Who is buying and which rules apply

Before you read the criteria in a notice, ask one question: where does the money come from, and which rules come with it? The answer decides almost everything: who may respond, the form of the bid security, the language of the bid, the portal to use, and whom to complain to if things go wrong. There are four families of buyer, and a minute is usually enough to recognise yours.

Family 1: national public buyers

These are ministries, local authorities, public institutions and, depending on the country, some state-owned companies. They buy with public budget money, under the country's public procurement code.

How to recognise them. The notice mentions an "autorité contractante" (contracting authority), a "personne responsable des marchés" (procurement officer) or a "maître d'ouvrage" (project owner). It refers to a national budget, a budget year or a procurement code. No foreign funder is named.

What it changes for you. The rules are your country's, and they are public. Administrative documents, thresholds and appeal time limits are in your country rulebook. A committee of the buyer evaluates the bids, and a regulatory body can hear disputes.

• ARMP (Autorité de régulation des marchés publics)

  Independent authority attached to the Presidency. It decides bidders' appeals, pronounces exclusions and keeps the red list of excluded firms. Address: armp.bj, toll-free line 7111.[1][5][6]

• DNCMP (Direction nationale de contrôle des marchés publics)

  Under the finance ministry. Above its thresholds it validates procurement plans, tender dossiers and provisional award reports, authorises exceptions, and runs the SIGMaP and the public procurement web portal.[1]

• CCMP et DDCMP (cellules de contrôle et directions départementales)

  Each buyer's control cell checks contracts below the DNCMP thresholds. The departmental directions of the DNCMP check the intermediate amounts of communes and some establishments.[1][2]

• PRMP (personne responsable des marchés publics)

  She or he launches the procedure, signs the contract for the buyer and publishes the reports. The first appeal goes to this person. Appointed by the minister, mayor, director general or equivalent depending on the buyer.[1]

• COE (commission d'ouverture et d'évaluation)

  Commission set up for each procedure. It opens the bids in public, evaluates them and proposes the winner.[1]

• Autorités approbatrices

  The contract only exists once approved: by the finance minister for DNCMP-level contracts (except communes), by the mayor for communes, by the relevant minister for contracts handled by his cell, by the director general for other entities.[1]

• Portail des marchés publics et SIGMaP

  Web portal for tender notices, plans, general notices and provisional award reports, run by the DNCMP. The 2025 decree provides for a new electronic public procurement system, whose go-live date is not confirmed.[1][7][4]

Family 2: projects paid for by a development funder

A development bank or donor funds a project, and a local unit buys for it: a project management unit, a coordination cell, sometimes a ministry. The buyer is local, but the rules are generally the funder's.

How to recognise them. Look for the words "financement", "prêt", "crédit" or "don" (funding, loan, credit, grant) followed by the name of an institution. One sentence comes up often: the government has received a loan or credit from such a bank and intends to apply part of it to payments under this contract. The project's name also appears in the notice.

What it changes for you. The file follows the funder's template, and its vocabulary can be surprising. Eligibility conditions may differ from the national code, and the funder often keeps its own list of debarred firms. Expect clauses on fraud and corruption that let it inspect your accounts too. Each organisation's page sets out its rules:

• United Nations (UN and its agencies)How to register on UNGM, find a UN notice, tell RFQ, ITB and RFP apart, know where each agency (ILO, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, UNOPS, IOM, WFP, WHO, UNHCR, Secretariat) actually receives bids, and challenge a decision.
• World Bank (financed projects)How to bid on a World Bank-financed project: who buys, where notices appear, the methods (RFB, RFQ, RFP, QCBS), eligibility, the standstill period and how to complain.
• African Development Bank (AfDB)What to know before bidding on an AfDB-financed project: who buys, the 2015 procurement framework, member-country eligibility and where to follow notices.
• Global Fund (HIV, TB, malaria)Selling health products financed by the Global Fund: who buys (the country's Principal Recipient), the three purchasing routes, quality standards, the absence of domestic preference and what it means for a local firm.
• European Union (external action)How to bid on an EU-financed contract outside the Union: direct or partner-country management, nationality and origin rules, the Funding & Tenders portal, thresholds and remedies.
• French Development Agency (AFD)How to bid on an AFD-financed tender: the project owner buys, the AFD Procurement Guidelines set the rules, no nationality condition, integrity declaration, publication on dgMarket.
• Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)How to bid on a project financed by the Islamic Development Bank: procurement guidelines, notices, member-country eligibility, the standstill period and complaints.
• Regional institutions (BCEAO, BOAD, BEAC, BDEAC, UEMOA, ECOWAS)How to sell to the BCEAO, BOAD, BEAC and the ECOWAS Commission, or bid on a BOAD-financed contract: their own rules, notices, BOAD thresholds, deadlines and remedies, and what we could not establish for the BDEAC and UEMOA.
• Private companies, mining companies and NGOsSelling to a private company, a mining company or an NGO: there is no procurement code, the rule is the buyer's own, except when the money comes from a funder that imposes its rules, and how to get paid when an invoice is unpaid.

Family 3: United Nations agencies and other international bodies

United Nations agencies, regional organisations and other international bodies buy for themselves, with their own rules and their own systems. They are not bound by the procurement code of the country they work in.

How to recognise them. The buyer is named directly, with no ministry or project unit. The document is often called an RFQ, ITB or RFP. Submission goes through a supplier portal or a dedicated e-mail address, and registering in advance is common.

What it changes for you. There are fewer national administrative documents, but formal requirements are strict. Time limits are sometimes short, and the deadline may be given in another time zone. The national regulator normally has no hold over these purchases: a complaint goes through the body's own channels. Start with the United Nations page.

Family 4: private companies and NGOs

A mining company, a bank, a telecoms operator or an NGO buys according to its own policy. No public procurement code normally applies.

How to recognise them. The buyer is a company or an association. The notice speaks of a "consultation", a "demande de prix" (request for prices) or a call for applications, and often points to an e-mail address.

What it changes for you. There are fewer formalities, but fewer safeguards too. The buyer can negotiate, change its mind or never reply, and there is generally no public session and no appeal period. So the contract you sign is your main protection, and an NGO spending a funder's money must sometimes follow a procedure that funder imposes. See Companies and NGOs.

The four families side by side

	National public	Funder-financed project	UN and international bodies	Companies and NGOs
Who decides	The committee and contracting authority, with the national reviews provided for	The project unit, often with the funder's agreement	The body itself	The company or NGO
Which rules	The national code	The funder's, with national law for what the file leaves to it	The body's own	Internal purchasing policy, sometimes a funder's
Where to complain	The buyer, then the national appeals body, then the courts	The buyer, then the channels named in the file and by the funder	The body's channels, to check in its document	The buyer, then commercial law if a contract exists
Where the bid goes	To the buyer's address in the file, or the national portal if there is one	To the project unit, or the funder's portal	To the body's portal or address	To the address given in the consultation

The one-minute test

1. 1

   Read who signs the notice

   A ministry or a town council? A project unit? An international agency? A company?

2. 2

   Look for the source of funding

   It is often in the first lines. A funder's name puts you in family 2, even if a ministry signs the notice.

3. 3

   If the notice is silent, open the file

   The instructions to bidders state the rules that apply. If you still have doubts, ask the buyer in writing.

4. 4

   Go and read the right page

   Your country rulebook for family 1, the organisation's page for families 2, 3 and 4.

Where notices appear in your country

Channels depend partly on the family of buyer: national notices have their official outlets, while funders and international agencies also publish on their own sites. Where you read a notice does not change its rules.

• Portail des marchés publics du Bénin

  Tender notices, procurement plans, general notices, provisional award reports, list of standard dossiers, disputes section and a toll-free number. The site also links to the SIGMaP.

  Reading needs no account and free alerts can be created. Check the other channels too: the page read showed 2026 counters at zero.

• Site du gouvernement, rubrique Marchés publics

  List of notices by type: expression of interest, tender, request for information and prices, request for quotations, general notice, with closing date and time.

  Open, no registration.

• Quotidien de service public et journal des marchés publics

  Every call for competition must at least appear in the public-service daily, on the national web portal and in the public procurement journal.

• Affichage chez l'acheteur, à la préfecture ou à la mairie, et dans les chambres de métiers

  Requests for information and prices from some State structures (schools, hospitals, courts, prefectures, departmental directions) are posted at their premises, at the prefecture or town hall they depend on, and in trade chambers and consular institutions. For a request for quotations, publishing a notice is not mandatory.

• Système d'information et de gestion électronique de la commande publique

  Future single channel for procurement, with dossier download, encrypted and electronically signed bid upload, time-stamped receipt and online appeals. The public can freely read information open to all. To act (submit a bid) an electronic certificate is needed.

  User account and an electronic certificate issued by the approved body. Registration by signed form.

What next

Once you know the family, look at the type of procedure, which says who can respond and what to hand in, then read the file.