Last reviewed October 2026
Why the first stage matters most
Public tenders are usually evaluated in stages: preliminary (mandatory) requirements first, then technical, then financial. The preliminary stage is pass or fail. If one mandatory item is missing, the bid stops there, and your price is never read.
That is why the cheapest bid often does not win: it was disqualified on a technicality first.
The usual reasons bids fail
- An expired document: Tax Compliance Certificate, business permit, NCA registration, AGPO certificate
- A missing CR12, or one whose directors do not match the forms
- Forms not filled, not signed or not stamped: Form of Tender, Confidential Business Questionnaire, self-declarations
- No bid security, the wrong amount, the wrong form of security or a security that expires too early
- Pages not serialised or paginated where the tender asks for it
- Missing the mandatory site visit or pre-bid meeting, or not attaching its certificate
- The wrong number of copies, or copies that do not match the original
- Late submission, even by minutes
A method that works
Read the instructions to tenderers and the evaluation criteria first, and make a checklist of every mandatory requirement with the page it comes from. Then tick each item against a document you hold today, not one you mean to get.
Check validity dates against the tender's closing date and validity period, not today's date. Fill and sign forms last, once names, amounts and dates are final, so they all agree.
Ask a colleague who did not prepare the bid to check it against the checklist before it is bound or uploaded.
When the tender is unclear
If a requirement is ambiguous, ask the procuring entity for clarification in writing within the time the tender allows. Answers are normally shared with all bidders as addenda, so watch for them: an addendum can change a mandatory requirement or the closing date.
Upload a tender to Tendakazi and our analysts check every requirement against your vault, tell you exactly what is missing and why, with the page it comes from.
General information for suppliers, not legal, tax or financial advice. Procurement law, regulations, thresholds and government systems change: check the current rules with the procuring entity, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), the National Treasury or KRA, and speak to an advocate or tax adviser about your own case.