Bidding for a public contract step by step

Responding to a public tender follows the same sequence whatever the sector: download the pack, read the instructions, decide, prepare the selection and award responses, upload before the deadline. This guide takes each step in order, with the traps that eliminate good companies for bad reasons.

Step 1: download the pack from an account, not anonymously

The tender pack sits on the buyer's e-sourcing portal: ProContract, In-tend, Jaggaer, Delta, Proactis, Atamis for the NHS family, PCS-Tender in Scotland. Some documents can be read without logging in, but you must register anyway: that is how the buyer tells you about a notice amendment, an answer to a clarification or a change of deadline. Firms that download anonymously sometimes bid against a superseded version of the specification.

Create one account per portal, using a shared mailbox read by several people rather than an individual address, and register once on the central digital platform so your core company information is reused across procurements.

Step 2: read the instructions to tenderers first

The instructions to tenderers, sometimes called the ITT or the invitation to tender, are the manual for your response. They set the submission deadline, the exact list of documents required, the award criteria and their weightings, whether variant bids are accepted, how the requirement is divided into lots, the upload arrangements and any signature requirement. Read them in full before opening the specification.

Immediately record in a table: date and time of the deadline, documents required, criteria and weightings, bid validity period, whether a site visit is compulsory, and the last date for clarification questions.

Step 3: decide within 48 hours

Time is the scarce resource. A fast bid or no bid decision saves a week on a tender you will not win. Five questions:

• Is the requirement squarely in your core business, without stretching your capability?
• Do you have the references, accreditations and resources demanded, or a consortium partner who does?
• Does the weighting given to price leave you a chance against larger competitors?
• Are the geography and the programme realistic for you?
• Do you have time to produce a serious quality submission before the deadline?

Two negatives are usually enough to pass. Three well-chosen tenders answered properly beat six rushed ones.

Step 4: ask your questions

The instructions set a deadline for clarifications, often around a week before the tender deadline. Every question and its answer are circulated to all bidders through the portal. Use that channel to resolve an ambiguity in the specification, to ask for a missing quantity or a document absent from the pack. Well-framed questions also show the buyer you have read the papers. If a substantial change follows, the buyer must reconsider the deadline and normally extends it.

Step 5: deal with selection

Selection proves you are allowed to bid and capable of delivering. Under the Procurement Act 2023 the buyer sets conditions of participation that must be proportionate to the contract, and checks the exclusion grounds. Expect to provide:

• your core supplier information from the central digital platform, or a standard selection questionnaire where the buyer still uses one;
• financial standing: filed accounts, turnover, sometimes a credit score;
• insurance certificates, and accreditations such as Constructionline, SafeContractor, CHAS or Cyber Essentials where the contract calls for them;
• health and safety, equality, environmental, modern slavery and data protection policies;
• for a consortium or declared subcontracting, the details of each member and what each will deliver.

Keep a permanent company file, refreshed every six months, so none of this is hunted down under time pressure. Check the debarment list published on GOV.UK if you rely on a subcontractor you do not know well.

Step 6: build the offer

The offer is what gets scored. Three blocks.

Price

Depending on the contract you complete a schedule of rates, a priced breakdown or a pricing model based on an indicative basket. Never change the structure of the template provided: a reorganised spreadsheet can make the bid non-compliant. Check consistency between documents and be ready to justify your costs if your price is well below the field, so that an abnormally low tender query does not catch you out.

Quality submission

The quality submission answers the quality criteria point by point. It is built from the scoring matrix, not from your brochure. The guide Writing a quality submission that scores sets out the structure.

Form of tender

The form of tender is your formal offer: price, duration, validity, bank details, and the certificates the buyer requires on non-collusion, accuracy of information and, on many contracts now, payment terms. Some portals require an electronic signature; most accept a typed authorised signature at bid stage and take a signed contract from the winner only. Check that point at step 2.

Step 7: upload

Submission is electronic on essentially every public contract. Four rules avoid a last-minute accident:

1. Test the portal several days ahead: browser requirements, maximum file size, accepted formats.
2. Name your files clearly (01_Selection.pdf, 02_Pricing.xlsx, 10_Quality_submission.pdf) and follow the order the instructions ask for.
3. Upload the day before, or at the very least several hours ahead. The time that counts is the portal receipt, not when you started. A bid arriving one minute late is rejected unread.
4. Keep the timestamped receipt and an exact copy of what you submitted.

Step 8: after the deadline

Three things can happen. The buyer may ask for clarification of your bid, or open negotiations where it reserved the right to do so: answer quickly and in writing, on the portal. If you win, the buyer publishes a contract award notice and observes a standstill period of at least eight working days, beginning with the day the notice is published (verified 2026-09-05), before signing. If you lose, you receive an assessment summary setting out your scores and the reasons, which is your main tool for improvement. Read it against your submission section by section. If you believe the process breached the rules, the time limit for a court challenge is short, so take advice within days rather than weeks, and use the standstill period.

Pre-submission checklist

Each bid enriches your company file and your standard content, so the third tender costs half the time of the first. Scoutee helps smaller firms spot the tenders worth that effort.