately write down the buyer's name and the deadline.

2. 2

   Decide to go for it

   Nobody decides this for you. You check that you are allowed to respond, that you meet the disqualifying criteria and that there is enough time. The method is in Read a notice and a tender file.

3. 3

   Collect or buy the tender file

   The buyer makes the tender file available (the dossier d'appel d'offres, or DAO), free or for a fee. This file holds the real rules of the game. You collect or download it, leave your contact details so you hear about changes, and keep the receipt.

4. 4

   Ask your questions

   If a point in the file is unclear, you write to the buyer. This is a clarification request. The buyer answers in writing, normally to all bidders. Do not wait until the final week: the file sets a date after which questions are no longer answered.

5. 5

   Prepare the bid

   You gather the administrative documents, write the technical bid, price the financial bid and obtain the bid security, a guarantee issued by a bank or insurer, if the file asks for one.

6. 6

   Submit

   You hand in the bid at the stated address and time, in sealed envelopes or on a portal, and you keep proof of submission. A late bid is refused, even by a few minutes. See Submit your bid.

After you submit: the buyer decides

1. 7

   Bid opening

   The buyer's committee opens the bids on the set date, often in a public session. If you can attend, go, and write down the competitors' names, the amounts read out and any documents reported as missing.

2. 8

   Evaluation

   The committee checks administrative compliance, then technical merit, then prices, and ranks the bids. You can no longer change anything in your bid. If it asks you for a clarification, you answer at once, without touching your price.

3. 9

   Provisional award

   The buyer names the selected bidder, after any required reviews, and publishes or notifies the result. Some funders call this a notification of intention to award. You read the result and, if you lost, you ask for the reasons in writing. See Evaluation and award.

4. 10

   Appeal period

   In most public systems the contract waits for a short period during which a bidder can object. If you believe you were treated unfairly, act immediately: see Challenge a decision. If you won, you wait and commit no spending yet.

After the award: the contract becomes real

1. 11

   Notification and signature

   The buyer notifies you of the award and you sign the contract. Depending on the country and the amount, other authorities may still have to approve it. You supply the documents requested and register the contract if the rules require it.

2. 12

   Performance guarantee

   If the file requires it, you hand in the performance guarantee by the set date. It protects the buyer during the contract. Your bid security is then generally returned.

3. 13

   Start order

   The buyer issues the start order (ordre de service), the document that tells you to begin. The delivery period generally runs from this order, not from the signature. This is also when you claim the advance payment if the contract provides one.

4. 14

   Delivery and payments

   You deliver, you have the work recorded, and you present your invoices or payment certificates (décomptes), the priced statements of what is owed. The buyer verifies them, then its accountant pays. You follow every invoice, because this is where your cash flow is decided. See Deliver the contract and get paid.

5. 15

   Acceptance

   The buyer records that the work conforms, often in two stages: provisional acceptance, then final acceptance. You then recover your guarantees and retained sums, and you ask for a certificate of good performance (attestation de bonne exécution). It will be your reference for the next contract.

How much time to allow, counting back from the deadline

Start from the deadline and count backwards. A complete bid often takes one to two weeks of work, plus the waiting at government offices and the bank. So what you do not control comes first. The durations below are orders of magnitude, not rules.

When	What	Why then
The day you decide	Request any missing certificates	A government office issues them at its own pace: allow several days, sometimes several weeks
The day you decide	Talk to the bank or insurer about the bid security	Same order of magnitude, and longer if they do not know you
At the start	Read the whole file and send your questions	The answers may change your bid
In the first half of the time	Request supplier quotes, gather references, CVs and equipment proof	All of this depends on other people
In the second half	Write the technical bid and settle the price	You finally have all the elements
At least two days before	Assemble, sign, initial, make copies, reread	This always takes longer than planned, and a mistake found the day before can still be fixed
The day before	Plan the journey or test the portal	A traffic jam or a saturated portal will not move the date

The consequence is simple. If less time remains than the bid security or a missing certificate needs, drop this notice and prepare for the next one. And the best way to save time is to have your certificates up to date before you even see the notice.

Your bid goes to the buyer

A bid always goes to the buyer named in the notice, at the address and by the method stated in the file. It does not go through the site where you read the notice, nor through a go-between. If someone offers to pass on your bid or to get you the contract for a fee, refuse.

What next

Start by finding out who you are dealing with: Who is buying and which rules apply. For the texts and bodies in your country, see the rulebook. If you already have a notice in front of you, go straight to Read a notice and a tender file.