After a buyer awards a tender, sometimes they’ll issue a formal award notice, advising which bidders won the contract.

This award notice may include the following information:

  • The name of the organisation who won the tender
  • Dollar value of the tender submission
  • Contract details
  • Start and end date

At illion TenderLink, we encourage buyers using our service to publicise award notices. Not every tender notification service does this, but we view it as a matter of professional courtesy to ‘close the loop’ and provide full disclosure back to those who took the time to submit a proposal.

However, we can only rely on the information the buyer provides us and show what they have publicly released. Also, the awarded tender information will vary from tender to tender.

And some buyers may not publish award notices at all.

So why are buyers sometimes secretive? It can be for a number of reasons. Often, there may be a need for confidentiality. Other times, the buyer may believe that they’re maintaining some kind of bargaining advantage for future work by keeping the results to themselves. And other times, the buyer may simply want to avoid having to deal with queries from unsuccessful bidders.

Whatever the reasons may be, it can be disappointing when a buyer withholds the results of a tender.

A rich vein of opportunity

Award notices can be a rich vein of opportunity for suppliers – the value of this information can run far deeper than simply finding out who won the contract.

An award notice can reveal:

  • Who won a tender and for what price – This can help with competitor research and your pricing strategy.
  • The tender renewal date – Award notices can include buyer information such as procurement officer contact details and contract end dates. You can use this information to start building relationships with buyers before a tender is released again.

Smart suppliers will often try to learn why a particular competitor has won a bid. They’ll generally have a good idea against whom they are bidding, and sometimes may even have insight into their rivals’ competitive offerings and pricing. So, it’s valuable for them to see who is picking up business to get a sense of a buyers’ preferences.

Large, complex contracts also present subcontracting and direct supply opportunities. For example, a large construction project will require a range of supplies and services, from architectural and drafting work to concrete and plumbing supplies. However far along the supply chain, downstream suppliers are wise to watch out for business opportunities arising from the award of significant contracts.

But the value of award notices extends far further than an individual contract outcome. Good aggregators of tender and award information will provide users access to historical award data, enabling searches across a number of attributes that could include geographical region, industry category, tender close date and contract end date. This enables users to determine where and when future opportunities may arise.

Over 10,000 award notices across 900 industries

We know that award notices are not the tender opportunities themselves and that they present a different type of opportunity, which is why illion TenderLink distributes them as a separate stream of notification content, to avoiding confusion with procurement notices.

Currently, we have over 10,000 award notices published across 900 industries.

The publication of award notices is a valuable addition to any tender notification service. Publishing them is in everyone’s best interests – the winning bidder, who is exposed to downstream suppliers to help them complete the project; the unsuccessful bidders, who get some closure and insight into their competitors; and the original buyer, who retains the goodwill of bidders who failed to win this time, but remain keen to hone their skills and offer for next time.

How to find award notices using illion TenderLink

We email award notices to each user who has a profile set up, as soon as the buyer releases the information.

You can also search for current and historic award notices within your illion TenderLink dashboard.

To find out more, please refer to our video tutorial here.