Tips from the customer to the tenderer

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Hello dear readers.

Periodically, topics appear on the Habré , telling about tender processes through the eyes of either the customer or the participant.

People who write on behalf of customers say that not everything is so bad and scary. Participants, on the contrary, respond that the results do not justify the effort. During my working life, I purchased for different structures and according to different regulatory documents. These were federal structures, and state corporations and private companies. Therefore, I will try, based on my experience, to talk about the features of procurement in executive institutions, large commercial structures and enterprises with state participation.

1. Government institution


The structural unit in which I served was engaged in financial and economic activities. Including purchases. From the first months of service, it became clear to me that many internal circumstances influence the choice of suppliers.
So it turned out that the Internet in management was not put to everyone (apparently the atmosphere of secrecy and other matters). In the department, in which everything was concluded, only the person who posted the information on the website of the State Procurement had the Internet . And people more or less familiar with FZ-94 know that not everything is published on government procurements, but only that it is more expensive than 100,000 rubles. Contracts for a smaller amount are concluded based on the results of market monitoring.
Thus, finding a supplier for such an amount without the Internet was not an easy task. And guess who to whom we first went for the offer and the contract? To those who sent us their commercial offers by mail, or whom we knew from past contracts.

Thus, for suppliers whose contract amount does not exceed one hundred thousand rubles, I can give the following tips:

Commercial offers - do not neglect them, send them with a description of the services, goods that you are ready to sell to the nearest state and municipal institutions. I can already see how many of the suppliers roll their eyes to the sky and say - no one reads them!
Perhaps you are right, but you need to declare yourself. Your task is for the offer to reach the ordinary contractor, who needs to conclude a contract. In order for the quotation to come, it must be drawn up accordingly.
(For more details on the procedure for processing and processing letters by state bodies, see FZ-59 , which applies to letters from legal entities.)
The main thing is that your proposal has all the necessary details of the letter, namely:
- the name of the state body or local government,
- the position of the head of this government agency,
- the name of your organization,
- the signature and name of the head of your organization,
- the outgoing number and date.

In the presence of these details, your commercial appeal will not be put aside, but in accordance with the law, it will be transferred for consideration to the profile unit, i.e. to the contractor, who will put your offer in a long box and retrieve it when you urgently need to buy the product or service you are offering.

Dating- This advice is probably suitable for working with enterprises of all forms of ownership. If you happen to perform work or sell services to any of the government agencies, do not hesitate to be more sociable during the performance of obligations under the contract - kindly advise, discuss, offer an alternative, after the work you can ask yourself if everything works fine. There are two purposes here - to show that it is convenient to work with you, and to be remembered. If everything is done correctly, they will turn to you again. You can’t imagine how much easier it is to work when the phone of the necessary supplier or manager is clogged in the cellular. And do not hesitate, first of all I will turn to them, since I have been working with them for a long time.

However, most of the criteria that determine the final choice of the supplier are dictated by law, and understanding it, you can extract some competitive advantages.

Knowledge of the financial features of budget enterprises- a very large number of enterprises nowadays work on a prepaid basis. However, with budgetary institutions this number does not always work. Knowing those or other conditions that are preferable for the customer, you can safely get a contract, while competitors will continue to demand 100% advance. People in the civil service are not inclined to bargain, and when they hear “We work only on a prepaid basis” they hang up and look for another company. This is because the legislation on some types of transactions does not allow advance payments, and the contract is needed yesterday. In this regard, customers from budgetary institutions need to offer payment upon delivery. Or, if such conditions are unacceptable luxury for you, inquire about the conditions for the allowable amount of advance payment from state employees by raising the relevant laws. This clearly tells usClause 17 of the Resolution “On measures to implement the Federal Law“ On the Federal Budget for 2013 .... ” . There, the dimensions of the allowable advance for each type of transaction are clearly spelled out. Naturally, a new resolution is issued every year.

The remaining tips apply to purchases worth over 100 thousand.

Schedules - some benefit can be drawn to learn about planned purchases for the year ahead, and planning their time and energy in advance. Because FZ-94 obliges all government agencies to draw up procurement schedules for the year ahead, then there is an opportunity to find out about this. Procurement schedules are published by customers on the procurement website in the appropriate section. Focusing on the information from this schedule, it must be remembered that changes to each procurement object can be made to the procurement schedule no later than ten calendar days before the day the tender opening information is posted on the website. Therefore, planning to apply for a tender, and preparing for this event, about a week before the tender opens, check the schedule to know about the changes in advance and respond to them on time.

Terms - you must carefully read the terms of the purchase, because the discrepancy on one of the points will serve as the basis for not accepting your application. Of particular note is the clause on the timing of signing the contract by the winner - if this deadline is violated, you may be placed in the base of unscrupulous suppliers.

Questions- you need to remember that documents and TK are made up of people, and often in multitasking mode, with constant assignments from management and phone calls. Therefore, with a high degree of probability, in the procurement documentation obvious errors or incomprehensible moments may come across. (There was even a case in Kazakhstanwhen a fragment of a pornographic story somehow appeared in the procurement documentation). Bumping into every incomprehensible moment in the procurement documentation, you need to ask questions and ask for clarification from the procurement organizer. It is better to ask and do the right thing than not to ask and send not what you need. By the way, in addition to the requirements for the subject of the order, there are requirements for participants in the placement of the order when performing certain types of work. Requirements for bidders in which you intend to participate can also be asked to clarify. This is called the procedure for clarifying documentation to bidders - it is established by law, and asking your questions is your right. The procurement organizer must, within a maximum of five business days from the date of receipt of the specified request, provide the applicant in writing or in the form of an electronic document with explanations of the provisions of the documentation that caused this request. The email address of the customer representative must be present in the procurement information - it is there just so that you can send your questions to it.
The response is published by the customer on the procurement page in the appropriate section.

Based on situations and life experience, I can also add that in the field of public procurement, third-party participants have practically no chance in tenders for capital construction. There are very strong interests from Moscow. Maintenance, maintenance, delivery of various kinds of goods from the field of operating expenses were won by different companies, mainly without corruption components. In the field of IT there is corruption. True, over the past year the number of cases where those who were not supposed to grow won. Just offered a lower price. Interested parties gritted their teeth - but they still gave the contract to an honest winner.

2. Private commercial company



The procedures in the private company, where I worked later, aimed at maximizing profits and maintaining cash flow, were enormously different from state ones. Of course, corruption was present too. But in tenders for astronomical amounts, which were held centrally in a corporate center in Moscow. Local procurement procedures, even for millions of dollars, were fair. After some time, I was inspired by the corporate spirit, learned the procurement procedures of the company and began to tender.

Since the Internet in a private company is commonplace, commercial offers are not particularly valid here. Most information about the supplier can be obtained from its website. In this regard, I would like to advise the following.

Website- indicate on the website the contact details of the specialists who work for you. And do not allow the site to have irrelevant information or services. As a rule, if the phone on the site is not working, then it’s easier and faster to go to the site of the next company. As for inactive services, a simple example is that there is a huge amount of information about services on the site of one of the federal insurance companies, but there is no contact information for a branch in my region. Instead, the service “Leave your number and we will call you back”. As a result, no one called me back, and I no longer consider this organization as a counterparty.

Correspondence- respond to all invitations to participate in tenders that come to your mail. Even if your answer is no. If you fundamentally do not participate in tenders, write so, enclosing your commercial proposal in case you need a non-competitive purchase. If the topic of the tender is not yours - also write, telling about your services or product. If you ignore the invitation, they will no longer write to you, even when an urgent agreement is required, without any tenders. A number of companies in the invitation to tender, for example, immediately warn - "the lack of an official response may hinder your continued participation in the procurement procedures of the company."

The search for tenders- Many suppliers, having heard the word tender from me, asked - Are these government purchases? - completely ignoring the name and legal form of the enterprise that I called a minute ago. Often people associate tenders with state-owned companies and lose a lot because of this. Each large company practices tender procedures for purchases in excess of certain amounts, or certain categories of goods. And private companies publish information about these tenders on their websites. There they report on the conditions of their procurement procedures. Of course, in this case it will be necessary to delve into the procedures of each customer, which is not so simple, but at the same time you can get a contract for rather considerable volumes in case of victory. I will write below about how knowledge of procedures can affect the result of a tender.

Conversation- Private companies count money. And traded. A request for a price reduction can mean anything. It depends on what kind of company you are asking for a discount. In private companies, this is a desire to save. For example, our company practiced comparing prices with prices of similar purchases of the previous period, and if the excess was higher than the inflation rate, the management told me to spend the second stage, let them fall in price. And if you receive a letter asking to drop in price - fall. Though a penny but fall. For large companies, this is important. For the supplier this is a demonstration of loyalty, goodwill. For the customer - a matter of principle. In certain situations, you can benefit from providing such a discount. Let me give you an example: locking and sealing devices for railway wagons were purchased. The two main criteria are price, and the preferred payment deferral is 60 days. Companies made offers with a deferred payment of 60 days. Prices were on average similar, as one manufacturer, the difference is only in the extra charge. One favorite emerged who, with the current price ratio, would have won. After requesting a discount, the picture changed - only one supplier fell. Literally cents fell by 10 per unit of goods, with the condition of a deferred payment of 30 days instead of 60. He was chosen.

Flexibility - do not immediately refuse to participate in a tender or to conclude a contract if some conditions do not suit you, or seem blatant. Better think about how many other suppliers have already waived this contract. I will give one more example. Since our company worked only after the fact and also requested a deferred payment of 60 days, it was often difficult to find suppliers. Many refused. But there were smart ones. They understood that many had refused before them, and many would refuse after them, and simply laid down their risks associated with such a delay in the price of the goods. As a result, often they were the only ones who gave an offer, and received a contract.

Knowledge of procedures- Each time, sending out the procurement documentation to suppliers, we apply procedures and our contact details so that we can send a question, and we, in response, send clarifications. And during each tender there are representatives of organizations sending either an incomplete package of documents (despite the enclosed list), sending these documents later or with other violations. As a result, their applications are not accepted for consideration. In some cases, this even leads to disqualification for a long time. And this is with millions of contracts. Therefore, carefully study the procurement procedures and requirements for documents. Pay attention to details such as stamps and signatures. All of this is important.
As an example: among other conditions of tenders, there is a requirement of the indivisibility of the lot. That is, if it is necessary to put a table, an armchair and a bedside table, and an offer comes only on a table and an armchair, then such an offer is not accepted for consideration. But if some manager would have read that the lot should be indivisible, then he would have bought the missing product item if necessary and included it in the offer at the entry price. There are a lot of such jambs. About typos in prices, I generally keep quiet.

Personal approach- In private companies, especially large ones, as a rule, the security service tries to demonstrate its need, and employees know this. Therefore, most likely, they will make surprised eyes to questions about personal interest in this transaction, and say that they don’t understand what you mean. If they report your proposals to the Security Council, then with this company, most likely you will no longer conclude a single contract.

Justice - in some firms there are institutions such as a conflict commission, which should not be neglected. If, in your opinion, the tender was not fair, contact such a commission. As a rule, she sits in the corporate center, and they don’t have a personal interest in the competition held at the branch, so the chances of an objective review are high.

3. State-owned company



In this case, the activity is carried out on the basis of FZ-223 , which is largely similar to FZ-94. Purchases are also published on the government procurement website. Subsidiaries of such state-owned corporations use their own procurement regulations in their work, which almost completely duplicate the above-mentioned law. Subsidiaries of state corporations which are not covered by the Federal Law 223 publish information on their purchases on the websites of these state corporations (see advice on searching tenders).

As for everyday wisdom regarding tenders in such companies, they are generally similar to what I said about public procurement. Other than this:

Negotiations- In state-owned corporations, this is called rebidding. As a rule, it is carried out when the proposed prices do not correspond to the initial value of the contract. It is impossible to exceed it. Therefore, if you received an invitation to participate in a rebidding, with a high degree of probability the situation is as follows: all the proposals received exceed the amount that the customer is willing to pay, so you most likely need to fall, otherwise the tender may be replayed altogether.

Of course, this information does not fully describe all the situations that arise in the procurement process. However, I hope that it will be useful to someone, and next time, you, as a supplier, will experience sports interest instead of indifference.

Upd: I would like to add that the advice regarding working with government agencies is valid until December 31, 2013 before the entry into force of the Federal Law of 05.04.2013 N 44-ФЗ “On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, work, services to meet state and municipal needs”, after which this issue will require further study.

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