What is a public tender?

A public tender, in a nutshell, is like that giant casting of the public sector where the Government (or whoever touches) seeks who sells things, provides services or builds something, and does everything with a roll of transparency and competence. That is, no friends (well, that is the theory). The joke is that several companies can throw themselves into the ring and compete on equal terms, presenting their best offer to take the contract.

Now, each country or even each city can have its own manual of how to do this, but the basic process is almost always the same. First, the famous bidding announcement comes out: there they tell you what the project is about, what do you want, what do you have to meet and what the selection will be like. If you are interested, you prepare your papers, deliveries and after a time of review (sometimes eternal), someone decides who stays with the contract.

The truth, public tenders are key for administrations not to spend money as if they were in Las Vegas. All that of transparency and competition is not just blah blah: it helps the thing to be more just and that the mayor's cousin does not always win. In addition, for companies, getting into the world of tenders can be a gold mine ... if you know what they are doing.

Of course, if you want to launch yourself to participate, beware of the details. You have to read the entire small print, from the technical requirements to the legal ones. The proposal must be well armed and competitive, because competition is usually fierce. And prepare for a level of paperwork and transparency controls that sometimes want to cry.

As for the rules, each country has its own. In Spain, for example, the Public Sector Contracts Law is the Bible of the matter. There everything marks you: how it is awarded, how you can claim if you feel stolen, and what happens if you.

Total, that public tenders are the bread of each day for administrations and a good opportunity for companies - always and when they are willing to curb it, understand the process well and, if necessary, look for someone to take a hand with legal issues and all the bureaucracy. It is not a walk in the park, but the prize can be worth it.