Should you bid for a tender?

Preparing tenders can help you to win big orders but it can be time-consuming, cost money and tie up valuable resources. If you don't get the contract, the money and time spent are usually lost - so consider the key points below before setting out to tender.

Key points to consider before tendering

Before you submit a tender, take time to check that your business is well-placed to deliver on the contract:

• Get hold of the bid documents and analyse them.
• Make sure you can match the technical, skill and experience requirements.
• Do you meet the necessary requirements - eg environmental and diversity?
• How much will it cost to prepare your bid?
• Would the work fit in with your strategy and positioning of your business?
• Estimate the costs of fulfilling the contract and whether or not you'd make enough money to justify it.
• Assess how the contract would affect your other work, staffing and ability to take on other new business.

You also need to consider how important the customer is to your business. Is this a good potential client or one you don't want to offend by not tendering? Consider how it would look from the client's point of view.

Search for public sector contracts in Northern Ireland on eTendersNI.