A managed private tender creates a clear competition
BidScope gives approved buyer accounts a workspace for private procurement. This is different from an externally sourced public opportunity: the buyer creates and manages the tender on BidScope, and eligible suppliers can submit through the platform workflow.
1. Create or use a buyer account
Choose the buyer account type during sign-up or switch into an authorised buyer workspace. Keep the organisation profile accurate because suppliers need to understand who is issuing the opportunity. Buyer controls and tender administration remain protected from normal supplier accounts.
2. Create the tender
Start from the Post a tender flow. Give the procurement a clear title, description and category. Define the outcome, delivery location, timetable and submission deadline. If information is not yet ready, save and review it before publishing rather than exposing an incomplete requirement.
3. Set requirements and evaluation information
Describe scope, eligibility, required documents and response questions in language suppliers can follow. Record the evaluation criteria your team intends to apply. Avoid undisclosed criteria or vague instructions that make bids difficult to compare.
4. Decide how awards should work
Where the tender configuration supports lots or multiple awards, decide whether one or more suppliers may win. Explain the lot structure and award basis so suppliers can respond to the correct portion. Do not imply that multiple winners are possible unless the tender has been configured that way.
5. Review and publish
Check dates, fields, documents, access and contact information. Publishing makes the BidScope-managed opportunity available to the intended supplier audience. A private tender should still provide enough time for capable suppliers to prepare a considered response.
6. Receive structured bids
Suppliers submit against the questions and requirements configured by the buyer. Bid contents are protected within the managed workflow; they should not be exposed on public opportunity pages. Monitor submissions and formal clarifications without giving one bidder an unfair information advantage.
7. Compare suppliers consistently
Use the same disclosed evaluation framework for each response. Compare compliance, technical capability, experience, delivery, risk and price as relevant. The guide on comparing supplier bids fairly offers a practical structure.
8. Shortlist and clarify
Create a defensible shortlist based on the recorded evaluation. Clarification should explain or confirm a response, not quietly rewrite the requirement or give one supplier an undisclosed second chance.
9. Arrange meetings or interviews
For BidScope-managed tenders, buyers can arrange meetings with shortlisted suppliers where the meeting workflow is enabled. Meetings are not presented on external tenders that BidScope does not manage. Prepare consistent questions and document material outcomes.
10. Award supplier or suppliers
Complete due diligence appropriate to the procurement, record the decision and select the winner or winners allowed by the configuration. An award decision should match the process actually run. Contract formation and any external approvals remain the buyer’s responsibility.
What BidScope does not claim
BidScope does not convert an external tender into a BidScope-managed process, does not award on behalf of the buyer and does not replace professional or legal advice. Buyers remain responsible for their requirements, governance and decisions.
Start with a requirement suppliers can answer
Good private procurement is clear, proportionate and consistent. Visit private tenders to see the buyer workflow, or create a buyer account before posting your first tender.