Open a company to participate in tenders. Who can participate in competitions and tenders

Recently, tenders have become increasingly popular. Their areas are different: office renovation, landscaping, purchasing consumables, etc. Tenders for beginners allow you to master the rules of saving and spend money profitably.

The word “tender” itself is borrowed from the English language and means “competition”, “bidding”. That is, when there is one buyer of a service or product (customer) and several sellers (suppliers).

The tender is announced on specialized Internet resources. This term is not legally fixed, but is constantly used in business.

Tender procedure

The tender is carried out in three stages:

Preparation;
contact with partners;
final choice.

Preparation

Contact with partners

There is a multifaceted assessment of the product. As a result, some companies are eliminated, and several participants are selected for the final stage.

Final choice

At this stage, the direct selection of the company with which the customer will work takes place.

Types of tenders

All tenders are divided into two types: government and commercial.

State or municipal

The purchase of goods or services is carried out for government needs and for budget funds. In this regard, the tender procedure is carried out in strict accordance with Chapter 3.1 of Federal Law No. 94, which regulates the placement of orders for the supply of goods, provision of services and performance of work for municipal and state needs.

Commercial

In this case, the customer independently determines the conditions and regulations for the auction. He can use both his own money and borrowed money.

Tender for beginners: step-by-step instructions for preparation

Let's take a closer look at how a newbie can participate in a tender using the instructions:

Study Federal Law No. 94. Pay special attention to the procedure for selecting a supplier. An algorithm is written here that defines the terms and conditions that the customer must comply with.
Select an electronic platform. As a rule, the choice is limited to five electronic platforms that were selected by the Russian government for conducting electronic trading.
Obtain an electronic signature, that is, a unique electronic digital signature. It allows you to assign legal force to a signed document. You can receive an electronic digital signature within five working days at the certification center on the selected electronic platform.
Install the necessary specialized equipment. You can install it yourself or seek help from specialists.
Be accredited on the electronic trading platform (ETP). This procedure will take about five working days and can be completed at a certification center.
Conducting electronic trading. Their maximum duration is 48 hours. Here it is necessary to determine the price to which all bidders are willing to bargain.
Signing the contract. The winning bidder is the participant who fully meets all the requirements and at the same time offers more favorable conditions.

Identify the most in-demand and significant goods and services.
Study the legislation on tenders.
Prepare money to participate in government procurement.
Carefully study the documents of customer companies.
Draw up documents in accordance with all established requirements, without neglecting the little things.

Tender support

Tender support is a service aimed at ensuring the process of an enterprise’s participation in a tender. The main goal of tender support is to create all the conditions (at the legal level) for the client-participant to win the competition.

Tender support is especially important if you:

you do not have much experience or have not taken part in state competitions at all;
you don’t want to take risks and act at random;
You don’t want to misfire at a responsible tender.

Did you know that 90% of tender participants are not allowed to bid due to deficiencies in documentation or incorrectly completed applications? If you are not a professional, making a mistake in documents is as easy as shelling pears. In this case, only tender support will help.

All about tenders for beginners: Video

A tender is a kind of competitive selection that is carried out among suppliers of goods or persons providing services.

The undoubted advantage of such a choice is that consumers or their representatives can choose the best option from the many presented. The downside is that becoming a tender participant is not so easy, especially for beginners. The tender can be paid, free, open or closed.

Participation in tenders: where to start?

If we are talking about the tender department, then the difficulty first of all is to choose a project and a customer. First you need to consider the requirements for the order and find out as much as possible about the customer himself.

This is done by studying specially created tender sites, Internet sites or paper materials, if they are provided by a potential customer.

In order for the work process to be as efficient as possible, it is necessary to correctly distribute responsibilities.

Typically, the conditions are reviewed by one person who, ideally, knows the basics of jurisprudence. Knowledge of the legal framework will help determine the integrity of the customer and the fairness of his demands.

When participating in auctions, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

It’s better not to waste your time trying to study the entire proposed list of tenders, but to visit sites that divide orders by area and topic. This way you will immediately know whether the tender is suitable for the area of activity of your department.
Don't grab the first order you come across. Carefully study the conditions, material rewards and the period allotted for preparation. If the conditions are acceptable, you can contact the customer company and find out all the points of interest. Only after this the order can be accepted for execution.

Tender for beginners

Beginners often experience difficulties not only when searching for an order, but also when working on it. It is best to start with a small “budget” order. It is best to contact a professional who will help you understand the intricacies of contracts and not be left in debt.

Determination of a public procurement participant

The third article of the law on the contract system regulates the selection and implementation of supplies of goods and services for the needs of the state.

Participants

State authorities (executive) that regulate procurement.
Other executive authorities, including local ones, which have the right to exercise control over procurement.
Rosatom is a nuclear energy company.
Customers.
Performers.
Specially created organizations.
Representatives of electronic platforms.

A participant is a link in the procurement process, which can be represented by a legal entity or an individual (even an individual entrepreneur).

The state customer is one of the authorities or a government agency that has the right to act on behalf of the Russian Federation (Article 5 of the third law on the contract system).

Search for tender

Searching for a tender is a stage that the contractor cannot do without. The process includes a certain order of actions and its result depends on the quality of the distribution of responsibilities and their implementation.

The main source of orders is the Internet, where the websites of both private customers and those offered by the state are located. Most of these sites are designed to work with entrepreneurs and have limited access.

Finding a good tender is not easy, achieving participation in it is even more difficult, so the search stage can be considered one of the most important on the path to achieving the goal.

Experienced search engines spend less time searching and selecting, but a beginner will have a difficult time. We have to review 10-15 sites a day.

Receiving an electronic signature

An electronic signature is something that neither the customer nor the contractor can do without. It represents a certain amount of information with an electronic signature attached to it.

You can find out how to obtain a signature in the Law “On Electronic Signatures” dated April 6, 2011. The law provides for the development and expansion of e-business infrastructure. There are currently three types of signatures:

Simple.
Reinforced.
Qualified.

The owner of this type of signature can both receive and provide services that require personal identification in accordance with current legislation.

To obtain it you need a passport and a certificate from the Pension Fund. Theoretically, the service is free, but the user will still have to pay a small fee for the electronic media.

In order to apply for the service, you need to contact the service center and provide a list of papers.

Preparation of documents:

Passport.
Certificate from PF.
Email address.

The absence of at least one piece of paper is the reason for refusal to obtain a signature.

Accreditation on the electronic platform

An electronic trading platform is one of the types of online auctions that are conducted based on the 44th Federal Law of January 1, 2011.

Each participant has a so-called personal account, which is accessed after passing accreditation. Accreditation allows you to take part in auctions and tenders on various platforms.

It is noteworthy that each service requires accreditation, regardless of whether it has been passed on other sites or not.

Prerequisites

Providing reliable information.
Order fulfillment guarantee.
Availability of regulatory documents confirming the status of an individual or legal entity.
Payment of insurance premium.
Non-disclosure of information about the order and the customer.

Choosing a supplier determination method

The competition is considered full-fledged when 2 or more competitors participate in it. In case of failed competition, the customer reserves the right to extend the tender or select a single bidder.

Studying documentation and preparing an application

The Contractor is obliged to fully study the documentation and conditions put forward by the customer before becoming a participant in the tender. You need to be sure that there are enough technical, material and intellectual means to complete the task.

It is best for beginners to seek help from professionals who will tell them about possible pitfalls in applications. An incorrectly filled out participant form can rarely be corrected, which can completely ruin participation in the desired project.

Federal Law No. 44 regulates the requirements for product characteristics specified in the questionnaire. Everything should be described clearly, without omissions or exaggerations, and most importantly, objectively. The customer can use a trademark if:

There is no alternative way to ensure an impeccable description of the subject of procurement;
There is a need to use goods not included in the contract when performing work.

There is a need to check documents that confirm the compliance of the indicators of the purchased goods or product with the customer’s requirements. These papers must contain both minimum and maximum acceptable error values.

The following items cannot be specified in the requirements for procurement documentation:

Manufacturer of a specific product.
Personal preferences for a participant in the procurement process.
Guarantee of the availability and serviceability of equipment that creates or transports goods.

2 mistakes you should NOT make when applying

Participation in the auction and raising funds for this

In order to become a participant in the tender, you must have a certain amount of money in your account, which serves as collateral. If you win the competition and refuse to participate, the deposit will not be returned.

There are several more conditions without which it is impossible to fight for victory:

After depositing an amount from 0.5 to 5% of the declared contract amount into the electronic account.
An alternative to depositing money is to use borrowed money. An undoubted advantage of this type of payment is that the funds remain in circulation and are not withdrawn from the business. The loan makes it possible to participate in several tenders at once.
Fill out the form, entering all the necessary information about the services provided by the participant.

Thanks to Law No. 44, a register of guarantees of banking services has been operating in Russia since March 31, 2014. All credit organizations that are involved in issuing guarantees for bank payments and providing financial support for government payments contribute to it.

All conditions for registering can be found at the Bank of Russia; it is also published on the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Violators of the terms of the register are blacklisted for a period of two years.

Conclusion of a contract and its provision

After winning the competition and paying the insurance premium, the performer can begin to perform his duties. In the case where the contract amount is estimated at more than 50 million rubles, the customer undertakes to establish insurance equal to 10-30% of the maximum contract value.

If the amount of the advance is 30 percent or more greater than the maximum contract value, the insurance is equivalent to an advance.

If the customer reduces the payment after the final selection of the contractor by more than 20%, the platform administration applies the measures described in Article 37 of Law No. 44.

If the contract amount is less than 50 thousand rubles, instead of bidding, you can conduct requests for price quotes, where the annual purchase amount does not exceed 10% of the customer’s total income.

Watch a detailed webinar on participating in tenders

Tender classification

There are three main types of tenders that can be found on all thematic platforms.

Open

An open type of tender is freely available, that is, everyone can participate (physical and
legal entities). The benefit of the customer in this type of competition is that he has a wide choice of performers and can find a profitable option. Most often, such tenders are posted as advertisements on the Internet.

Closed

A closed tender implies a limited circle of performers. Most often, such a competition is announced by large companies that already have experience working with invited performers. Closed tenders are valued more expensive than open tenders.

Purchasing from a single source is often beneficial for the customer for a number of reasons, which is why some customers prefer this type of tender.

Two-stage

A two-stage competition is announced for specific goods and services. At the first stage, the customer accepts proposals without specifying a price, and at the second, he clarifies all the conditions for those who passed the first qualifying round. At the same stage, performers offer prices for their services and make some adjustments to the requirements.

Selecting a site and topic

Both customers and contractors select sites by trial and error. There are websites on which both public and private orders of various subjects are posted. In order to select the appropriate option, just enter keywords in the field provided for this.

The term itself does not fully reflect the essence of domestic business practice. Firstly, it never appears in documents regulating relations between the parties, and secondly, the procedure is sometimes somewhat similar to.

First, you need to clarify that the law does not contain the concept of tender; this process is called a competition, bidding, or auction. But the main feature is the same for all these designations. Based on the auctions (tenders), an agreement is concluded between the seller and the buyer, but the first party here is the one who won in a kind of competition with other participants. In essence, here several sellers are fighting for one contract, the terms of which are determined by the buyer.

The practice of doing business between entities of various formats (public and private) is necessarily transferred to a competitive basis. The same principle is often used by commercial organizations that are looking for profitable offers from suppliers.

How does the tender work?

So, by and large, we don’t have tenders. Everyone who practices this sales format participates in competitions, auctions, trades... But no matter what they call it, there are a number of characteristic features that distinguish this version of business relations from others:

the buyer states his conditions in strict form;
they compete for the contract;
the whole process takes place in accordance with a certain procedure.

An entrepreneur should understand tenders, if only because they provide an opportunity to get new clients. And this may not only be of interest to those who are targeting buyers financed from budget funds. Many commercial organizations and companies find suppliers through tenders.

Why are tenders held? Actually, this combines the desire to get the most from the supplier on the buyer’s side and the regulation of the entire procedure. Government agencies organize competitions and auctions because this is required by law. This format assumes that they will save budget money by finding the cheapest and most profitable supplier in this way. The same thing drives commercial organizations.

And here it is worth understanding that the seller who wins the tender will not always be in an advantageous position. This is based on several points:

It is necessary to offer the lowest price among the participants, perhaps even unreasonably low.
The terms of the contract will have to be fulfilled even when it is not economically profitable for the supplier or contractor. For example, in the event of an increase in the cost of materials, components, energy resources, etc., associated with inflationary processes or an increase in exchange rates, the final product will have to be sold to the contract holder at the price established by the tender. Sometimes even at a loss.
Winning a tender requires lengthy preparation and the strictest possible adherence to established rules for the preparation of documents. In addition, the process of working on sites where competitions are held has a number of nuances, and in order to fully comply with them, an entrepreneur needs to spend certain expenses, for example, purchasing an electronic signature.

Advice: when starting to work with tenders, do not try to immediately go for large and long-term transactions, this is a completely different level than opportunity. Do not forget that refusal of a contract or its failure to perform in full may lead to unpleasant consequences in the form of compensation to the buyer, compensation for damage or lost profits, inclusion of the supplier in the register of unscrupulous ones, and the like.

Types of tenders and their classification

Once again, it is worth emphasizing that for domestic business, the term tender unites purchases organized according to a certain procedure on a competitive basis. That is, it is conditional. Other names are legally established.

Tenders have their own gradation, accepted in domestic business:

Competitions vary in composition of participants:
- municipal (state), where the customer is a budget organization, and budget funds will be used for procurement;
- commercial, where the acquisition is carried out at the expense of the company’s own money or attracted by it.

There are types of tenders based on the form of procurement:
- The competition is held in the case of complex and expensive contracts, for example, in high-tech projects, construction, IT, and defense sectors. It may have several stages, open and closed format, and also be non-competitive.
- Request for quotes or price list competition. A special feature of this technique is the small purchase amount, usually up to half a million rubles.
- Auction or electronic trading. The format is used by all market participants who have the status of a municipal or state customer. All electronic auctions are held on special platforms selected by the Russian government. Legislative support – Law 94-FZ.

Advice: an entrepreneur (potential supplier) must begin his participation in tenders with a careful and detailed study of this particular Law - 94-FZ. Also, do not forget about Law 223-FZ, which regulates procurement of individual legal entities. The documents themselves are quite difficult to understand; you will have to study and re-read them ten times to fully understand the details. However, without this stage, it is unsafe to start operating as a seller on electronic platforms; there are risks not only of wasting time, but also of bringing trouble to yourself and your company.

It should also be noted that special situations occur in this area. There are many myths surrounding this delivery format that there is a serious corruption component. It is impossible to completely deny this possibility, and it is pointless. Often, tenders actually become a tool for negotiated transactions. Or rather, their purpose is to eliminate elements of corruption from practice, but it is present, and it is impossible not to admit it.

“Symptoms” of contractual tenders - how to distinguish such proposals?

Here you need to take into account one feature of that part of the domestic business where budget organizations act as customers. All their activities have been transferred to the procurement rails, squeezed into the strict framework of the procedure. Any of the applicants who correctly fill out the application and documents and also offer the lowest price can win the contract.

But what about the other components? For example, the ability and ability of the supplier to respond to the buyer’s urgent wishes in terms of timing, flexibility, and some other nuances of making deliveries? Very often, a buyer who has already worked with a certain supplier wants the contract to go to him. After all, it has already been time-tested and fully suits all parameters... But in a situation with a tender, this is absolutely not necessary. The contract may have to be concluded with some unknown (for the customer) organization, which is still a dark horse, and working with it will not always be comfortable. That is, winning a tender based on the pricing platform does not guarantee the buyer its performance in other parts. In addition, he has no confidence that the supplier will be able to fully comply with the conditions preferred by the customer.

That is why in practice there are such contractual tenders, when the buyer, by all means and cleverly placed commas, creates such formal conditions that purposefully make it difficult for other participants to obtain a contract that have not received approval in advance. And this approach does not always indicate a corruption background, that is, roughly speaking, bribes, kickbacks and the like. Although you shouldn’t participate in such a tender either, unless your company is the one that received the preliminary go-ahead.

So, how can you recognize a tender where the parties have already obviously reached an agreement, and its conduct itself is a formality?

5 components of “negotiated” tenders

It is worth noting that this approach is almost uncharacteristic of commercial structures. The companies' own money is involved, the control is much stricter, the goals are purely to find a profitable supplier, and the approach to the procedure is much more flexible. That is, businesses do not have an “obligation” to hold tenders; expediency and efficiency come into play here. Although there are a number of cases where hired employees of commercial structures were very interested in gratitude from suppliers for “help” in concluding contracts, and, conversely, performers found themselves in unpleasant situations with unscrupulous customers, having worked out part of the contract and not receiving payment for the product or service.

Advice: Having received an invitation to a tender from a commercial organization, carefully check the business reputation of the customer.

Government procurement is more susceptible to such a disease as contractual tenders. Their signs:

fuzzy, unclearly stated, extremely confusing, contradictory in parts terms of the technical specifications;
short, clearly unrealistic deadlines (every entrepreneur who knows his field can determine where the time frame is at the limit of possibilities and where it is beyond);
inflated contract costs combined with strangely detailed requirements for the supplier;
the condition that the application must be accompanied by an already completed part of the work;
The customer's tender history consists of contracts with a very limited number of companies.

All these are signs that the buyer is using a technique to scare off “left” suppliers. In some cases, the tender is held “for show”; the contractor has been working on the project for a long time. Fighting for such contracts is at a loss, unnecessary headache, time and money costs. No, of course, you can appeal the results of the tender by submitting a corresponding application to the FAS. But this should only be done if the company has already built up “muscle mass”, has experience in this kind of bidding, and has competent specialists on staff who can prove you are right.

Although you need to understand that the widespread opinion about the mass nature of contractual tenders is a myth. The vast majority of applications from customers on electronic trading platforms do not have a corruption component, and participation in them is much less risky than investing in.

If you want to start making money on government procurement, then you will need to go through a preliminary stage of preparation for this. Moreover, it is quite complex and labor-intensive.

How to work with tenders for dummies - step-by-step instructions

Once again, it must be stated that commercial structures act a little differently than government ones when choosing a supplier on a competitive basis. The former develop the procedure on their own; they are not limited by rigid boundaries; they can involve those they know or are interested in participating, or they can announce an open competition in the media or on specialized Internet platforms.

State or municipal organizations operate within the framework of a legally prescribed procedure. Therefore, to become a tender participant, an entrepreneur must:

study Law 94-FZ, namely the procedure for selecting a supplier prescribed therein, which sets out the rules for the tenderer;
select an ETP from five that are selected by the government of the Russian Federation (for electronic auctions for government procurement);
obtain an electronic digital signature (the certification center issuing the digital signature must be one of those accredited at the selected site);
install the necessary software;
undergo accreditation at the ETP to participate in the tender;
take part in electronic auctions;
sign a contract upon winning.

Actually, the algorithm itself is not that complicated, if this is not the first time. There are several nuances that you need to pay attention to:

Unfortunately, universal digital signatures have not yet been invented. Therefore, the tax certificate issued to you cannot be used to participate in the tender; you will have to get another one.
When choosing a platform for electronic auctions, you need to pay attention to its specialization and working conditions.
Each site out of the 5 selected has detailed instructions and user guides. They are written in detail, even too much. Do not neglect to study them carefully before starting work on any of the ETPs.
The key to successful work can be such a banal thing as paperwork. A good source of information and obtaining the necessary skills can be competition documentation from competing organizations.
As a rule, in all electronic auctions there is a principle of securing intentions, that is, a cash deposit. It is calculated as a small percentage of the transaction amount, but nevertheless, like , participation in the tender costs money. Although this is a repayable amount, for large contracts the supplier company may not have enough of its own money, and it may not be advisable to “freeze” working capital. Therefore, it is worth either taking care of the availability of a reserve, or a bank guarantee that can be used for these purposes.

How to participate in construction tenders?

The algorithm for passing the preparatory stage has already been described above. There are practically no differences for the construction industry. There are only a number of nuances that a new company needs to take into account in tenders:

Just participating in tenders, even without winnings, will help the company make itself known, they may pay attention to it, and this will improve its status.
When preparing an application, special attention should be paid not only to the essence of the offer (the applicant’s proposal), but also to its justification, which is contained in the information about the company. This may be a description of special equipment, technologies used, a presentation of similar objects put into operation, reviews of established customers, and the like.
As a rule, construction tenders are carried out in two stages. The first is the announcement of the start of the competition and information about the proposed project, the second is the analysis of submitted applications and the selection of the winner. In a closed bidding format, you can become a participant only by invitation from the customer. It is worth considering that the entrance ticket sent does not always mean that the company is a welcome guest. If the deadlines for submitting an application and preparing documentation are very tight, then this should certainly lead to the idea that everything has already been agreed upon with another contractor, whom they want to see as the second party to sign the contract. Your participation is necessary for formal compliance with the procedure.
Today, this format is becoming increasingly widespread in the construction of small and small projects and private housing. That is, almost the entire construction industry is put on a tender basis. A number of experts believe that this will improve the quality of work in general and take the entire field to a new level. In fact, competitions or auctions are the future.

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