Secure tender management software for streamlining the procurement process
Tender Management: Manage your tenders in one secure cloud-based platform
As a tender manager, you might use one or a combination of email, file sharing sites and survey tools to manage your tenders.
However, trying to piece together various conversations and supporting documents from multiple sources can create challenges. One of the most significant problems is the risk of losing important information, making it difficult to effectively assess tenders and potentially jeopardising data security.
Kahootz’s tender management software can solve this by providing a secure and centralised repository for storing and organising tender-related document allowing you to manage and communicate with multiple bidding teams in one secure online workspace.
Discover how organisations such as the Ministry of Justice and the NHS are using cloud collaboration to transform the procurement process according to their business needs.
All the tools you need to get started
Supporting efficient document management is crucial in achieving success throughout the procurement process. By uploading, categorising, and sharing relevant documents with appropriate stakeholders, you can streamline your tender management operations and enhance your chances of success.
But why limit yourself to simple file sharing? The Kahootz’s system has the tools to engage your bidders at every stage of your bid management.
On top of uploading tender documentation, you can also create surveys for RFIs, setup searchable databases of FAQs, and assign tasks for critical deadlines. Stakeholders have the tools to review and approve documents, track the status of the approval process and ensure that all necessary information is included in their final submission.
Controlled access at every level
The confidentiality and impartiality of a competitive tender management process are crucial, and any breach can be disastrous. One thing certain to ruin a competitive tender management process is bidders seeing each other’s tender submissions, tender responses and communications.
Kahootz’s tender software mitigates this risk, by allowing you to create separate, discreet online workspaces for each bidding team. By doing so, sensitive information is safeguarded, and integrity of the tender process is maintained.
You can also take this further by applying access controls at folder, content, team, and team member level to have complete control over your bid management.
Keep everyone informed of changes and progress
Bidders not only expect to be told of any changes; they expect to be notified at the same time as other bidders during the tendering process. This expectation reflects the need for management software that supports transparency and fairness. With Kahootz, meeting such requires is simple, ensuring the timely and accurate dissemination of information to all bidders involved.
To ensure open and fair dealing, Kahootz’s software for tender management allows you as a tender manager to send notifications simultaneously to inform bidding teams or individuals when there has been changes to their bid status whilst maintaining information confidentiality and security.
Share tender documents safely and securely
In today’s online workplace, bidders expect their potential clients to offer a secure portal where confidential information and various file types can be shared.
Used (and assessed as secure) within the defence industry supply chain, you can be assured that it’s safe to be in Kahootz, having a straightforward tender management solution.
Helpful Information
What should you include in your invitations to tender?
Tendering is an essential part any project, whether you’re in the public or private sector. No matter how organised you are, if you don’t get the most suitable, right suppliers for the services that you require, you may not end up with the positive outcome that you are looking for from your tender responses.
That’s why we have put together some of the key information you should include in your invitations to tender, so you have all the feedback you need to make an informed decision. Once all your documentation has been created, you can then use tender management software to keep track of the whole process.
Give a detailed background to your project
Potential bidders will want a detailed description of your bid management or tender management project, so they can make a clear judgement on whether your tender is worth bidding on or not.
This should be compiled as a formal document and should include:
- What work is expected to be completed during the project
- What prerequisites there are
- How they are expected to produce the amount of work that is required
- Timescales for start and completion of the tender process for an efficient process and clear outlines in case there are tasks that are time consuming and need to be prioritised.
How progress/quality will be monitored
For obvious reasons, it is important that you know that the bidder you have chosen will provide a high-quality service. To ensure that there is no ambiguity about the quality you expect, you should include the following information:
- Details of how the contract will be monitored aka contract management
- What quality of service is expected and how this is will be judged
- How the service will be provided
- The process for resolving disputes
In case of a future dispute regarding performance, it is advisable that you include a clause that allows you to employ another supplier, with the failed one being liable for future costs, if the service isn’t completed to a satisfactory level.
The evaluation criteria
In order to choose a supplier, you will need to first decide the criteria on which they will be chosen, based on the most important factors related to your project or organisation.
What you should include will depend on what industry that you’re in, but some common criteria are listed below:
- Pricing
- Experience, (including references if possible)
- Working methods
- Knowledge of your industry
It is good practice to inform potential tenders of the criteria being used to assess them, as well as details of the tendering process, such as the deadlines of bids, making clear that late ones will not be accepted.
Why is effective tender management important?
If your company or organisation benefits significantly from securing tenders to maintain business, then effective tender management software is essential to success.
One of the most common reason businesses lose tenders is due to mismanagement of the opportunity. This means not investing enough time into preparing a response or spending too much time on a tender with little chance of securing it. This can impact other prospects and potentially cause your business or organisation to miss deadlines.
When securing tenders is integral to your business or organisation’s function, you may find your team frequently handling multiple tenders. This presents a variety of organisational and management issues; you may need to manage a large amount of tender documents and files with differing deadlines, manage the prioritisation of tenders and keep track of their progress, as well as putting pressure on the right team members to meet deadlines. All of these can be very difficult to manage, so tender management can slip incredibly easily.
This is where management tools come in.
A cloud collaboration tender management system can help to streamline and manage your company’s tender processes. By consolidating all of your tender information into one system, you can more easily monitor and manage the progress of each tender. This means you can stay on top of your tenders, without wasting time or labour.