If you want to submit a tender in the Netherlands, you should first apply for the tender documents. The tendering public-sector organisation will provide an exact description of the contract to be awarded in the tender documents (also referred to as specifications in the construction sector). This contains, among others:
- the tender procedure
- the selection and award criteria (in Dutch)
You can assess whether you are eligible for the contract based on the tender documents. Tender documents must always be made available for free. Requesting the documents is free from obligation. You do not have to register. Tendering organisations may, however, ask you whether you want to deregister when you decide not to submit a tender. The tendering regulations have a number of different tendering procedures (in Dutch), such as public procurement, non-public procurement and a private invitation to tender.
Selection and award criteria
If you would like to be considered for a particular contract, make sure you review the grounds for exclusion and the suitability requirements (in Dutch) with which you must comply. The tendering service assesses your suitability on the basis of your registration and a number of factors. The weighting of these factors is often detailed in the tendering documents. The Tendering Act 2012 stipulates that the tendering service must first choose the most economically advantageous tender (EMVI). The use of the lowest price as allocation criterion is only permitted if this is justified in the tendering documents.
Summary of Additional Information
Tendering documents could contain issues that may be unclear to you. However, during the tendering process, you will have the opportunity to request additional information from the tendering authority. They will subsequently collect all questions sent in by the tendering parties and will draw up a formal Summary of Additional Information. This Summary will contain all questions and answers, albeit anonymised, and will be send to all parties concerned six days before closure of the tender at the latest.