Public tenders offer enormous opportunities. The public sector is a stable and reliable client that often awards long-term and financially attractive projects. For companies that manage to navigate the complex tender procedures successfully, significant growth opportunities open up. Particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, winning a public tender can mean a breakthrough in a new market and create a solid foundation for future business relationships.
But how can you master the challenges of public procurement and make optimal use of the opportunities that arise? Careful preparation and a strategic approach are crucial here. In this article, we present seven essential tips to help increase your chances of success in public tenders and establish yourself as a reliable partner in the public sector.
Preparation is key
1. Analyze requirements
Before participating in a public tender, comprehensive preparation is essential. The first step is a thorough market analysis. The requirements of public agencies may differ from your previous business contacts in the private sector.
So make sure there is demand for your product or service in the public sector. Identify which agency or at which level (municipal, state, federal, EU) the greatest demand is expected.
Also explore the competitive situation. Which other providers are already active in the market and have already worked with the relevant public agencies? A unique selling point can be decisive in standing out from the competition and attracting the attention of public clients.
2. Familiarize yourself with public procurement
The way you win contracts in the public sector differs significantly from the process in the private sector. This is mainly due to public procurement law requirements, which apply specifically to the public sector and regulate the procurement process in many ways. Therefore, it is important to develop an understanding of the structures and processes in public procurement. This not only helps avoid formal errors in the bidding process, but also helps better understand the specific needs and expectations of public clients.
For example, the Federal Ministry of Economics’ competence center for innovative procurement offers companies a well-founded introduction to the topic with a free e-learning course.
3. Plan time buffers
Participating in public tenders requires patience and perseverance. Therefore, allow sufficient time to carefully fulfill all requirements of the tender. Experience shows that the process becomes more efficient in companies with each tender won. You can develop standards and process routines that reduce your effort for future bids.
Register your company in relevant pre-qualification registers such as the Official Register of Pre-qualified Companies (AVPQ) of the German Industry and Commerce Association or in the Entrepreneur and Supplier Register of DTAD. If you operate in the construction industry, the Association for the Pre-qualification of Construction Companies would be an appropriate contact.
These registers offer the advantage that your suitability and the absence of exclusion grounds have already been checked. This significantly reduces the effort for future tenders and can increase your chances of success, as public clients rely on these checked lists.
4. Make proactive and early contact
To further increase your chances of success, it is crucial to make your company visible and known to the public sector with relevant solutions early on – outside of active tender phases. This can be done through targeted marketing measures tailored to the needs and requirements of potential clients.
Public clients often face the challenge of having to specify needs or describe them functionally before a tender. They usually obtain the necessary product knowledge through market research. Sometimes they also seek solutions that don’t yet exist on the market. Therefore, for public agencies, market research and contact with companies are important strategic tools in preparing a tender. Public procurement law permits contact with companies where there is legitimate interest and in standardized and documented procedures.
To make yourself known to public clients, you can, for example, register free of charge on the KOINNOvationsplatz of the competence center for innovative procurement and present your company and your product or service on the Market for Innovations.
Particularly relevant are the so-called needs holders in the specialist departments. They are in many cases the users of the product and trigger the procurement by communicating their needs to the procurement offices. Often, the market research task and the resulting performance description lie with the specialist departments. This is where you come in as a company and can make your solutions known through targeted marketing.
Tailor your offer to public tenders
5. Check criteria
By all means read all tender documents and requirements carefully and make sure your offer meets all required criteria. The qualification and award criteria are a kind of checklist that must be covered in your bid. At the same time, the added value for the public sector and the unique selling point of your solution should be clearly highlighted. When preparing your offer, the contract advisory centers of the Chambers of Commerce, which are represented in every federal state, can help support you.
If you notice anything in the tender documents – both in terms of content and form – that is unclear and incomprehensible or incorrect to you, it is advisable to ask a corresponding bidder question. All bidder questions and the answers from the public client are made available to all parties and published in accordance with transparency requirements.
6. Language of bids
Your bid should be adapted as closely as possible to the tender requirements. Therefore, avoid general or standardized sales materials that you also use in the B2B sector. If you use anglicisms or technical terms in your bid, explain them if necessary.
There are service providers who revise tender documents linguistically and substantively so that they match the client’s needs. If you want to roll out your product in the public sector, this can be a worthwhile investment for entry. Often, however, it is also sufficient to read tenders for practice purposes to learn the most important terms and requirements.
7. Building references through smaller projects
To win public contracts, you need relevant reference projects. With these, companies demonstrate that they have already mastered similar tasks. For clients, they are proof that the company can execute the contract.
Start with smaller projects to build references in the public sector. Up to a certain contract value (varying by federal state, see the Threshold Contracts Regulation (UVgO)), public procurement offices can purchase services via direct order without elaborate tendering. Stay below the threshold by, for example, only offering part of your product or a licensing model.
Additionally, it is possible to gain experience as part of a bidding consortium or as a subcontractor. These projects help you learn the specific requirements and processes of the public sector and provide a foundation to qualify for larger tenders.
You’ll find more information, tips, and resources to help startups and young SMEs tap into the public sector in the KOINNO Playbook.