A tender notice is not written for skimming. It follows a structure designed for legal completeness, which means the facts that decide whether you should bid are scattered through it. Read them in this order and most notices can be settled in ten minutes.
1. The deadline, including the time
Start with when tenders close, and read the time as well as the date. A large share of deadlines fall at 12 noon, and a portal will not accept a late upload however close it was. Note the clarification deadline too, which is usually days earlier: after it, you cannot ask the buyer anything.
If the time left is less than you would need to write a good answer alongside your paying work, you already have your decision.
2. The value, and what it covers
Look for the estimated value and ask three questions of it. Is it the total over the whole contract, including any extension years? Does it include VAT? Under the Procurement Act 2023, estimated values are stated including VAT, while older notices usually excluded it. And is it split into lots?
3. Lots
A large contract divided into lots can be a set of jobs a small firm can win. A £24 million contract in forty lots is forty contracts of roughly £600,000. Check whether you can bid for one lot, whether there is a limit on how many lots one supplier can win, and whether any lot is aimed at smaller suppliers or a particular area.
4. Length and extensions
A three-year contract with two optional one-year extensions may run for five. That affects the value, the commitment and when the work next comes round.
5. The procedure
An open procedure means anyone can submit a tender by the deadline. A competitive flexible procedure can include stages, such as shortlisting before tenders are invited, or negotiation. The notice should say which, and how many suppliers the buyer intends to take through each stage.
6. Conditions of participation
These are the tests you must pass: minimum turnover, insurance levels, accreditations, experience. The notice often summarises them and the documents hold the detail. When Bidwire checked, the large majority of notices did not state specific requirements in the fields the public data exposes at all, so absence from the notice is not evidence that there are none. Open the documents before you assume you qualify.
7. How it will be scored
Look for the award criteria and their weightings: price against quality, and whether social value is scored. A 70% quality weighting rewards a strong written answer. A contract scored mostly on price rewards the lowest sustainable cost, which is hard for a small firm to win against a larger one's economies of scale.
8. Where the documents are
Notices usually link to the buyer's e-tendering portal. Register early. Some portals take a day to approve an account, and the questions and specification can change what the notice seemed to say.
The ten-minute test. Can you meet the deadline properly? Is there a lot you could deliver? Do you plausibly pass the turnover and insurance tests? Does the scoring reward what you are good at? Four yeses and it is worth opening the documents. One clear no and it is usually worth moving on.
What Bidwire does with this
Every notice in Bidwire leads with a plain-English summary, shows the closing date with the time, and splits out the value per lot. Where the notice gives us reason to think a small firm will struggle, because of the contract size, a stated turnover requirement or a need for national coverage, it says so and says why.