Invitation to tender (ITT)

An invitation to tender, or ITT, is the set of documents a public buyer publishes to ask suppliers for bids. It is the core of the tender pack: what the buyer wants, the questions you must answer, the deadline and how your answers will be scored.

What an ITT usually contains

• Instructions: the timetable, how to submit, word limits and the deadline for clarification questions.
• Specification: the work itself, the standards it must meet and how it will be measured.
• Quality questions: the written answers that are scored, often with a weighting for each one.
• Pricing schedule: the form your price must take.
• Contract terms: the contract you will sign if you win.

Reading it well

Start with the scoring. The evaluation criteria tell you what the buyer cares about and how many marks each answer is worth, so you know where to spend your time. Then check the pass or fail rules, such as insurance levels and certificates, before you write anything.

If something in the ITT is unclear, ask a clarification question before the deadline. The buyer usually shares the answer with every bidder.

With Bid Manager, Jonty fetches the tender pack, reads every page and checks it against your Vault, where you keep your certificates, policies and past bids. Then it tells you whether to bid, and shows the page behind each reason.