As a result of questions asked by bidders through the clarification process, it may become apparent that the procuring authority needs to materially change aspects of the contract, tender requirements, or criteria.

Conducting a proper appraisal and structuring/drafting process, through meaningful assessment and preparation, is the best route to avoid this risk.

It is good practice for the procuring authority to allow requests for clarification of the contract and the RFP, but the procuring authority should retain discretion about whether to respond. The procuring authority should provide a response wherever this will assist bidders to provide a better bid and not undermine the RFP process.

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.

Launching is the milestone that triggers the tender process. Tender documents are published through standard government processes, often in the official government bulletin or journal, on a centralized procurement website, or in regional or national newspapers.

Sometimes, in the case of procurement by sub-national governments, a tender notice is also published in the central government bulletin. In the EU member states, a public tender also needs to be made public in the EU Official Journal (OJEU).

The following section applies to any open tender process, including those with a previous pre-qualification phase. In processes with such a pre-qualification phase, the RFP is only issued when the qualification process has been concluded.

As introduced in section 2 of chapter 5, it is essential to give the bidders sufficient time to prepare a sound and high quality offer. Especially in open tender models, one of the common pitfalls in a PPP procurement is that the procuring authority allows bidders insufficient time for this work.

Generally, there are four main stages into which any tender process may be divided.

Most of the features and characteristics of the tender process will be the same as in any public procurement process, but some stages and steps have specific characteristics and features. Special considerations inherent to the particular complexities of PPPs are listed below.

The objectives of this phase are as follows:

During the previous phase, the contract structure was developed (with particular attention to financial and risk elements), the tender package was drafted, and authorization was sought to launch the tender process. See figure 6.1.

This phase covers the period from the launch of the project (which may be through a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) stage or by directly issuing an RFP in some jurisdictions), through the process of qualifying bidders, receiving and evaluating proposals, to the contract award and financial close stage.