It's not that simple with tenders: not only winning is important here, but also preparing for it — you need to study the documentation, customer requirements, deadlines and amount of work in order not to fall into unfavorable conditions. We will tell you what to look for when choosing a tender, how to analyze competitors and assess the chances of success. Samat Kazkenov, CEO of Mitwork, a developer company, shares his life hacks.The Eurasian electronic portal.

Tender is a generalized and most common name for procurement. In Kazakhstan's laws, not only the concept of "tender" is applied to procurement, but it is most often used by entrepreneurs. Officially, these are purchases. Meanwhile, purchases are carried out in several ways: a tender, an auction, and a request for price proposals (commonly referred to as "price tags"). We will use the word "tender".

For beginners, there is no significant difference in which customers to choose tenders from. It is better to start from the company's profile. For example, you are a sole proprietor and you supply office supplies. Your product may be in demand from both government agencies and private companies. The difference is in the requirements.

In public procurement, they are unified and regulated by law. For example, a participant should not be a relative of the customer or contractor and should not be included in the blacklist of participants in public procurement. For private companies, the requirements can be any — they are usually indicated in the documentation attached to the lot.

Most of the tender placement sites are similar. They have search engines where you can set up filters — select a category, purchase method, application status, due date, region, and others.

The name, number, amount, and purchase status are visible on the preview page. Clicking on the name takes you to the internal page, which displays who announced the tender and which technical specifications are requested.

The most popular categories on the procurement portal of commercial organizations are business services, construction and repair, electronics and appliances, as well as transport and automotive products. On the main page, under each of them, you can see the total amount of money that is spinning in these categories.

Before you take a tender, you need to understand whether it is profitable. This can be done by calculating three components:

• Cost price;
• Transportation costs, delivery;
• Taxes.

For example, the sole proprietor won a tender for the supply of office chairs in the amount of 100 pieces, the value of the lot is 1 million 200 thousand tenge. The entrepreneur found a supplier who sells the goods for 679 thousand tenge, calculated the cost of delivery — 30 thousand tenge, as well as future taxes — 36 thousand tenge. As a result, the profit from the tender will amount to 455 thousand tenge. Additionally, the margin from the tender can be calculated using the following formula:

Margin = (Selling price — Cost) ÷ Selling price × 100%

In our case, the margin is almost 38%, which is a very good indicator.

It is important to study the terms of reference carefully. Yes, these are basic requirements, but in practice, that's where the details lie.:

• Take into account the delivery address of goods, services, or work performed. If you are taking on the supply of first-aid kits in Aktobe while in Almaty, then consider logistics. You must fulfill the obligation on time, as penalties and fines are charged for delay, and for non-fulfillment you can get into the register of unscrupulous suppliers.
• Look at the amount of work and the conditions for their completion. The customer may require additional actions in the specification that accompany the standard set of work. For example, an individual entrepreneur plans to involve a contractor to perform construction work, and according to the customer's terms, employees must be on staff for at least a year.

The advantage of Kazakhstani tenders is that they are held in an open mode. This allows each participant to see all the documentation — the specification of lots, the protocol of the results, at what price and who provided the service. Therefore, the first recommendation for aspiring entrepreneurs is to open these documents and conduct a competitive analysis. Companies that have been working in their niche for a long time already understand the amount of work and know their competitors. Most sites offer their own analytics services, which help you estimate volumes in the category you are interested in.

Secondly, it is necessary to take into account the direction of the business — to respond only to specialized requests. It is not worth wasting time on tenders that do not correspond to the activity. For example, if The sole proprietor installs automation for the gates, there is no need to take a tender for the installation of windows, hoping to attract third-party installers.

Thirdly, it is important to prepare the requested software in advance — it depends on the customer. Some ask for a bank guarantee or its electronic form, the public sector may require to replenish an electronic wallet, where the required amount will be blocked automatically.

Fourth, you need to consider the terms of payment. Customers of tenders usually do not provide suppliers with an advance payment, payment occurs 30 days after signing the certificates of completed works. You need to take this into account when calculating your supplies. Some participants resort to factoring — the service is provided by special factoring companies that send money immediately after delivery, regardless of the terms of the contract. For this, they charge a commission from the amount of the contract.

Let's say an entrepreneur has chosen a tender, and he has a number of competitors. The most important thing is to meet the basic requirements of the customer. This is the base.

To stand out, you need to offer the best price, conditions and product. The price plays a crucial role — the less you offer, the more likely you are to win. Better conditions, for example, in terms of deadlines, will also play in your favor. And another option is the best characteristics of the goods at the same price. For example, a customer asks for core i5 computers, and you have the same brand of core i7 in stock, which you can provide at the same price. This is a tempting offer that the customer will not refuse.

Technically, this happens like this: the customer attaches a technical specification as a requirement, and the supplier submits its specification as a proposed solution. You can register your offer there. But keep in mind that this specification will be attached to the contract and everything that you have proposed must be fulfilled.

Previously, there were many universal companies that were created only to participate in tenders. They went to the sites, took the tender and thought that somehow they would be able to deliver the lot on different terms. Open today Sole proprietors, just to participate in tenders and build a business on it, is not enough. It is necessary to conduct specialized activities.

If, nevertheless, the sole proprietor was created for this purpose, then you can start with the following categories — household and office supplies, household chemicals. Taking into account the Kazakh economy, services are a promising category in which sole proprietors can earn money.

It makes sense to hire a separate tender specialist for those who do not have the free time and resources to immerse themselves in the process. As a rule, they are looking for employees with a law degree who will help with documentation. If the entrepreneur is ready and willing, you can participate in tenders yourself.

For the customer, it does not matter who the supplier is — sole proprietor or LLP. The main thing is that the winner meets the requirements and completes everything efficiently and on time. The tender is not a lottery, it is a business. It is necessary to carefully study the documentation, meet the requirements, analyze competitors and offer the best conditions.