Excerpt from Levon Hovsepyanโs lecture
๐๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ.
- If allowed, send more than one offer
The more options you propose the more are chances that one of the options will reach the target. If your Offer A is not the lowest priced technically compliant offer, chances are your Offer B might very well be the one.
If you are bidding for furniture, what stops you from offering high-end furniture as Offer A and non-luxury furniture as Offer B? Both can perfectly satisfy technical requirements.
- Always follow up on tender results
If you are not sent the contract or regret letter, always ask about the destiny of your offers. Ask about specific reasons you are not awarded. Ask about the price of the winning offer. If the price of the winning offer is confidential, ask which price level was your offer at, i.e., second lowest, third lowest, etc.
- Offer discounts for higher volumes
Calculating prices, think about what discounts you can make if the quantity increases. Along with increasing your chances for award, this gives a signal talking about your capacity to deliver bigger quantities of services/goods.
- Include additional information in your offer only after you addressed the main requirements outlined in the tender documents
Donโt jump into marketing tricks to sell your company or product, unless you duly provided all the information expected to be in the offer. Tender documents are, in essence, questionaries. You can apply your marketing magic only after you answered all questions. Generally, procurement is immune to marketing. They look for answers and specific information. If procuring entity wants cargo insurance service โ they will ignore the fact that your company is 100 years old and provides health insurance to Fortune 100 companies and entire UN family. Cargo insurance is required. Period. I do not want a golden fork with diamonds on it if I need a spoon.
- Automatically extend the validity of your offer
Do not let your offer expire, if you can afford keeping the price. If 90 days of validity period is requested, your offer should have something like โupon expiration of the initially requested validity period of 90 days, the validity period is automatically extended for an additional period of 90 days, unless otherwise communicated by usโ.
- Answer questions quickly
If you receive a request for clarification, answer it within 24 hours. Have a focal point in your team dedicated to each specific tender.
Procurement Passion 