GOVERNMENT TENDER AND B2G SUPPLIERS
Government Tender Suppliers: Bids, Deposits and Delayed Payments
A tender notice arrives, the due date is nine days away, and your team begins gathering papers. Two days before submission you find a certificate has expired. You submit the bid at a price chosen in a hurry and hope for the best.
We advise suppliers who sell to government departments. That covers which tenders to bid on, bid costing, tracking of deposits and guarantees, document ownership, and cash planning for slow payment. We do not advise on tender rules, eligibility or procurement law. The tender document and a qualified professional decide those.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Teams bid on most tenders that arrive, spending time on ones with low odds, because no rule screens them against the firm's capacity and margins.
- 02Earnest money, performance guarantees and security deposits tie up cash, and no one has a single list of what is locked and when it comes back.
- 03Bid documents are rebuilt each time, so expired certificates, missing attachments and inconsistent figures show up near the deadline.
- 04After an order comes through, payment from the department takes long, and the supplier's working capital is stretched across several orders at once.
- 05Relationships with department officers sit with the owner alone, and the firm has no record of past orders, rates quoted and delivery performance.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A go or no-go sheet for each tender: value, delivery schedule, deposit needed, margin and fit with capacity
- 02A bid cost worksheet covering material, transport, installation, taxes as stated by your accountant and margin
- 03A list of earnest money, guarantees and deposits, with amount, bank, expiry and release date
- 04A document vault checklist with expiry dates for registrations and certificates, reviewed monthly
- 05Order tracker with delivery date, inspection, invoice and payment status per department
- 06Outstanding payments by department and the age of each
- 07A cash plan covering supplier payments due before the department pays you
- 08A history of rates quoted, bids won and lost, with reasons noted
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- List every tender you bid on in the past year with the result and the hours spent. Mark which types you win and which you do not.
- Create a single page listing each earnest money deposit, guarantee and security deposit with amounts and dates, so you see how much cash is locked up.
- Hypothetical example: you have ₹12,00,000 in deposits and ₹8,00,000 in unpaid invoices from departments. That is ₹20,00,000 of working capital held outside your bank balance.
- Check the expiry date of every certificate and registration your bids depend on, and book renewals for any expiring soon.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A tender screening checklist the owner and bid manager complete before work starts
- A bid costing template with margin and deposit lines
- A deposit and guarantee register with expiry alerts in a weekly review
- A collections routine listing each department invoice, the officer to contact and the date of the last call
Not the right fit when: If you are facing a tender dispute, blacklisting or an interpretation of procurement rules, that needs a lawyer. We cannot help you win a tender, only run your supply business better.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
