How to participate in tenders for a beginner - a step-by-step algorithm. Tender - about complex things in simple words Participation in tenders - where to start
In each company, participation in the competition is carried out according to standard tactics, how to work with tenders for public procurement. One of the prerequisites is the approval of the project by the general director of the institution and the appointment of a responsible manager.
Where to start?
The responsible person collects a package of documents provided by different departments:
- estimated
- accounting,
- lawyers,
- HR department,
- logistical.
In addition to collecting completed forms, the manager analyzes his company’s participation in other tenders, and also studies documents that reflect the results of tenders in which the firm or company has previously participated.
The responsibilities of the responsible manager also include studying the requirements for documentation, application deadlines and technical parameters of the purchased products. You can find out what tasks the tender department solves.
Who can be a bidder?
One should not think that all tenders are custom-made and young firms will not be able to “break into” the government supply market. Even a small enterprise that started operating a few days ago can take part in the auction.
Before working with a tender, it is necessary to carry out fairly thorough preparatory work, study the volume of orders and the conditions that the young company can fulfill.
To take part in the competition, you must provide the commission with a package of documents and announce your participation in the tender. Information about auctions can be found on specialized websites and the media. The electronic bidding procedure reduces the costs of participating in the tender and allows you to monitor the progress of the procedure online.
Decision is made. What's next?
If you decide to participate in the tender, you should search for a suitable tender based on the following criteria:
- region;
- subject of bidding;
- starting price.
One employee of a small company cannot cope with the amount of work involved in selecting a tender; outsourcing specialists in all areas should be involved. Hired staff will save money and help you choose a thematic electronic platform.
It is also necessary to issue a digital electronic signature to register it on trading platforms and accreditation of the participant.
“Young” tenderers should begin work on public procurement with proven electronic platforms, for example, such as:
- Sberbank AST;
- Manufacturer;
- Rosseltorg;
- b2b-center.
Tender support
Tender support is a service aimed at ensuring the process of an enterprise’s participation in a tender. The main goal of tender support is to create all the conditions (at the legal level) for the client-participant to win the competition.
Tender support is especially important if you:
- you do not have much experience or have not taken part in state competitions at all;
- you don’t want to take risks and act at random;
- You don’t want to misfire at a responsible tender.
Did you know that 90% of tender participants are not allowed to bid due to deficiencies in documentation or incorrectly completed applications? If you are not a professional, making a mistake in documents is as easy as shelling pears. In this case, only tender support will help.
Support of tenders by qualified lawyers will protect you from disastrous shortcomings that could negatively affect the results of the competition.
You've probably heard a lot about tender sales - competitions and auctions in which customers select sellers of goods and service providers for their needs. The essence of the tender comes down to the fact that the customer company announces the selection of performers for its order, and then reviews the applications of the applicants and selects the one who offered the best conditions...
Many entrepreneurs successfully participate in tenders, expanding the scope of their activities and increasing profitability. How do they do this? The answer is simple: they have mastered electronic trading - the most convenient and effective type of tender procurement.
The main advantage of electronic trading is equal conditions for all participants. This principle ensures fair competition between large enterprises and small businesses. Thanks to this, budding entrepreneurs have more opportunities to develop sales.
Working on electronic platforms is not difficult, and in this article we will tell you how to learn it.
By following our step-by-step instructions, you will be able to:
- Select the right venues for participation;
- Self-accreditation;
- Find purchases of interest;
- Take part and win your first tender.
1
Selection of electronic platforms
There are 2 main types of electronic trading platforms (ETPs) on which purchases take place:
- State – for tenders of federal, regional and municipal customers, budgetary organizations;
- Commercial – for procurement of business structures.
In addition, there are ETPs for procurement by state-owned companies (businesses with state participation), where the rules established by law 223-FZ apply. More information about electronic platforms: Complete list of ETPs for tender purchases As you can see, there are a large number of different platforms on the market, and it is not practical to get acquainted with each of them. At the first stage, it is more important to determine the type of suitable ETP and select those where the tenders that interest you most often occur.
Cheat code 1: You can simplify search for tenders (Review article on searching for tenders), using one of the popular search engines. For example, get a one-day trial access to the tender search system "Procurement Factory" . This time will be enough to scan all sites and select 8-10 most suitable ones.
Cheat code 2: Look at the ETP for completed auctions on your topic. This will allow you to identify likely competitors and the approximate purchase price that you should expect. Many customers annually place the same orders in a certain month or quarter, therefore, by studying last year's purchases, you will get a picture for the current year.
2
Obtaining an electronic digital signature (EDS)
To start working on any trading platform, you will need an EDS - an electronic digital signature. This is a means of authentication and secure data transmission on the network; it is a mandatory requirement for every bidder, both in government and commercial ETPs.
Please note: for access to government tenders (under 44-FZ), procurement of state-owned companies (223-FZ) and commercial structures, the appropriate types of digital signatures are issued. In addition, there is a universal digital signature for all types of ETP.
Your task is to obtain an electronic signature suitable for the 8-10 sites you have selected.
The cost of EDS at different issuing centers ranges from 6,900 to 10,000 rubles, depending on the list of sites. You can order from us EDS with free delivery .
Cheat code: Before receiving an electronic signature, check with the organization with which you are entering into an agreement whether it has an FSB license. The procedure for obtaining an electronic signature requires the provision of scans of documents, including a passport, and the presence of an FSB license is a guarantee against the misuse of your data. Example of a FSB license
Registration on electronic platforms
Using your digital signature, you can register on the trading platforms you are interested in. Registration is quite simple, but before starting the procedure, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the rules of work on the selected ETP and its tariffs.
Registration and work on public procurement sites is completely free. More details: Algorithm for registration on the ETP of government orders
Please note: registration and participation in trading on commercial platforms is usually carried out on a paid basis. Before starting work, review the terms of connection and participation in tenders. Payment may be charged for participation in a purchase, for winning, or as a subscription service. In some cases, the opportunity to submit your proposal costs up to 100,000 rubles.
Search for tenders
When you have registered and become familiar with the site, you should set up the distribution of new tenders in your personal account. Select topics of interest, and the system will automatically notify you when orders are placed that may be of interest. To receive ETP emails, we recommend setting up a separate email folder.
Cheat code 1. To save time, you can use the tender search system. Its use usually pays off after the first tender won. Attention! When ordering an electronic signature from our organization, you are given free access to the search engine "Procurement Factory" within 1 month.
Cheat code 2 At the initial stage of participation in tenders, we recommend choosing purchases worth no more than 1,000,000 rubles. The larger the contract amount, the higher the likelihood of corruption in the tender. On the contrary, the smaller the amount, the lower the competition from experienced participants.
Participation in tenders
Participation in tenders is a voluminous and complex topic that cannot be covered in a short instruction. You can learn how to participate in tenders only through your own experience (after going through a long journey of trial and error) or under the leadership of an experienced mentor.
Before starting to work with tenders, we strongly advise you to undergo at least minimal training. See more details: Ways to teach tender sales
If you don’t have time to study or understand procurement issues, you can order bidding support services or call a tender specialist for a day
Start today to win tomorrow!
Entrepreneurs can and should master tender procurement. Participation in auctions is a powerful impetus for business development, expansion of the sales market, and increased profits.
Working on electronic platforms is becoming more and more relevant every year, as the number of posted competitions and auctions increases every year. And this trend will continue for several more years.
At the same time, according to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, in 2014 more than 40% of government procurement did not take place due to a lack of applications from suppliers. This means that you have the opportunity to occupy a large and promising niche that will provide growing income for years to come.
All that remains is to gain experience in successfully working with tenders, and we are ready to help you with this.
We are pleased to offer the following services:
Obtaining digital signature for electronic trading
Installation and configuration of the tender search system
Tender specialist services
If you have questions related to participation in procurement, obtaining digital signatures and searching for tenders, we will definitely answer them and provide comprehensive advice. You can ask questions in the comments or by contacting us in any convenient way.
Participation in public procurement tenders and receiving a contract paid from the state or municipal budget are regulated by law.
As for private companies, they establish their own rules for selecting performers and requirements for them.
It is necessary to determine how to participate in tenders in order to receive a contract.
Newbie
The problems for beginners are that they do not know where to look for orders, what to focus on, and if they find a seemingly suitable order, then difficulties arise in completing it.
Assistance is provided by special firms engaged in tender practice. As a rule, they employ lawyers and economists who understand the regulatory framework and other issues.
Some tenders are inaccessible to newcomers in principle - for example, there are restrictions on the period of activity of a company or individual entrepreneur on the market - this is how the state protects itself from fly-by-night companies.
It is better to try to apply for small orders that a novice entrepreneur or a newly opened company can do. After all, according to the law, a company or individual entrepreneur that has not fulfilled its obligations or turned out to be dishonest ends up on “black lists”; it is almost impossible to get out of them.
Participate in government procurement
Now let’s figure out how to participate in public procurement tenders. The participant needs to go to a single website, where there is information about all tenders organized by the state or municipality.
The system is organized electronically, and it is necessary to obtain an electronic signature. Without it, you cannot certify electronic copies of documents or leave a signature where it is needed.
- registration on the site is carried out;
- documents confirming the fulfillment of customer requirements are sent electronically;
- confirmation of a bank guarantee or other security in accordance with contract documentation.
Forming an application is an important point. If at least one requirement of the contract documentation is not met, the participant will not even be allowed to participate in the competition.
Therefore, you should not take a superficial approach to studying the tender documentation; all its requirements are important. The level of their implementation will influence what decision will be made on the package of documents, and what impression the tenderer will create about himself.
There is no point in distorting information about yourself in any way; immediately upon discovery, the contract should be rejected if such a participant passed the tender.
If an organization or individual entrepreneur operates within one region, then they should apply for tenders held in its area.
You can look for a general contractor who engages smaller firms or individual individual entrepreneurs to complete the order.
The contract may provide for the execution of the order directly by the contractor or permission to involve third parties to participate. Requirements may be made for them.
What do you need to take part?
Participation in the tender is ensured by submitting a package of documents. Some papers are submitted regardless of the specifics of the future contract, others taking it into account.
- application from the participant;
- a copy of the document confirming the powers of the director, if it is not written about in the Charter;
- copy of the order appointing an accountant
- a copy of the charter, constituent agreement;
- TIN certificate - a copy certified by a notary;
- registration certificate;
- confirmation of the absence of debts on taxes and fees;
- written guarantee from the bank.
Some applications assume that there is already a ready-made project prepared by the applicant, so that the client or tender committee has an idea of who they are dealing with.
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Individual entrepreneurs as participants
An individual entrepreneur goes through the same procedures as companies applying for an order. It is believed that it is more difficult for an individual entrepreneur to receive an order, however, if you use the support system for small and medium-sized businesses, it is possible to receive a contract without a competition. This is legal, however, their amounts are small (within 100 thousand), which is not so bad for one person. Such orders are placed either by municipalities or government organizations.
The individual entrepreneur does not have constituent documents, but must include his passport details in the application, attaching a copy of the passport, a certificate of registration as an individual entrepreneur, and TIN.
The tender documentation describes all the requirements for the completed documents and what papers should be submitted.
Some tenders are designed for individual entrepreneurs, while others are exclusively for organizations that have the required number of personnel at their disposal. 
It is somewhat easier with private companies. On the portals of electronic platforms or on their own websites, they can post offers addressed to individual entrepreneurs for the provision of services or performance of work. Sometimes it’s easier this way; an individual entrepreneur is a more mobile figure; there is no need to wait for additional approvals and resolve a number of other issues, which is typical for large organizations.
Correct and free
The electronic platform for placing orders takes some percentage for the services that are provided on it. In addition to guarantees from banks or other security deposits, participants pay a certain amount to the site owners.
With government orders, the payment is minimal, but if we talk about commercial tenders, then everything depends on the policy of the site owners, and the customer company also has a certain influence.
Some portals provide services without charging anything from applicants; their services are paid for by the customer company. Large organizations do this too.
The bulk of both government and commercial tenders are paid, but government tenders are more affordable in this regard.
Free tenders, as a rule, offer a limited list of orders, and their budgets are symbolic, and as a result are designed for individual entrepreneurs or small firms.
The amount of costs is also determined by the way the auction is organized. Either an electronic system or a conventional one is used, when documents are submitted in envelopes, and at the appointed time in the agreed place, the packages with documents are opened. Such tenders will cost more.
Portals, in particular, the state one, are designed in such a way that it is easy to select the one you need based on the parameters in the array of orders.
Companies participating in tenders
Some tender portals offer information about competitors who have submitted bids for the same order. The tender participant who has submitted an application only needs to send a request, and he will receive a list of competing companies.
For each auction, a register of its participants is maintained. Art. 62 Federal Law - 44 determines the list of information that must be publicly available about each auction participant.
The list is wide and concerns, for example, the name of the company or the data of an individual, if it is an individual entrepreneur. Copies of constituent documents are hidden from public access. Enough information is given to verify the existence of the company through government services and avoid fraud.
The development of the tender system has been observed in Russia since the end of the last century. The concept of tender is equivalent to the concept of competition. Its meaning is to find a contractor for government orders on a competitive basis. The entire regulations of this system are spelled out in the winner and a contract is concluded for any work, services or supply of goods. Today we will talk about what is needed to participate in tenders.
What are tenders?
Such competitions can be open or closed, held in one or two stages. In addition, there are varieties of specialized closed tenders, single tenders and requests for quotations.
What does participation in competitions give? The winner is given the opportunity to receive a profitable large order, and if it is a start-up company, to make a name for itself in the market. Many people are put off by the rather complicated participation procedure, but anyone can figure it out. Of course, beginners often need help, practical guidance explaining what needs to be done and in what order. Have you decided to take part in tenders? The step-by-step instructions will come in handy.
Why is it beneficial?
Information about where and what tenders are planned to be held is constantly available on specialized websites and in the media. When the competition is announced, the tender commission begins to consider applications from applicants.
It is not typical for small and medium-sized businesses to be active in bidding for government orders - there are many apparent difficulties. It does not take into account that the lion's share of municipal budgets these days is distributed, as a rule, through tenders.
Government orders support business no less effectively than benefits and subsidies. In addition, the law obliges customers of the municipal and public sector to transfer at least 10% of the volume of work and deliveries of goods per year to entrepreneurs.
Electronic auctions
Unfortunately, only large companies are seriously involved in tracking promising tenders, and all because of the need to maintain a special service for this.
Government orders are placed in different ways - in the form of a request for quotation, procurement from a single supplier (performer) or through bidding. The last method is the most common.
Nowadays, the majority of orders from the state are placed at electronic auctions; their share is over half of all auctions conducted. Such events are recognized as an effective means of combating corruption due to the anonymity of those involved, great competition and the availability (as they say, transparency) of all information.
Participation in tenders: step-by-step instructions for beginning businessmen
Let's look at what participation in an electronic auction is.
First of all, a suitable auction must be “calculated”. To do this, you need to carefully read all notices about such events, regularly visiting the official website, which has nationwide status and publishes announcements about future auctions 7-20 days before a certain date, which serves as the last day for submitting applications. You must indicate your desire to take part in the selected tender during this period - later your application will no longer be accepted for consideration.
Officially, there are five federal platforms for electronic trading, on any of which you will find a search form for auctions of interest and a register of all tenders. It is also easy to obtain summary information on the official website of the Russian Federation, which is dedicated to placing orders.
What is needed to participate in tenders
Next, you should obtain an electronic digital signature (abbreviated as EDS). It is purchased from one of the special certification centers accredited on the electronic platform you have chosen. The process of receiving it will take several business days (2 or 3). The signature gives legal status to the electronic document and records the financial responsibility of the participant.
But digital signature alone does not guarantee that you will take part in tenders. The step-by-step instructions also contain the concept of accreditation. That is, in order to participate in auctions held by a particular platform, you must be accredited to it. Each of the five sites has its own accreditation. To do this, a special form is filled out on the site’s website along with an application to open an account. A number of documents are attached. Which ones? We are talking about an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (if you are an individual entrepreneur, an extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs), a power of attorney giving the right to participate in these auctions, a document appointing a manager (decision or protocol) with the seal of the organization, a scan of a card with the company’s details.
Further actions
The operator will review the application within five days and provide a response on access or refusal (in the latter case, with explanations of the reasons). The number of retries is not regulated, but each application will require a five-day review period.
Having successfully passed accreditation, you will receive a “Personal Account” from which you will conduct all further actions.
The next mandatory step is to top up your own account on the trading platform as a guarantee of participation in trading. The amount is fixed - for small entrepreneurs it is usually 2% of the initial order amount (its maximum). In other cases we are talking about five percent. You can get your money back after the account is unblocked (at the end of the auction).
Submit applications
The participant can now submit an application. You need to approach its preparation extremely responsibly, having first carefully studied all the auction documentation. The first part, anonymous, consists of confirming the participant’s consent to supply the desired product (service) with a detailed description. Its second part contains detailed information about the participant with the attachment of all supporting certificates and licenses.
In addition to the application of the established form, the application for participation in the tender must include the fullest possible volume of estimate and calculation documents, which shows in tabular form the cost of materials or services together with VAT at the time of bidding, detailed explanations of additional costs (transport, design and survey, etc.) , as well as taxes.
Things to remember
A submitted application automatically equates to an agreement to comply with all the customer’s terms and conditions. If it is impossible to fulfill them, the contractor should withdraw the application. It is not accepted from the participant after the deadline set by the auction organizer. Refusal to participate in the tender (withdrawal of the application) is possible only before a certain date. The deadline for acceptance may be extended by the tender commission, of which applicants are notified.
When the deadline for submitting applications has expired, the customer reviews their first parts, the results of the review are formalized in the form of a protocol, which the site operator must convey to all participants within the prescribed period. This way you will know whether you are admitted to trading or not.
A little about the process itself
What are the main points you need to know when planning to participate in tenders? The step-by-step instructions say that in the bidding process itself, two concepts are most important - the auction step and the time remaining until its completion. The first indicator is strictly fixed - it is 0.5% of the maximum initial price (as the law says). The transition to the next step occurs at intervals of 10 minutes, during which the participant must decide whether to offer a lower price or not.
Participants are prohibited from submitting proposals with a price greater than or equal to that previously proposed. Zero-price offers are also prohibited. It is also impossible to lower the price by more than a step (below the current minimum offer) in advance.
Completion of trades
If the last bid offered was the lowest (within ten minutes no more advantageous offers were received), the auction is completed. A protocol with results is automatically generated almost instantly; each participant appears in it only under an assigned number.
Who exactly won the tender will become known only after the auction is completed. The customer will receive the second part of the winning application, containing the details of the winning participant. He will be sent a government contract, which must be certified with an electronic signature within a certain period of time.
What's next?
In addition, an amount of monetary security for the contract must be provided, which by law is up to 30% of the original maximum price. This is done in the form of a bank guarantee, or the funds are credited to the customer’s temporary account.
Experts believe that by participating in tenders, any company receives important advantages. And although the tender system in its current form is far from perfect, it gives beginning entrepreneurs a chance to reach a major customer and increase their own status in the market.
The choice of tenders should be made wisely, without trying to cover all offers. If you fail, you shouldn’t be upset - after all, you have gained serious business experience.
What is typical for commercial trading?
Unlike state tenders, commercial tenders are organized in accordance with the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; the regulations for their conduct are established by the customer independently. When conducting them, the same principles are applied on which government auctions are based. But there are more competitive procedures - in the form of an open competition with or without pre-selection, closed, two- and multi-stage competition, request for prices, competitive negotiations, procurement from a single source, etc.
Thus, commercial tenders are mostly conducted similarly to government tenders. The difference lies only in the strict regulation of the latter by law. The form of private tenders is freer, and they are focused on the documentation of the customer companies themselves.
There is no single and universal law on which the organization of participation in tenders of this type is based due to the huge variety of individual areas of business, each of which has its own specifics.
Construction tenders
If your company’s activities are related to the supply of machinery (excavators, cranes, bulldozers) or equipment, as well as the sale of land for construction purposes, you will need serious clients.
This means that the company should take an active part in relevant competitions. Surely you would like to enter into a long-term contract with a large customer. Then take part in construction tenders. The principle here is the same: study the regulations for holding a suitable auction, create a package of documents consisting of an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, photocopied and tax-certified constituent documents (along with the charter) and an order for the appointment of a chief accountant, evidence of work experience along with copies of financial statements for the last period, as well as copies of passports of all official representatives of the supplier company and a certificate of state registration of the enterprise. The person who will officially represent the interests of the company at the auction must have a power of attorney to participate in the tender.
Do not forget that the submitted application must have monetary support. If there is no available amount in the company’s accounts, it has the right to use a tender loan.
