The time it takes to inform tenderers, to distribute questions and answers, to inform all parties regarding addenda, send out tender documents… basically all the steps in the tender process have become much easier to navigate. It’s a central, digital space where all parties have access to the same data and receive clarity about the current tender in progress. It also allows us to set supplier expectations in a consistent and uniform manner.
The toolset is simple to learn and even organisations that haven’t been exposed to tendering before didn’t have a great deal of difficulty using the tool. TenderLink is efficient, its support is first-class and the technology really helped us ramp up our operations from the ground up. The evaluation was easily configured so the evaluators could only view the program of work relevant to them and were not able to see pricing, therefore removing the influence of price bias.
With the TenderLink web-based system, people publish their tenders online and all bid responses download in a uniform format. This is real efficiency. There’s no double or triple handling.
Since using TenderLink, we’ve had bids from further afield, because TenderLink automatically emails our notices to all its suppliers in that space – they don’t have to search for it. This has helped us build a wider catchment of potential contractors.
The TenderLink system is very reliable, simple to use, and very intuitive – they provide excellent guidelines for procurement staff and for suppliers who want to download and upload tender documents.
Change is inevitable, and with any change you expect some amount of pain. More often than not, it can be extremely disruptive, but the change to the TenderLink system was the least painful experience I have had in my professional life. Whoever designed this program made it easy to use and logical, and it just works. Anyone can create a software program, but TenderLink provides support that, in my experience, is second to none, you are being looked after; it’s a service-driven organisation and they back their product.
All the auditing is automated, whereas if we were undertaking the same tender using the old manual process, we’d have to hire someone else. So, although indirect, it means the money you spend on TenderLink is actually an investment that you will see a real return on through cost savings.