6.2. Bid Stage

The bid stage occurs with the issue of an invitation to tender to the deadline for bid submission.

This stage is, by definition, a private sector stage. During this time, prospective bidders assess the project and the proposed contract, and prepare their bids (appendix 6A explains the bid preparation process from the perspective of a bidder).

However, the procurement team must manage the following tasks during this phase.

The procurement team and the procuring authority will usually do preparatory work for the evaluation phase by defining evaluation teams and governance. If following best practice, this includes the preparation of an evaluation manual. If the evaluation team does not have past experience in this form of evaluation, it is good practice to conduct a training session for evaluators to ensure a consistent understanding of how the evaluation is to be conducted. There may be a bidder conference after the issue of the invitation to tender, at which the procuring authority presents key features of the project to potential bidders. Bidders may also be given the opportunity to make site visits during this time. These activities must be carefully managed by the procurement team to ensure transparency and fairness of the process. The procurement team will need to manage any data room through which information is made available to bidders (see chapter 5 for a discussion of the use of data rooms). Questions and requests for clarification will be received during this period until the deadline for question submission is reached. The deadline is necessary so that the procuring authority has time to issue proper responses and clarifications.