An Overview on the Process of E-Tendering

Tendering is a popular process used by a number of organizations in order to invite bids for the completion of large scale projects. In today’s highly digitized environment, the system of tendering is quite often conducted through a virtual medium, and is commonly referred to as e-Tendering. 

The e-tendering system comprises of a number of phases and steps, the most important ones being:

• Submission of EOI or Expression of Interest through an online tendering portal
  
• Completing the pre-qualification questionnaire
  
• Completing of the tender or bid document
  
• Downloading all relevant tender and bid related files and documents
  
• Asking and receiving responses related to queries or doubts about the tender
  
• Tracking the progress of the tendering, as well as its evaluation process
  
• Receiving instant online notification about any changes made to the tender specifications
  
• Storing all the vital information relating to the tender bids and various other documents relating to it
  
• Uploading and editing relevant documents online 

The e-tendering system has a number of significant advantages and two of them that have primarily led to the popularity of this system are as follows:

•  E-tendering is a much more easily understandable and structured process as compared to its traditional system. It has an efficient step-by-step approach, making it quite simple for the bidders to participate in it. At times, bidders are required to fully complete one section in order to progress to the next, which in turn reduces the chances of a non-compliant bid.

•  As a typical e-tendering system is divided into various distinct sections, it becomes much easier for bidders to understand and navigate through the whole process. This system is specially designed to provide the bidders straightforward questions that are objective in nature, therefore leaving no room for misinterpretations. This especially comes in handy when bidders have to apply for online tenders in Australia, Japan, the UK,and such other countries where the laws governing international business are quite stringent.

In addition to the advantages that e-tendering offers to tenderer as well as bidder, this system is being widely used by private and government organizations alike. Especially in countries like Japan, U.S.A, U.K, Australiaand other developed nations, online tenders have now become a norm and most business development managers solely rely on portals where such tenders are published to bid for the suitable ones and further the growth prospects of their company.