It does not happen every time, but depending on the project, prospective bidders will be invited to a pre-bid meeting. This meeting, which might also be called a site visit or pre-proposal meeting, is usually scheduled a week or two after the initial request for bids or proposals has been issued, and are usually conducted in person, at a venue identified by the event organiser.<\/p>\n
In the midst of the hustle, it can seem an annoyance to allocate couple of hours to attend a pre-bid meeting. However, when such a session has been arranged, and you have an interest in responding to the tender, it is strongly recommended that you (or a member of your team) attend. Here are five reasons.<\/p>\n
More likely than not, the organisers and hosts of the pre-bid meeting will be members of the procurement team, who are managing the tender process for and on behalf of the organisation that will benefit from the tender. The opportunity to engage \u2013 and to start building a relationship \u2013 with the procurement team (and the organisation\u2019s representatives) could be quite helpful not only for both you and them to put \u2018a name to the face\u2019, but also should you have additional questions after the session has ended.<\/p>\n
Generally, the entities that attend the pre-bid meeting are those that are seriously considering responding to the tender. As such, they are your likely competition, should you also decide to respond. The meeting thus providing an invaluable opportunity to size up your competition, and to get a sense of the number of entities that are interested in the project. It is also an opportunity to network. Although you all might be competitors this time around, they could also be potential collaborators on a future project.<\/p>\n
One of the main objectives of the pre-bid meeting is to explain details of the proposed project and the tender process, as appropriate, that could not be clearly explained in the tender documents. Depending on the project, a site visit could be included, which allows prospective bidders to better contextualise the project requirements or specifications. As a result, the tender response can be more realistic and better aligned to the actual needs and situation of the client, and not a hypothetical or theoretical construct, based on solely on the information provided in the solicitation documents.<\/p>\n
Even with the best efforts when preparing the solicitation documents, prospective bidders are likely to have queries on their content. The pre-bid meeting is an excellent forum to address them. Although you might have your own questions, which the meeting organisers can address, you are also likely to benefit considerably from the questions asked by other prospective bidders, which you might not even have thought of, or would just confirm what you had initially assumed.<\/p>\n
Finally, responding to tenders can be time consuming, and it can be disappointing when your effort has not been rewarded with either being shortlisted for further consideration by the evaluation team, or being awarded the project. In attending a pre-bid meeting, and thus being able to incorporate the findings and insights gleaned from that experience into your tender response, the final submission should be considerably better than if you had not attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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This meeting, which might also be called a site visit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[175],"tags":[128,133,181,146,113],"class_list":["post-4350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tips","tag-bids","tag-lists","tag-pre-bid","tag-procedures","tag-tenders"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Invitation-card-diapicard-Pixabay.jpg?fit=960%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-18a","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35262,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/five-international-companies-pre-qualified-for-spark-programme-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4350,"position":0},"title":"Five international companies pre-qualified for SPARK programme","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"July 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica The government has announced that five companies have been shortlisted to bid on the multi-billion-dollar road rehabilitation programme, known as SPARK. Minister with responsibility for Works, Robert Morgan, says the National Works Agency recently completed the pre-qualification stage of the International Competitive Bidding process. Minister Morgan says eight companies,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35011,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/five-international-companies-pre-qualified-for-spark-programme\/","url_meta":{"origin":4350,"position":1},"title":"Five international companies pre-qualified for SPARK programme","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"July 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica The government has announced that five companies have been shortlisted to bid on the multi-billion-dollar road rehabilitation programme, known as SPARK. Minister with responsibility for Works, Robert Morgan, says the National Works Agency recently completed the pre-qualification stage of the International Competitive Bidding process. Minister Morgan says eight companies,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-yury-kim-181374-585419-scaled-e1720051850498.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-yury-kim-181374-585419-scaled-e1720051850498.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-yury-kim-181374-585419-scaled-e1720051850498.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-yury-kim-181374-585419-scaled-e1720051850498.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35014,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/guyana-launches-tender-for-utility-scale-pv-battery-storage-projects\/","url_meta":{"origin":4350,"position":2},"title":"Guyana launches tender for utility-scale PV, battery storage projects","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"July 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana Bidders are asked to provide qualifications requirements that include business registration or incorporation documents, valid Guyana Revenue Authority and National Insurance Scheme Compliance certificates, value-added tax (VAT) registration certificates for domestic parties, experience, technical ability, and financial capacity. 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