In this guide 6 sections
Ask whether the software holds your certificates with expiry dates, your past order register, a bid checklist for each buyer, and the drawings and inspection reports behind each order. Folder searching before a bid signals failure. Test it on one old bid.
Can it hold certificates and warn before they lapse?
Every plant or mine bid starts with papers. Registration certificates, ISO copies, the factory licence, safety records, bank letters and statutory returns all expire on different dates, and each lapse can disqualify a bid. Ask where each one is stored. Ask who is told as the date nears.
A good answer is a certificate register with an expiry date and an alert sent to a named person, so the buyer never spots a lapse first. A shared drive is a poor answer. Drive files never warn anyone, however carefully named.
Renewal raises a second point. The old certificate must stay on file. A bid reopened for clarification, or an audit of last year’s supply, may still demand the earlier factory licence or ISO copy, so never delete it on renewal.
- Certificate name, number and issuing body
- Expiry date with alerts at set intervals
- Scanned copy attached to the record
- Owner who renews it
- History of earlier versions
Does it keep a register of past orders you can reuse?
Many tenders ask for proof of similar work. Buyers want the order number, the item, the quantity, the value and the delivery date, and someone digs through invoices and dispatch challans to rebuild each line. It takes hours.
Ask to see a past order register that filters by item type, buyer and year and prints a clean list in the columns a tender form asks for. No retyping.
Check that a completion letter or a certificate of satisfactory supply can be attached to each line, because that single file often wins the bid. Attach proof to every line.
Will it build a bid checklist for each buyer?
Each buyer wants a different set of papers. The steel plant stores department has one format, a mine contractor has another, and staff learn both by memory, which fails on the night before the closing date.
Ask for a checklist per buyer. It should list every document, the cover letter, the price schedule, the earnest money deposit and the sealing instructions, and each tick should record who and when. That trail matters.
Buyers change formats mid-year, and one edit to the saved checklist should carry into every later bid without anyone rebuilding it from scratch. Nobody should start over.
- One checklist template per buyer
- Closing date and submission mode
- Earnest money status
- Person responsible for each paper
- Final check before dispatch
Where do drawings and inspection reports live?
Fabricated parts and wear plates live on drawings. Revision letters, material test certificates and stage inspection reports must match the order, because a wrong revision in a bid is a costly mistake.
Ask whether each drawing is linked to the order and the item with its revision letter beside it, and whether mill test certificates hang from the same record. One click, not five folders.
The test is simple. Pick an old order. Then ask for its drawing, its stage inspection report, its mill certificate and its dispatch papers, and expect all four to appear on screen within a minute.
What should you try before you sign?
Give the vendor one finished bid from last year and ask them to load it, then rebuild the whole bid package from stored data alone. Time it. Note every manual step.
Also ask who owns your data if you leave and in which file type you can export it, since spreadsheets and PDFs are fair answers.
Write three questions on a sheet and take it to each vendor, then compare the answers side by side before you decide. Prefer the vendor who shows proof.
Tender software question sheet
One page, five blocks. Each block holds three or four questions, with columns for the vendor’s answer, the proof you asked to see, and a pass, partial or fail mark. The last row names the data owner.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Is a shared folder enough for tender papers?
Folders suit only a few bids a year. It fails when a factory licence expires unnoticed, or when two staff keep different copies of the same ISO certificate on separate laptops and each believes theirs is current. A register with alerts closes that gap.
Who should own the certificate register?
Name one keeper for the whole register. Usually that is the bid manager. Each certificate also needs its own renewal owner, so every alert reaches someone who can act, such as the accountant for a bank letter or the safety officer.
Can small suppliers use tender software?
Yes, if it stays simple. Small suppliers need less than vendors claim. A supplier with a handful of buyers needs a certificate register, an order register and saved checklists, while portal integration and automatic bid filing can wait. Expand only after bids get easier.
Should drawings sit in the same system?
Drawings should at least link to the order. Revision control is the point. Storing each one by revision letter beside the order stops a superseded drawing going into a bid, and it lets an engineer confirm the right revision in seconds.