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Firstly, if you are stuck on a tender and are looking for expert help, give us a call or email. We help businesses across Australia and New Zealand win government and private contracts. We provide an obligation free quote, and will work with you to deliver an exemplary tender response. We love writing bids and proposals and it’s all we do all day. We’re based in Sydney and are a team of four writers.
Our Director, Jason Cooney, is available 24/7 (feel free to wake him up although we do prefer 7am – 10pm so why not give us a call or email info@thetenderteam.com.au with your RFP docs. To get an idea of our fees, you can review our fees page here.
What is an Addendum for Tenders?
Well, nothing is rarely perfect the first time it is released and many tenders fall under this category. When the procuring team/selection panel releases the tender documents out to first-time tenderers, mistakes and misunderstandings are bound to occur.
For these eagle-eyed tenderers, the first course of action is to bring up these points with the company tendering for goods and/or services. In response, the procuring team/selection panel will provide answers to most of the tenderer’s questions within reason – not doing anything, in particular, to give one party an advantage over the other.
So to answer the question, “What is an addendum for Tenders?”, these issued changes in the tender are known as tender addendums, either editing/inserting/removing any clauses or other criteria that may be erroneous or no longer apply.
These are common examples of tender addendums;
- Changes in nature/types of goods/services required
- Addition/removal of locations where the tenderer will be needed
- Administrative changes in the documents – such as clarifying whether one section only permits four pages for a response over four pages for an entire document.
With all these changes, the tenderer must keep your tender response on track and ensure that nothing important is omitted from your winning bid. It is important then to be prepared for these changes lest you find yourself asking the question, “What is an addendum for Tenders?”.
Regardless, addendums are not only important for the tenderer but also a way to gauge the responsiveness of a future employer/business partner. If responses to questions in addendums are well-detailed, accurate and most importantly objective, then the tenderer should focus even more on the tender response in order to produce the winning bid. When these addendums are issued, the Tender Team always encourages our clients to read the contents closely. Addendums should clearly state all changes and sometimes provide reasons for why they have been changed. While every change may not apply specifically to a tenderer’s response, there are often times where certain sections of your response need to be altered accordingly.
Most procuring teams/selection panels will require you to acknowledge all addendums issued for a tender, a process that the Tender Team is more than able to assist with when appropriate.
Rarely an addendum is made where tenderers are caught off guard, wherein new tenderers often find themselves a little confused and asking the question, “What is an addendum in tenders”, though with a little preparation it is easily within reach of any new tenderer to push through any future tender addendums.
Government tenders in particular issue a variety of addendums as their tenders often abide by more stringent conditions than private companies and other organisations. For tenderers responding to a government, these addendums serve as worthwhile experience for customising a response that is both relevant and addresses the strict evaluation criteria as set by the government department or agency.
Addendums are often posted on tender noticeboard websites, providing a fair opportunity for all tenderers to review and respond appropriately as required. They will only be posted from between the time the tender is first issued to the closing date for tender responses.
The Tender Team will help both first-time and experienced tenderers to interpret these alterations and propose a strategy that will incorporate this new knowledge into the tender response effectively. Furthermore, we are equipped to repurposing particular sections of the response and carefully wording affected sections in a way that is both inviting and convenient for the procuring team/selection panel.
In a way, tender addendums can be used by tenderers as a fair Q&A process that benefits everyone involved. While the Tender Team will do its utmost to protect our own side, insightful questions asked by other competitors will be answered for the benefit of all.
You may have your initial question answered, “What is an addendum in Tenders?” but here are some examples of how questions answered within addendums can reveal information that the tenderer may not have asked for, but will nevertheless benefit from;
- Will the company require our goods/service for other locations later on?
- Will the company provide additional benefits for the successful tenderer in the future?
- Will the company cover the tenderer for damage/loss of profit from exceptional events?
- Will the company plan to renegotiate in the near future for a better deal from the incumbent provider in exchange for long-term business?
Tender addendums give additional depth to a tender that may or may not be a good thing for the tenderer. The Tender Team provides not only tender writing per se but tender advice from our experienced professionals. We make sure that we account for unforeseen circumstances in our services and provide adequate solutions to resolve any problems that may occur if the tenderer finds themselves incapable of providing or performing a good or service because of a new addendum.
In need of assistance for a tender response that may have you asking “what is an addendum”?
Call us on +61 410 448 770 or email info@thetenderteam.com.au for our assistance in working with you on your next project.
