Businesses may quickly locate the best suppliers for upcoming purchases at the greatest price with the use of e-tendering. Electronic responses from several vendors trying to earn business or offer business services are made in response to procurement opportunities.
E-Tendering and other procurement procedures for contract awards are handled by online e-Procurement platforms.
What is e-Tender? What is e-Tendering?
The practice of using online procurement (e-Procurement) platforms to automatically request bid tenders and assess providers is known as e-Tendering (electronic tendering). By streamlining S2P activities and supplying more information, e-Tendering plays a crucial role in the procurement process.
Bid inquiry, submitting bidder offers in response to official buyer criteria, documentation exchange, and assessing the bids of selected potential vendors are all included in paperless e-tendering.
After a purpose of verification document is created and authorized by the buyer (e-Informing), and certain suppliers have been pre-qualified or shortlisted, the digital e-Procurement process moves on to the e-Tendering step (e-Sourcing).
How does e-Tender work?
When a buyer sends an Invitation to Tender (ITT) or Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) to vendors who react to the purchase request, e-Tendering operates through an Internet-based, online, or mobile software platform that may include a portal.
e-Tendering creates and transmits documents with e-signatures and messages, enables bidders to submit necessary data in response to an official Request for Proposal (RFP) by a deadline, and assesses prospective suppliers for the procurement opportunity.
If the vendor is chosen, finalized electronic tenders are legally binding. Before choosing a vendor, the e-Procurement process may involve negotiating deals and prices or holding bids, even though filed tenders may include final terms proposals.
The documents are not isolated, and authorized personnel from throughout the business may read them. Information observed during the e-Tendering or e-Procurement process should not be divulged until a contract is awarded, according to company policy.
What are the benefits of e-Tendering
Here are some reasons why your company should use an e-Tendering procurement system. Among the benefits of e-Tendering are:
Importance of e-Tendering:
Increased Cost Savings Traditional documentation is replaced with electronic tendering. It eliminates the need for a tendering procedure that requires newspaper publication of a tender notice.
Easy to Use In a traditional tender, elements like creative design and exceeding requirements may negatively affect the result. With e-Tendering, everyone responds to identical questions, often within a predetermined word limit, making it easier for the assessor to arrive at a fair conclusion. This speeds up turnaround time while reducing overhead tasks.
Higher Efficiency All of the processes involved in e-Tendering are digital, enhancing productivity. The juggling of sheets, Excel files, emails, etc., that slows the procurement process is no longer necessary.
An Improved Vendor Database Using the e-Tendering system, it is possible to track vendor performance and compile a list of the top suppliers. Vendors compete for your business in this situation, and you choose the best vendor by comparing their offers.
A Clear System The e-Tendering system provides users with rapid and transparent cooperation, offering full insight into all activities during the acquisition process. The audit trail’s transparency ensures there is no room for misunderstanding.
Simpler Evaluation You can handle information through a single portal with the help of e-Tendering. Comparing and rating vendors is made simpler as a result.
Technological Benefit With this digital tendering method, you can resume the process from where you left off without worrying about losing information or context.
E-Tendering is significant because it gives the buyer the ability to evaluate competing offers from suppliers that meet all necessary criteria. A system for electronic tendering eliminates the need for paper, reduces the time it takes to complete the procurement process, defines stages clearly, and has a central document repository available online.
Contract management and project management for the procurement process work well with centralized electronic document exchange, which includes requirement papers, digital tender documents, contracts, and purchase orders.
For large contracts, the e-Tendering procedure ensures that the criteria for the purchases are officially defined and that competitive bids are sought through an open request with a larger pool of possible suppliers.
How to Register for e-Tenders in Bangladesh
These are the requirements for registration:
- A computer with Mozilla Firefox or any browser.
- High-speed Internet connection.
- An active email address.
Stage 1:
- Go to www.eprocure.gov.bd, click on ‘New User Registration’ and fill in the form to initiate registration.
- You will receive a verification email with a code from the e-GP system.
- Click the link in the verification email and fill in the form with the received code for verification purposes within 72 hours.
- You will then receive a confirmation email from the e-GP system. Print it. The email will also contain further instructions and a list of documents that you will have to scan and upload later in the e-GP system.
Stage 2:
- Take the confirmation email printout to an e-GP registered bank.
- Pay the fees and take the payment slip. To see the list of e-GP member banks, visit: http://www.eprocure.gov.bd/MemScheduleBank.jsp
- You will receive a payment confirmation email once you have paid the fees.
Stage 3:
- Log in to the e-GP website with your verified email ID and enter the remaining profile details to complete your profile.
- Scan and upload all required documents, including the payment slip, review the profile information, and click the “Final Submission” button.
- Send the attested hard copy of the documents by post or courier to CPTU, CPTU Bhaban, IMED, Ministry of Planning, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka 1207.
Stage 4:
- If CPTU finds your documents to be authentic after verification, you will receive approval through email and an SMS notification within three weeks.
- You can then start using e-GP.
What are the scanned documents or PDF copies required for registration with e-GP:
- Company Incorporation Certificate (for companies) or registration document.
- Trade License (if applicable).
- Valid Tax Identification Number (TIN) Certificate (if applicable).
- Valid Value Added Tax (VAT) Registration Certificate or Goods and Services Tax (GST) Registration Certificate.
- Authorization letter from the owner of the firm/company.
- National ID or Passport (first 4 pages) of the authorized person.
- One passport-size photo of the authorized person.
- e-GP registration fee payment slip.