The public procurement market has recovered somewhat from its collapse in the seven years since the start of the recession, according to the latest statistics, with public contracts expected to generate over €13 billion for Irish businesses in 2016.

The value of public procurement tenders almost halved between 2008 and 2015, falling from around  €16 billion to €8.5 billion, but Tenders Direct Ireland, a tender information and alert service, is reporting that the public procurement market is once again on the rise and in particular in the construction sector.

New schools and school renovations, roads, bridges and flood prevention are among the public contracts driving the recovery, according to the firm.

Tim Williams (pictured) of Tenders Direct said: “The public procurement market in the Republic of Ireland is worth around , €8.5 billion. By far the highest number of contracts is for construction work, which accounts for around 40% of tender notices in Ireland. The majority are advertised by city and county councils and there is a clear demand for civil engineering companies with experience in roads and bridges. Schools are being renovated or rebuilt, with a number of primary, second and third level institutions posting requests online for tenders from construction companies.”

Tender Mistakes

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Williams warned that simple mistakes can ruin the chances of success in being awarded a contract. The most common mistakes include missing the deadline for submission, even by a few minutes, or not answering a mandatory question.

“It’s also important to look at how the marks will be awarded during the evaluation process, as this will show you which answers you should really concentrate on,” he advised.  “Always stick rigidly to the guidelines. The procurement officer evaluating the completed tenders has to read through each and every one of the responses. If the information isn’t in the format requested, or it is in a different place in the bid, then it makes their job much harder and is quite likely to result in a lower score. The scoring between competing companies is often very close and one or two marks can make all the difference.”

When it comes to winning contracts, size is not an issue, said Williams. “As long as you can show that you are tax compliant, have a sound financial trading record and can fulfil the tender requirements, SMEs with just a few staff can be as successful as larger corporations, and can often demonstrate greater levels of flexibility when it comes to providing a tailored and innovative response.

“There are also many smaller contracts worth between €5,000 and €100,000 that we can help to identify and that are better suited to smaller SMEs, particularly those just starting out in bidding for public contracts, so the field really is wide open for any company with the ambition to win.”