wed by an evaluation process and a contract award. In some cases, there is an invitation to express interest (or a pre-qualification process) prior to the invitation to bid.
• Restricted bidding. Only invited firms are allowed to bid. It consists of an invitation to bid to a pre-identified list of firms, followed by an evaluation process and a contract award.
• Request for quotations. It can be public or restricted to a pre-identified list of firms (usually a minimum of three). In this case, the most important element is the price.
• Sole-sourcing [direct sourcing]. This is a non-competitive bidding process. The buyer solicit and negotiate with only one supplier, because there is a reason that justifies it (for example, if there is only one provider in the market that can supply the requested goods and services, in an emergency situation, when the use of this method represents a clear advantage over the use of a competitive method, or when the procurement is within the thresholds).
Procurement entities use different evaluation criteria, depending on what they are procuring. The method used should be clearly explained in the bidding documents.
There are four main evaluation methods:
• Quality- and Cost-Based Selection. This method takes into account both quality and cost as a percentage weight of each. For example, 70% quality and 30% cost. The proposal that offers the highest score based on the weights is selected. In most cases, technical and financial proposals must be sent in separate sealed envelopes. First, technical proposals are opened, evaluated and scored. Only the firms that achieve the minimum technical marks will have their financial proposal opened and evaluated.
• Quality Based Selection (QBS). The offer is selected on the basis of technical quality. The proposal with the highest technical score is selected. This method is normally used for very complex and highly important assignments for the organization (e.g. legal services). Once the technical proposal is selected, the buying authority negotiates the price and the terms of the contract with the supplier.
• Fixed budget selection. The offer with the highest technical score that meets the pre-established budget is selected.
• Least cost selection. This method selects the lowest-priced proposal that achieves the required technical quality established by the contracting authority. It is normally used for the procurement of standardized goods (e.g. stationary material).
Any bid advertisement must give concrete details about the information needed from interested suppliers to participate in the procurement process. The required documentation will depend on each procuring authority and may include all or some of the following:
• Corporate presentation: explanation of goods/works/services offered, mission, vision, and methodology of work, organigram, etc.
• Certificates and legal documents: business registration certificates, tax clearance certificates, national social security and insurance certificates, goods and services tax certificates, audited accounts, articles of incorporation, etc.
• Financial information: audited accounts, financial statements, etc. from current and previous years. Other financial details, such as insurance cover, may also be required.
• CVs: of management and technical staff who will be involved in the project (to show previous experience and the technical ability to carry it out especially required for the procurement of services and works).
• Others: Further documents/details may be required for particular contracts.
You can find out what information is usually needed by analyzing past notices from your clients of interest. Also, check if you need to have the information available in several languages, depending on the client.
You should have all the standard information prepared in advance, because the time to prepare an offer is very limited. Having the standard information prepared will save you time and allow you to focus on the specifics of each bid (approach to work, timeline, pricing, etc.), which will be unique to each proj