Have you ever wondered how many times you participate in biddings? How many times have you seen the award of a major contract get out of hand on appeal? or also; how many times is your offer is disqualified due to an error, either from the official or yours? To win a bidding there are no magic formulas and neither can you win all of them; but it is possible to present solid and competitive offers with a greater chance that your company will be awarded the desired contract if a well thought out and efficient process is prepared.

The State is the largest purchaser of goods and services in any country and ours is no exception. You even have to ask yourself, if they are experienced companies or not; if the participation process is efficient. One reality is that many companies make their offers based on templates that they present over and over again, perpetuating the same mistakes many times. But in general; how can you have any chance to win a bidding?

How to Win a Bidding?

If you as national or foreign entrepreneur believe that by negotiating with the institution you can win a contest, the answer is no. Even if you win a bidding; the radius of action or response time that you have to negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract is very little, since the cartel is the contract. In short; the regulation of little or no space for direct negotiation with the institution.

Every entrepreneur wants to increase their chances of success; and to do so it is advisable to follow the following steps:

Read and understand the information: The people in charge in the company to put together the offers must have a complete understanding of what is requested and how it is requested. If it is not fully aware of its terms and conditions, the company making the offer runs the risk of losing or winning the business, or having multiple problems during execution.
Object: Objecting in whole or in part to a posting is not a legal decision, it is commercial. Many businessmen avoid this, thinking that officials are going to retaliate for which they have to ask themselves two basic questions: with this provision is one outside or is one inside ? If the contract is won, does the risk for the company increase? An objection to the posting filed on time can mean the difference between winning or losing a business and it must be taken into account that what you did not object on time, you cannot try to correct in an appeal phase.
Ask for clarification: Sometimes by clarification, the employer can motivate the institution to introduce changes in the posting that can facilitate the preparation of the offer. It should be seen this way; if the listing is not clear; How can you prepare an offer?

Teamwork: Certain offers do not require more science, as long as they refer to the supply of specific goods. However, when it comes to more complex contracts, teamwork is required, essentially in the commercial, technical and legal sectors; whose parts must communicate with each other.

Know the competition: If this is essential in private commerce, it is also essential when selling goods and services to a state institution. Do you know the prices of the competition? Do you know how much the discount usually applies? All these questions must be present in your mind otherwise you have to lose at any moment; the idea is to always be one step ahead.
Know your company’s costs: For better or worse, the rating component that gets the highest score is price. Therefore, the price and the improvement in the price should be established knowing very well the costs of the company and thus not affect the profit or affect it as little as possible. You always have to consider that with a company you are providing a service to all customers, and the idea is to ensure that the benefit is mutual.
Get advice: Administrative contracting is a process subject to rules, if the employer does not know them; You should not venture to waste resources preparing an offer without first consulting the essentials; such as the deadlines, the correction, the way to appeal, among others. Attorneys are not just for certifications; those in charge of the commercial part are not alone to set prices and sell; and the technicians are not only used to attach the brochures to the offer. All three must work as a team; and study the poster, put together the offer, review it, detect errors in it, detect the risks derived from the cartel, and more.

Also read: “Real estate social responsibility”.

To get the opinion of a professional, we spoke with Jeffry Rios, who is a lawyer and a dominant broad on the subject of biddings; where he shared with us, the next step in knowing if a bid was won or lost; and he told us the following:

“In the event of winning or losing a tender, it is necessary to resort to the awarding act in order to adjust the resolution to the legality and terms of the cartel, the types of resources that exist are those of appeal that are processed before the General Comptroller of the Republic; and revocation before the same contracting administration “.

Jeffry Ríos, Lawyer

As reviewed, there are no magic formulas to win a bidding. Nor is it assured that with this there will be an assured victory in any bidding. However they well say that experience is what really makes us learn, so there will be moments of pure trial and error; and all are valid. The important thing is that if you are facing a bid; have to defend yourself, have the necessary tools to make each moment worthwhile and even be one step ahead always. Be careful; negotiations are always situations that must be handled as delicately as possible.