Finding more tenders gives you more choices. Choosing the right ones helps you spend your preparation time on work your business can actually deliver.

A tender can look attractive because the contract is large, the customer is familiar or the work sounds close to what you do. That is a starting point, not a decision. The useful question is: can we prepare a credible response, meet this buyer’s requirements and deliver the work if we succeed?

This checklist is a working method for answering that question. Use the actual invitation, specifications and latest addenda as your source of truth. A general checklist cannot decide whether a particular bid is eligible.

1. Check the conditions that could stop the bid

Start with the instructions that leave little room for interpretation. Record the closing date and time, submission channel, delivery address if applicable, and any briefing or site-visit requirement. Read how the buyer describes mandatory documents and evaluation conditions.

GCIS’s published tender procedures identify the closing time, submission location and briefing details as information to check in an invitation. Use the instructions in your specific tender for the exact requirements. Source: GCIS tender procedures.

Do not write “probably fine” next to a requirement you have not checked. Use three labels: confirmed, needs clarification, or cannot meet. A requirement you cannot meet deserves an explicit decision before anyone spends a day preparing the response.

2. Match the work to your delivery capacity

Read the scope as if you have already won. Who would do the work? Which equipment, materials and subcontractors would you need? Can your existing commitments accommodate the proposed dates?

A useful delivery check separates what your team already controls from what depends on somebody else. “We own the equipment” is different from “we expect to hire it.” Both may be workable, but the second needs a confirmed availability and cost assumption.

Also check the evidence requested by the buyer. Similar experience is only helpful if you can present it in the format the tender asks for. Identify the person who can obtain references or supporting records early.

3. List what you still need to know

Unknowns often hide inside a single line of the scope: access to the site, an unclear quantity, an installation constraint or a delivery date that depends on another contractor. Write each one as a question rather than filling the gap with an optimistic assumption.

Use the clarification process and contact details in the tender. Keep the question, the response and any issued addendum with the bid record. If an answer affects scope or pricing, make sure the person preparing that part of the bid sees it.

4. Agree on a decision with a named owner

Use a short record like this before committing the preparation team:

Decision area	Evidence to record	Owner
Submission conditions	Closing time, channel and instruction references	Bid coordinator
Mandatory requirements	Confirmed evidence or unresolved requirement	Responsible reviewer
Delivery fit	People, equipment, dependencies and dates	Delivery lead
Pricing readiness	Missing supplier quotes and scope questions	Estimator
Decision	Pursue, hold for clarification, or decline; reason and next review	Decision maker

The roles can belong to the same person in a small business. What matters is that the decision and next action are visible.

A worked example: a promising opportunity with one unresolved dependency

Imagine a contractor considering an office refurbishment tender. The team has relevant experience and can meet the submission deadline. However, one specified item has an unconfirmed lead time, and the proposed programme depends on it.

The useful response is not an automatic yes or no. Record the dependency, ask the supplier for written availability, and check the tender’s clarification process if the specification is unclear. Set an internal decision date before full preparation begins. If the answer makes the programme unworkable, the team can stop with a documented reason.

This is an illustrative workflow, not a prediction of the outcome of any tender.

When the decision is yes, turn the record into a preparation plan

Carry the confirmed requirements, open questions and owners into the bid checklist. Set internal dates for pricing, documents and final review before the buyer’s closing time. Keep a record of which document version each decision used.

TenderProSA’s preparation workflow brings document review, pricing and bid preparation into one process. Start with a suitable opportunity, then review the output against the buyer’s instructions before submitting. See how the tender preparation workflow works.

For the next stage, use the tender checklist and the bid-pack guide. Choosing carefully and preparing consistently gives your team a clearer way to pursue more work; it does not guarantee an award.