FAQ
Coding
- What is a CPV Code?
- CPV stands for Common Procurement Vocabulary. It’s basically how procurement organisations categorise opportunities so that they’re ‘easy’ to find. Lots of websites let you set up a particular CPV of interest and then receive alerts when an opportunity arises. An example of a CPV is 72230000 which means “Custom software development”.
- What codes do you search for opportunities under?
- Different websites code opportunities differently and indeed we often find opportunities inaccurately coded. So we perform a broad search for any opportunities that might be applicable to companies operating in software, hardware, telecommunications and related services industries.
- What's a PPQ?
- These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires. They are typically used to restrict tender submissions to suppliers that have a particular set of characteristics.
Finding Tenders
- How does TenderScout help me find opportunities?
- Many tendering websites will charge you a fee so that they can send you opportunities that match keywords or CPVs that you’ve selected. That’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Finding opportunities is about knowing where to look and knowing what to look for. Tenderscout spends significant time manually trawling through these same websites, but qualifying opportunities as we go for SMEs. This saves you time and gives you a better set of opportunities to pursue.
- Where do we get our tenders from?
- All of our tenders are publically available, free of charge, mainly from government websites. We use http://www.etenders.gov.ie, http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/, http://www.supply2.gov.uk, https://www.sell2wales.co.uk/, https://e-sourcingni.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/toolkit/notice/public/opportunities.do and http://www.ted.eur-op.eu.int but are always looking for others.
- Does TenderScout pay for tenders?
- We refuse to engage with tendering organisations that expect you to pay to submit a proposal and we also refuse to engage with websites that charge for access to tendering opportunities. Our ethos is that everybody should be free to bid for business and we are actively encouraging tendering organisations to step up to the plate and ensure that there’s a level playing field for all.
- How many tenders will I get per day?
- Quality and not quantity is our motto at Tenderscout. We could give you 50 opportunities a day like some other websites, but you mightn’t appreciate having to read through all of those before finding one that might suit. We trawl through those 50 opportunities and we select the top few to perform background analysis on. We intend to deliver you a small manageable number of opportunities to choose from with the benefit of our background analysis. You can expect something in the region of up to 5 qualified opportunities per day.
- How detailed is the analysis that I get?
- Each qualified opportunity is in effect a summary analysis of the tender in question. The summary analysis will provide:
- The Scope of the tender in terms of required products and services
- Background information on the tendering organisation
- Logistics Information regarding response times, clarification details, required response documentation, etc., and
- Evaluation information in terms of the decision making process and the marking scheme.
- Evaluation information regarding the decision-makers within the tendering organisation
- Project information in terms of history, strategic drivers, technical product and service solution, etc., and
- Commercial information regarding budget, payment schedule, etc.
- Can two potentially competing clients order the same Proposal Preparation Pack?
- Tenderscout makes no distinction between our subscribers and treats everybody equally. Every subscriber receives the same Proposal Preparation Pack containing the generic tender response infomation and background data. It's up to individual subscribers to use that information to craft their own unique proposals.
- How do you keep your analysis charges so low?
- Most requests for tender will elicit responses from at least 3 competing companies. TenderScout has been conceived on the premise that a large portion of the analysis is the same for every potential respondee. In fact it’s pretty common that several of our subscribers will will order the same detailed analysis for an opportunity. We are therefore able to spread the cost of the analysis across several subscribers so each pays a substantially lower cost than they would incur if they had to perform this analysis just for themselves.
- How do you deal with clarifications to tenders?
- Whenever we update the detailed analysis with additional information, for example, responses to clarifications issued by the tendering organisations, all purchasers of detailed reports automatically receive this information.
- Does Tenderscout charge a success fee?
- No. TenderScout only charges for the analysis that it provides. Should you be successful in your tendering endeavours, TenderScout makes no claim for further fees.
Tendering Organisations Queries
- What benefit is this service to public sector / tendering organisations?
- The e-tenders for example website makes SMEs aware of procurement opportunities; however it does not help them in responding or being successful in those opportunities. Unlike larger or incumbent organisations, SMEs just can’t afford to invest in responding to tenders with little likelihood of success.
TenderScout helps bring down the cost of preparing tender responses so that SMEs can focus on their core strengths and deliver more competitive bids that more accurately meet the requirements of public sector organisations.
