Advertising the goods and services Request

Allowing respondents four weeks to submit an offer is the recommended timeframe. If the procurement is above the Free Trade Agreement thresholds, your agency must give suppliers 25 days to respond.  

When setting the timeframe consider the value, complexity or strategic nature of the Request. 

Sometimes you may also choose to advertise the Request in newspapers. 

If you make your Request documents available for collection, email or post you need to record this information on Tenders WA.

If the details of these potential respondents are not recorded in Tenders WA, they will not receive any addenda to the Request.  

A briefing/site inspection gives potential suppliers an overview of the Request. It also gives the supplier the opportunity to get clarification on requirements before the Request’s closing date.  

Your agency’s evaluation panel should decide whether to offer suppliers a pre-tender/tender briefing session at the procurement planning stage.  Once the evaluation panel has decided to hold a mandatory or non-mandatory pre-tender/tender briefing, the details of the briefing should be inserted into the quote/Request document.  

Briefings may happen before advertising the tender (pre-tender), or while the tender is open. Pre-tender briefings are generally held for Common Use Arrangements (CUAs), or strategic contracts. For other contracts, the decision to hold briefings can be made on a case by case basis. 

Should my Tender Briefings be mandatory or non-mandatory? 

If your briefing is mandatory it becomes a prequalification requirement in the evaluation criteria.  

A supplier must attend mandatory briefings.  The legal entity recorded in the attendance register must match the name of the entity submitting the offer. If a bid comes from a supplier that did not attend a mandatory pre-tender/tender briefing, their bid cannot be considered. 

It is not advisable to make the briefing mandatory if you are expecting bids from interstate or overseas as this can be seen as anti-competitive.  

Non-mandatory briefings are the preferred briefing method.  

I am organising a Tender Briefing. What do I need to do?  

1. Schedule the briefing so that you are allowing enough time for prospective respondents:
   * to read and understand the tender document and  
   * make arrangements to attend the briefing session (particularly if interstate or overseas suppliers are likely to bid) 
2. Prepare an agenda or session plan.  
3. Ensure that the room is adequate in size with enough seating for the attendees. 
4. Arrange for someone to take notes at the briefing.    
5. Take a record of all attendees. This is especially important for mandatory briefings.  
6. Explain the layout and information provided in the Request document. 
7. Record all the questions and answers from the session.
8. Circulate any amendment or clarification of an issue to all eligible prospective respondents via a formal written addendum.  
9. Allow enough time after the briefing session for respondents to clarify any issues with the contact person prior to the closing of the tender. 

If you do not have the expertise to respond to both contractual and technical questions, you can have a second contact person listed for the Request. 

 The technical enquiries contact should keep a register of all questions received in a register for that contract. Suppliers should email complex questions from potential respondents to the appropriate contact person so there is a record of the query and response. 

All potential respondents are sent the questions and answers in the register. Giving all potential respondents the same information is important to ensure equity and fairness.  
Specific issues that may give a respondent competitive advantage over other respondents, should be made publicly available via a formal written addendum. 

When is it ok to verbally answer a query?  

You can respond verbally to an enquiry if: 

• the question does not require further clarification in the Request document
• there is no new information provided

When should I add an addendum to the Request?  

You will need to add an addendum to the Request if there are questions that: 

• requires clarification of the specifications  
• includes information that is not included in the Request document
• may give any respondent an advantage over other respondents

You should arrange the addendums in liaison with the other contact person.   

If towards the end of the tendering period you are adding an addendum that makes a major change to the Request, you may have to extend the Request closing date.