A tender is a formal invitation from a buyer for suppliers to submit competitive offers for a contract, and the bid a supplier submits in reply. In public procurement it is the standard route for awarding contracts transparently.

What is the difference between a tender and a bid?

The tender is the opportunity the buyer publishes; the bid (or 'a tender' in the second sense) is the priced, compliant response a supplier submits to it.

Who can submit a tender?

Any supplier that meets the eligibility and qualification criteria in the tender documents. Many public tenders are open to international suppliers, sometimes through a local partner or joint venture.

How do I find government tenders?

Tenders are published on national procurement portals and notices. Sell to State indexes them across 194 countries so you can search in plain English and get alerts on matching opportunities.

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Procurement term

Tender

A tender is a formal, structured invitation by a buyer — usually a government body — for suppliers to submit competitive offers to provide goods, services, or works under defined terms.

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What is Tender?

In government procurement, a tender is the formal process by which a public authority invites suppliers to bid for a contract, and also the offer a supplier submits in response. The authority publishes a notice and a set of documents describing the requirement, the rules, the evaluation criteria, and the deadline; suppliers respond with priced, compliant bids; and the authority awards the contract according to the published criteria.

The word is used two ways. "A tender" (or "invitation to tender") is the opportunity the buyer publishes. "To tender" or "submitting a tender" is the act of bidding. Related instruments narrow the meaning further: a request for proposal (RFP) seeks a solution, a request for quotation (RFQ) seeks a price for a defined item, and an invitation to tender (ITT) is the classic open call for sealed bids.

Tenders exist to make public spending competitive, transparent, and auditable. Because the process is rules-bound, the practical challenge for suppliers is rarely understanding any single tender — it is finding the relevant ones across many buyers and portals before the deadline. Sell to State indexes government tenders across 194 countries so you can search in plain English and surface the opportunities that match what you sell.

Example

A city transport authority publishes a tender for 40 electric buses; eight manufacturers submit sealed bids, and the contract is awarded on a combined price-and-quality (MEAT) basis.

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What is Tender?

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