Evaluation and award: what happens after you submit

Once the packages are opened, your bid disappears into a committee and you often hear nothing for weeks, sometimes months. That silence is normal, but your work does not stop: the committee can write to you at any moment, and a late reply can eliminate you. Here is what happens in that time, in order, and what you have to do.

What the committee does, in order

The evaluation committee applies the grid and the criteria written in the tender file, and nothing else. The usual order is as follows.

1. 1

   Administrative compliance

   Are the required documents there, valid and signed? Does the bid security comply? This is where expired certificates and missing forms fall. In some files the committee accepts that a non-essential document be supplied afterwards. Do not count on it.

2. 2

   Technical review

   Does your bid answer what was asked? The committee checks the eliminatory criteria, references, staff, equipment and schedule, and gives a score if the file provides for one. Often, a bid that does not reach the technical minimum never has its price looked at.

3. 3

   Financial review

   The committee redoes the sums, corrects errors, adjusts prices so they can be compared, applies any preferences and looks for abnormally low bids.

4. 4

   Ranking and final check

   It ranks the bids and proposes a winner. Some files provide at this stage for a closer check of the top-ranked firm: financial capacity, references, sometimes a visit. If it fails, the committee moves to the next one.

After the committee's opinion, the award often goes through a validation: an oversight body or the funder's no-objection, depending on the contract. That is one reason the result can take time.

Lowest evaluated bid or weighted score

The file says which of these two methods applies. Works, supplies and ordinary services most often use the first, and consulting the second.

The lowest evaluated bid. Among the bids that meet the requirements, the contract goes to the one with the lowest evaluated price. The evaluated price can differ from the price read aloud: error corrections, adjustments, preferences. A high technical score earns nothing extra here. You just have to clear the bar.

The weighted score. The committee scores technical quality and price, then combines them using the weights written in the file. The best combined score wins, even without the lowest price. This is the classic consulting case, with a financial envelope opened only for those who reached the minimum technical score.

After a consulting ranking, the contract is generally negotiated with the top-ranked firm. In a classic tender, negotiating the price is usually forbidden. With private companies and some organisations, on the other hand, it can be common: see Who is buying and which rules apply.

If the committee writes to you

The committee can ask for a clarification: an unreadable document, a date to confirm, a reference to clear up. The request comes in writing and gives a time limit, often very short.

• Reply at once, and in writing. Watch the e-mail address and phone number you gave in the bid, including when travelling. A late reply can be treated as no reply.
• Reply only to what is asked. You are clarifying your bid, not writing a better one.
• You cannot change your price, or anything that would change the substance of the bid. The only usual price change is the committee's correction of a calculation error.

Do not try to reach committee members privately either. Any attempt to influence them can get your bid rejected, and bring heavier sanctions.

Preferences and abnormally low bids

Some rules grant a preference, for example to national, regional or local firms, or to small businesses. It often takes the form of a margin applied only for the comparison: the foreign competitor's price is raised for the calculation, and the contract is then signed at your real price. If you qualify, attach what the file asks for to prove it, because it is not always applied automatically.

If your price seems abnormally low, the committee can ask you to justify it. Have your quotes and price breakdown ready: see Price your financial bid.

🇧🇯The rule in Benin

Evaluating bids

• The choice rests on a single criterion: either the (corrected) price, only for standardised supplies or services whose quality does not vary, or the overall price or cost (running and maintenance cost, lead time, after-sales service, payment terms, quality). Criteria must be in the dossier; no unannounced criteria or methods. There is no negotiation with the bidder, except for intellectual services and direct agreement.[1]
• The base offer must conform to the dossier. Variants are only allowed if the dossier asks for or allows them. Before rejecting an abnormally low offer, the buyer must ask you in writing for justifications (economics of the method, technical solutions, social and environmental compliance, state aid) and examine them.[1]
• For intellectual services, the technical and financial proposals are in two sealed envelopes. Technical proposals are opened and evaluated first; only technically qualified candidates have their financial proposal opened in public session, the others get it back unopened.[1]

Preferences and SMEs

• Community preference: given to bidders domiciled and tax-resident in Benin or an UEMOA state, shown in the dossier as a percentage of the offer, never more than 15%. Conditions: for suppliers, at least 30% value added in the UEMOA; for works contractors, at least 30% UEMOA inputs or site staff; for companies, more than half of capital held and governing bodies controlled at least half by UEMOA nationals.[1]
• Small firms: a candidate that plans to subcontract at least 30% of the contract to micro, small and medium enterprises can get a preference margin of up to 5%, cumulative with the community preference. The code also gives a 5% preference to the offer of a micro, small or medium enterprise, cumulative with the 15% community preference.[1]
• Each buyer lists in its annual plan the share of contracts, by number, set aside for micro, small and medium enterprises; the minimum is set by the year's finance law.[1]

Extending bid validity

Your bid is valid for a period set by the file. If the evaluation runs past that period, the buyer can ask you to extend it.

Take this request seriously and reply within the time given. As a general rule:

• you can refuse, and you then leave the competition without losing your security;
• if you accept, you keep your price unless a clause says otherwise, and you must have the bank extend your security if its date becomes too short.

Before replying, redo your sums. Do your suppliers still hold their prices? Is the contract still profitable at this amount? Never leave a request unanswered, because your bid may drop out without you having decided it.

Reading a provisional award

The provisional award, sometimes published as an award notice, is the decision of the committee or the competent authority before the contract is signed. It usually opens a period during which bidders can challenge it, before any signature.

Depending on the country, it appears in the procurement journal, on the public portal or on the buyer's website, and bidders sometimes receive a letter. Read it carefully:

• The winner's name and the amount. Compare with what was read at opening. A difference may be explained by a correction, or give you a question to ask.
• The lot. Check that it really is yours.
• The time limits. Write down the publication or receipt date at once: it is often what starts the clock for an appeal. See Challenge a decision.
• The grounds for rejection, when they are given.

A provisional award is not yet a contract. If you are selected, do not start anything or buy anything before notification and the steps that follow. They are described in Deliver the contract and get paid.

🇧🇯The rule in Benin

• After evaluation, a provisional award report (winners, excluded bidders and reasons, price, subcontracted shares) is validated by the control body then published. All bidders receive results with reasons for rejection. A rejected bidder gets a copy of the report within 3 working days of a written request. The buyer waits at least 10 calendar days before signing and sending the contract for approval.[1]
• A contract must be concluded, signed and approved before any work starts; an unapproved contract is void. Approval can only be refused for lack or shortage of funds, within 5 calendar days. The contract is notified within 3 calendar days of approval and takes effect on notification. A final award notice is published within 15 days.[1]
• The buyer may ask to extend bid validity, by at most 45 calendar days without an ARMP opinion, after confirmation by the provisional winner. If the procedure is stopped, bidders are released and their guarantees freed. A tender is declared unsuccessful after a control opinion, and the decision is published within 5 calendar days.[1]

Always ask why you were rejected

If you lose, write to the buyer to ask why. Do this even if you do not plan to challenge anything. In most public contracts and with funders, you can obtain at least the reasons your bid was rejected, and some organisations offer a debriefing. A private company often owes you nothing, but a polite request costs little.

An answer does three things. You learn whether you fell on a document, on the technical side or on price. You fix that point for the next bid. And if the reason does not match what the file says, you have something concrete, provided you act in time. A short letter is enough: the notice reference, the lot, your request and nothing else.