The procurement process step by step: what it looks like from the supplier's side

It is easy to think that a tender starts on the day the contract notice appears. But by then, much has already been decided. The need has been clarified, the requirements have been written, and other suppliers have often been in dialogue with the buyer for months. Here we go through the whole course of a public procurement, step by step, and show what is wise to do at each stage. Where we use examples from Norway, where Cobrief is based, we say so.

The buyer works in three phases

Public procurement follows a set course. In Norway, DFØ (the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management), the government's expert body on procurement, divides the procurement process into three phases. The same three phases apply to you wherever you bid in the EU and EEA:

Clarifying the need and preparing the competition. The buyer works out what they need, researches the market, chooses a procedure and writes the requirements.
Running the competition. The competition is advertised, suppliers submit their bids, and the buyer evaluates and chooses.
Contract management. The contract is signed, and the buyer checks that the supplier delivers as agreed.

As a supplier, it is easy to spend almost all your time in the middle phase. That is understandable, since that is where the bid is written. But it is in the first phase that the requirements are set, and in the last that the money is made.

We start with the buyer's phases because that is the order you have to work with. Below we follow the same three phases, but seen from your side. The competition phase then naturally splits into three: the notice, the bid and the award. That gives five steps in total.

Step 1: Before the notice

Everything starts with a need at a municipality, an agency or a public company. The buyer has to find out what they actually need, what it will cost and what the market looks like. The rules allow the buyer to research the market and talk to suppliers before the competition, as long as everyone is treated equally. This is called market dialogue, and it often takes the form of dialogue conferences, one-to-one meetings or written questions to the market.

This is also the phase in which the buyer estimates the value of the procurement. The value determines which rules apply and where the competition is advertised. In Norway, the Public Procurement Act applies from NOK 500,000 excluding VAT. From NOK 1.3 million excluding VAT there is an obligation to advertise nationally, and from the EEA thresholds the common European rules apply in full. We have explained threshold values in a separate article on thresholds.

What is wise to do here: Keep an eye on prior information notices and dialogue conferences from the contracting authorities you want to supply. If you turn up and give input, you help shape the requirements you will later have to meet.

Step 2: Contract notice and tender documents

When the buyer is ready, the contract notice is published. In Norway, it is submitted via Doffin, Norway's national public procurement database. If the value is above the EEA threshold, Doffin forwards the notice to TED, the EU's common database, where it is published first. Shortly afterwards it appears on Doffin as well. Publication in TED above the EEA threshold applies across the EU and EEA.

The tender documents come with the notice. This is the set of documents describing what is to be bought, who may take part and how the bids will be assessed. Two types of requirement are worth telling apart straight away:

Qualification requirements decide whether you may take part. Typically financial standing, experience and certifications.
Award criteria decide who wins. Typically price, quality and environment, with a weighting.

We have written a separate article on why you must not mix them up. The distinction applies across the EU and EEA.

Above the EEA threshold, you submit the ESPD (European Single Procurement Document) as preliminary evidence that you meet the qualification requirements. Full documentation is usually only requested from the supplier who is in line to win.

During this phase you can put questions to the buyer. The answers are sent to everyone taking part and become part of the basis for the competition. The deadline for questions often comes earlier than you expect.

What is wise to do here: Make a quick assessment of whether the competition is worth your time. Do you meet the qualification requirements? Does the weighting work in your favour? Can you make the deadline? Send your questions early.

Step 3: Submitting the bid

The submission deadline is absolute. A bid that arrives too late must be rejected, and that applies across the EU and EEA. The same goes if the supplier does not meet the qualification requirements: the buyer then has a duty to reject, not merely a right. In Norway, the regulation allows the buyer to ask for certain information to be supplied later or clarified, but that is something the buyer may do, not something they must do.

The bid must answer what the tender documents actually ask for, in the structure the buyer has requested. If you make reservations or deviations from the requirements, in the worst case your bid may be rejected.

What is wise to do here: Submit in good time, never at the last second. Have a separate check that all mandatory attachments are included and that the files are in the right format.

Step 4: Evaluation, award and standstill period

After the deadline, the buyer evaluates the bids against the award criteria and the weighting that was stated. A notification is then sent to the suppliers concerned about who has been chosen. The notification must give reasons, and this duty to give reasons applies across the EU and EEA. Under the Norwegian regulation, the reasons must give "the name of the chosen supplier and an account of the characteristics and relative advantages of the chosen tender in accordance with the award criteria".

A standstill period then follows: a waiting period before the contract can be signed. Above the EEA threshold, it is at least ten days from the day after the notification is sent, and that applies to you anywhere in the EU and EEA. The point is that suppliers who believe something has gone wrong should have time to complain before the contract is concluded. You have that right to complain wherever you bid. In Norway, you can complain directly to the buyer, to KOFA (Norway's complaints board for public procurement) or to the courts.

What is wise to do here: Read the reasons carefully, whether you won or lost. They tell you what the buyer actually valued. We have written about how to learn from the tenders you did not win.

Step 5: Contract and follow-up

When the standstill period is over, the contract is signed. This is the start of the phase buyers themselves spend a lot of time on: checking that what was promised in the bid is actually delivered. For you as a supplier, this is the phase in which your reputation is built. Buyers talk to each other, and good references from one contract are often the way into the next.

If the contract is a framework agreement, this is when the individual orders, the call-offs, arrive. Call-offs under a framework agreement are not advertised, so it is the framework agreement itself you need to catch when it is put out to tender. Framework agreements work this way across the EU and EEA. We have explained how framework agreements work in a separate article.

Where many stumble

As we read the process, the same mistakes keep recurring among suppliers who are new to the public sector:

They discover the competition too late. The notice is the start of the bid work, but the end of the buyer's planning. By then, the requirements are set.
They write before they have checked the qualification requirements. If you are missing a certificate or a reference, it is better to know on the first day than on the last evening.
They underestimate the question round. Uncertainties that could have been cleared up early become guesswork in the bid instead.
They submit close to the deadline. That leaves no margin for a file that will not upload.
They do not read the reasons after a loss. So the next bid falls into the same trap.

What you should do

Set up a simple overview of which contracting authorities matter to you, and keep an eye on prior information notices and dialogue conferences from them. Use tender alerts so that the notices come to you, instead of you having to search for them.

When a competition appears, make the assessment before you start writing: qualification requirements, weighting, deadline and contract value. Send questions early. Set an internal submission deadline well before the formal one. And read the reasons afterwards, whatever the outcome.

In conclusion

A public procurement is more than a notice and a deadline. It is a course of several steps, where the beginning and the end often decide more than the bid writing itself. If you understand the whole course, you can be present where the requirements are set, and not just where the bid is submitted.

The content here reflects Cobrief's assessment and is intended as guidance, not legal advice. If you are in doubt about a specific competition, ask the buyer before the deadline for questions.

We at Cobrief are always happy to have a chat about how you can work smarter throughout the procurement process.