Evaluation and award: what happens after you submit

Once the packages are opened, your bid disappears into a committee and you often hear nothing for weeks, sometimes months. That silence is normal, but your work does not stop: the committee can write to you at any moment, and a late reply can eliminate you. Here is what happens in that time, in order, and what you have to do.

What the committee does, in order

The evaluation committee applies the grid and the criteria written in the tender file, and nothing else. The usual order is as follows.

1. 1

   Administrative compliance

   Are the required documents there, valid and signed? Does the bid security comply? This is where expired certificates and missing forms fall. In some files the committee accepts that a non-essential document be supplied afterwards. Do not count on it.

2. 2

   Technical review

   Does your bid answer what was asked? The committee checks the eliminatory criteria, references, staff, equipment and schedule, and gives a score if the file provides for one. Often, a bid that does not reach the technical minimum never has its price looked at.

3. 3

   Financial review

   The committee redoes the sums, corrects errors, adjusts prices so they can be compared, applies any preferences and looks for abnormally low bids.

4. 4

   Ranking and final check

   It ranks the bids and proposes a winner. Some files provide at this stage for a closer check of the top-ranked firm: financial capacity, references, sometimes a visit. If it fails, the committee moves to the next one.

After the committee's opinion, the award often goes through a validation: an oversight body or the funder's no-objection, depending on the contract. That is one reason the result can take time.

Lowest evaluated bid or weighted score

The file says which of these two methods applies. Works, supplies and ordinary services most often use the first, and consulting the second.

The lowest evaluated bid. Among the bids that meet the requirements, the contract goes to the one with the lowest evaluated price. The evaluated price can differ from the price read aloud: error corrections, adjustments, preferences. A high technical score earns nothing extra here. You just have to clear the bar.

The weighted score. The committee scores technical quality and price, then combines them using the weights written in the file. The best combined score wins, even without the lowest price. This is the classic consulting case, with a financial envelope opened only for those who reached the minimum technical score.

After a consulting ranking, the contract is generally negotiated with the top-ranked firm. In a classic tender, negotiating the price is usually forbidden. With private companies and some organisations, on the other hand, it can be common: see Who is buying and which rules apply.

If the committee writes to you

The committee can ask for a clarification: an unreadable document, a date to confirm, a reference to clear up. The request comes in writing and gives a time limit, often very short.

• Reply at once, and in writing. Watch the e-mail address and phone number you gave in the bid, including when travelling. A late reply can be treated as no reply.
• Reply only to what is asked. You are clarifying your bid, not writing a better one.
• You cannot change your price, or anything that would change the substance of the bid. The only usual price change is the committee's correction of a calculation error.

Do not try to reach committee members privately either. Any attempt to influence them can get your bid rejected, and bring heavier sanctions.

Preferences and abnormally low bids

Some rules grant a preference, for example to national, regional or local firms, or to small businesses. It often takes the form of a margin applied only for the comparison: the foreign competitor's price is raised for the calculation, and the contract is then signed at your real price. If you qualify, attach what the file asks for to prove it, because it is not always applied automatically.

If your price seems abnormally low, the committee can ask you to justify it. Have your quotes and price breakdown ready: see Price your financial bid.

🇸🇳The rule in Senegal

Evaluating bids

• The commission first checks admissibility and documents, then compliance with specifications, then evaluates in detail. It cannot negotiate or ask for changes to prices or conditions; it may correct purely arithmetic errors and ask for clarifications in writing. It proposes the award to the lowest evaluated compliant bid within 15 days of opening, extendable by at most 10 days (art. 69 to 71).[1]
• The choice is made on price alone, or on price and other criteria such as running costs, technical performance, environmental protection, lead times, maintenance, accessibility for disabled people, and local content requirements (jobs, inclusion of local artisans and SMEs, sustainable development). These criteria are listed in the dossier, in money terms or as elimination criteria. Only the capacity of the lowest-evaluated bidder is examined (art. 44, 60).[1]
• An abnormally low bid may be rejected by reasoned decision, after the commission has asked the bidder for details of its price breakdown. The bidder may justify its price by method savings, exceptionally favourable conditions or use of idle resources. A bid that does not respect social and environmental regulations may also be rejected (art. 60).[1]

Preferences and SMEs

• In an international tender, a preference goes to Senegalese or UEMOA bidders, or those whose bids contain only products of Senegalese or UEMOA origin, as long as their bid is no more than 15% above that of the lowest non-community bidder (art. 50).[1]
• In a national tender: a 5% margin for women-led firms and those more than 50% owned by young people or disabled persons; 5% for a bidder that subcontracts at least 30% to one or more labelled startups or forms a joint venture with them; for a local authority's contract, up to 5% for those subcontracting at least 30% to a local firm. These margins can be added to the community preference. You must claim the preference in your bid with a statement and evidence, and the dossier must define the conditions (art. 48, 50, 51).[1]
• Reserved contracts: the authority reserves at least 5% of its annual contract value (3% for the social and solidarity economy and national SMEs, 2% for women-led SMEs), for contracts under 100 million incl. tax (works) or 80 million incl. tax (others). A 'reserved contract' is open to associations, cooperatives, GIEs, social enterprises or SMEs employing at least 30% disabled people, 50% unqualified young people or 50% women. Other UEMOA countries benefit through mutual recognition (art. 4.30; 2024 order).[1][7]

Extending bid validity

Your bid is valid for a period set by the file. If the evaluation runs past that period, the buyer can ask you to extend it.

Take this request seriously and reply within the time given. As a general rule:

• you can refuse, and you then leave the competition without losing your security;
• if you accept, you keep your price unless a clause says otherwise, and you must have the bank extend your security if its date becomes too short.

Before replying, redo your sums. Do your suppliers still hold their prices? Is the contract still profitable at this amount? Never leave a request unanswered, because your bid may drop out without you having decided it.

Reading a provisional award

The provisional award, sometimes published as an award notice, is the decision of the committee or the competent authority before the contract is signed. It usually opens a period during which bidders can challenge it, before any signature.

Depending on the country, it appears in the procurement journal, on the public portal or on the buyer's website, and bidders sometimes receive a letter. Read it carefully:

• The winner's name and the amount. Compare with what was read at opening. A difference may be explained by a correction, or give you a question to ask.
• The lot. Check that it really is yours.
• The time limits. Write down the publication or receipt date at once: it is often what starts the clock for an appeal. See Challenge a decision.
• The grounds for rejection, when they are given.

A provisional award is not yet a contract. If you are selected, do not start anything or buy anything before notification and the steps that follow. They are described in Deliver the contract and get paid.

🇸🇳The rule in Senegal

• The commission draws up its report within 3 days of the evaluation. The authority decides within the following 3 working days; if it approves, it immediately informs other candidates of the reasons for rejection, returns their bid guarantee and publishes a provisional award notice (art. 84). An excluded candidate who asks in writing receives the reasons for rejection within 5 working days (art. 88).[1]
• The contract goes for signature no sooner than 10 days after publication or notification of the provisional award (7 days in simple urgency). It is then approved: refusal of approval is possible only for lack of funds, by reasoned decision within 15 days (30 days for local authorities). The DCMP registers the contract before notification, and the contract takes effect only from notification, which starts the execution periods. The final award notice is published on the portal within 15 days (art. 74, 85, 86).[1]
• A tender is declared unsuccessful, after consulting the DCMP, if no bid is received or all are inadmissible or non-compliant. It can also be dropped for a general-interest reason, such as the need disappearing or bids far above the estimated value (art. 65, 66).[1]

Always ask why you were rejected

If you lose, write to the buyer to ask why. Do this even if you do not plan to challenge anything. In most public contracts and with funders, you can obtain at least the reasons your bid was rejected, and some organisations offer a debriefing. A private company often owes you nothing, but a polite request costs little.

An answer does three things. You learn whether you fell on a document, on the technical side or on price. You fix that point for the next bid. And if the reason does not match what the file says, you have something concrete, provided you act in time. A short letter is enough: the notice reference, the lot, your request and nothing else.