A bid is a company or organization’s request to supply parties to write a proposal. This request is always in writing. A the document describes the process and supplies in one or more documents.
A bid is a collective term, also known as Tender. That, in turn, is the English word for tender, among other things. There are many different forms, such as a tender and a European tender. These forms are used by the government or government affiliates. In commercial companies, we find a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Information (RfI), Request for Bid (|RfB), Request for Quotation (RfQ) or Request for Tender (RfT), among others. All kinds of forms in which different things are asked of the market.
Looking for an overview of all the forms and their explanations? We have written a specific article about this. All forms of bids and their specifics.
Why do companies send out a bid?
Companies and organizations send out a solicitation because they want to procure something and compare multiple providers. To properly compare all supplying parties, they make this process uniform. With this, every party gets the same information and the response is also in the same format. In this way, the requesting party can be sure that they receive all the information relevant to them immediately and can compare well. It simplifies the selection process for the requesting party. Through a bid, they can more easily compare apples to apples.
Government organizations and government affiliates in the Netherlands and Europe must do so because the law requires them to do so. We call these bids tenders or tenders.
Many larger companies also use a set form of solicitation because they have established their own procurement rules. In the case of commercial companies, we do not talk about tenders, but about Request for Information and Request for Proposal.
Procurement rules
You receive an RFP and now what?
Congratulations! Your company is invited to answer a bid. But what exactly should you do? Below is a list of the steps to take.
Simple steps bid process:
- Assess whether the solicitation fits your products/services and the stated conditions for delivery and participation fit. Also look carefully at the time schedule. Does that also fit within your own time schedule?
- Respond to the invitation with an affirmative or negative response
- Form the bid team and schedule
- Answer the prayer. Get started on answering and take advantage of all opportunities to interact with the inquiring party
- Submit it on time. And do so in the manner specified by the requesting party.
This is very brief summary of the process. We provide more detail in our in-depth article on the process of bid answering.
What must a company do to be invited to tender?
For a tender you don’t get invited. Tenders are published and anyone who wants to can apply for the tender. Among other things, you can find the tenders on the tender calendar.
How do you get invited to RFPs?
For a Request of Proposal (RFP), companies create what is known as a long-list of parties. Such long-lists are usually created as a result of a market survey. This type of market research is mostly done by entering searches in Google, for example. So a good position in search results with Google for relevant search terms is a must. The same goes for overview pages that list the suppliers of certain products or services. These are mostly sector dependent. So look for these types of overview pages in your market.
In addition, some firms have specialized in Request of Proposal (RFP) guidance. These types of companies are often sector specific. So seek out your sector specialists and make sure they are familiar with your services. That way, you will more easily appear on the long-list.
Want to know more about the bids? Below each links to articles:
