Tender management software that keeps every bid from being set aside on a formality
No bid excluded on a formality: every document present, valid and in format.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that takes a public-sector bid from the published notice to the portal's receipt: finding tenders, reading the documents, filling the forms, collecting certificates and checking that everything is present, valid and in format before upload. Tender Management adds eight agents that watch TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and TenderNed, build the packing list per envelope, fill the ESPD from the company file and rehearse the buyer's compliance check, while the Bid Manager approves and the authorised signatory signs and uploads.
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A public tender is lost twice: once on quality and price, and earlier and more cheaply on a formality. An ISO certificate that runs out two days before the deadline, a Chamber of Commerce extract older than six months, a plan of approach one page over a limit that a clarification note changed, a price line left blank or a SAM.gov registration that lapsed before the offer — each one lets the buyer set a multi-year bid aside before quality or price is scored.
The checks that prevent it are still done by hand. Someone reads 300 to 600 pages of instructions, specification, contract conditions and annexes into a spreadsheet; the ESPD is retyped for every tender; certificates are collected from shared folders and email without checking each one against the deadline, the award date and the contract start; and on the last day a colour team checks presence and format by eye. Clarification notes are read once, against whatever was already drafted.
Estimated split of the compliance work on one mid-size public tender, by hand and with the solution. Writing the technical offer itself is not included.
Eight agents read the tender, build the packing list, fill the forms and check every document; the bid manager approves and the signatory uploads.
Kestrel & Vane Marine Services is bidding for Lot 2 of the Maasdelta Port Authority's quay wall and fender maintenance framework: EUR 18.6 million over four years, open procedure, submission through TenderNed, deadline Thursday 12 November at 12:00 CET. On Monday morning, three days out, here is how Femke de Vries works with the agents — what she asks, what she approves and the evidence she sees — screen by screen in the working solution.
Since Friday the agents read 5,453 notices on four portals and finished the checks on two bids. Her briefing shows 3 bids due in 14 days, 3 decisions and Lot 2 at 21 of 23 documents ready, under a countdown to the deadline. The submission checker's note from 22:15 last night leads the thread, with the passages it cites; below it she can ask about any bid, document or deadline.
Submission checker: “I rehearsed the Maasdelta Port Authority’s compliance check on Lot 2: two documents would fail it.”
The portal watcher reads TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and TenderNed every 30 minutes against the search profile. On 13 October at 06:12 it proposed TED 2026/S 198-612345, Lot 2, at a fit of 88%; Femke started the bid at 08:40 with her reason, core service line. Each proposal shows its value, deadline, code and what speaks for and against it, and every notice filtered out keeps its reason.
“It proposes; you decide.” The watcher never registers interest or downloads behind a login before a person starts the bid.
The tender reader read 15 documents — the notice, instructions to tenderers, the 128-page Lot 2 specification, contract conditions, price schedule, drawings and Nota van Inlichtingen 1. 129 requirements were read at 90% confidence or more; the 3 below that went to Joris Bakker to confirm. Of the clarification note's 41 answers, three change the work, each shown before and after: answer 17 cuts the Q1 plan of approach from 10 to 8 pages, answer 9 caps liability at EUR 2,500,000 per event, answer 22 sets the fender test frequency.
Tender reader: “I never guess a requirement.”
The submission checker runs the tender's own rules over the whole packing list: 184 checks across 11 rules — presence, PDF and size, file names, qualified e-signatures, page limits, validity on the deadline and at award, the same facts in every document. 181 pass. Three would fail: the plan of approach at 9 pages against 8, the ISO 9001 certificate running out on 10 November, and ESPD Part IV.D citing that same certificate.
“I had no part in drafting any document, I cannot approve, and I cannot submit.”
The packing list holds 23 documents in three envelopes — qualification, technical offer and price — each with its file, source, owner and a bar showing whether it is valid when it counts. Femke asks the agents beside it. The answer is two things and nothing else, with the passages cited, and one click filters the list to what needs her.
Submission checker: “Two things, and nothing else: ISO 9001:2015 certificate and Q1 Plan of approach (30%). The other 21 documents pass all their checks.”
§5.1.1 of the instructions asks for a valid ISO 9001 certificate on the deadline for receipt of tenders. KV-Q-1187 is valid until 10 November. The certificate keeper found the renewed KV-Q-1187-R3, issued after the October recertification audit and valid to 1 November 2029, and asked its owner. Three dates are drawn for each certificate: the deadline on 12 November, the award on 18 December and contract start on 1 March.
Ruben Smit, QHSE Manager: “That is the final certificate, issued after the October audit. Please use R3 everywhere.”
Femke picks reason code AC-01 — “Accept: renewed or corrected document, owner confirmed” — and ticks that she has read the cited passages and the document. The form filler updates ESPD Part IV.D to KV-Q-1187-R3, and the submission checker re-checks the certificate and the ESPD before the item turns ready.
“Signed as Femke de Vries, Bid Manager · recorded in the audit trail.”
Since answer 17, appendices count and Q1 is limited to 8 pages A4. The draft runs to 9. The bid drafter proposes merging table 3.2 into table 3.1 and removing a duplicate site photo on page 6; every scored point of Q1 is still answered and the font stays 10 pt. The submission checker counts 8 pages, and Femke accepts the trimmed version.
The bid drafter never adds a claim without a source, and a person accepts every edit.
The rehearsal now passes 184 of 184 checks. The sign-offs are in: the price by Sanne Mulder, no reservations and the exclusion grounds by Pieter Hendriks, the renewed certificate by Ruben Smit. Femke approves 22 files at EUR 18,412,640 excluding VAT with reason code AP-02, noting the insurance renewal proof due before award.
Approval stays closed while any item is open, and says what is missing.
Maarten signs with a qualified e-signature and uploads the 22 files in three envelopes through TenderNed; the tax compliance statement is held for award, as the tender allows. The receipt, TN-412788-0093, is read back and checked against the file list, 3 days 3 hours before the deadline. Every step — the agents' and each person's — is a sealed entry on the audit trail.
“Each entry is sealed; changing one breaks every seal after it.”
The same lot, seen by five of the people who carry it — what tender week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Eight agents read the tender, build the packing list, fill the forms and check every document; the bid manager approves and the signatory uploads.
Reads TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and TenderNed every 30 minutes against the search profile; proposes notices that fit, with the reasons; keeps every notice it filtered out, with why.
Reads the whole tender and every clarification note; extracts requirements, envelopes, format rules and dates with their page; drafts clarification questions; re-plans the packing list when a note changes something.
Turns the requirements into the documents each envelope needs, with owners and due dates set back from the internal freeze; reminds owners after one business day.
Fills the ESPD, the Form of Tender and the declarations from the company file, and keeps every reference current when a document changes.
Checks every certificate, extract and registration against each bid's deadline, award and contract start; finds renewals; asks owners to confirm.
Proposes edits to technical documents to meet page, font and format limits without removing a scored point; drafts from the bid library with sources.
Checks every line priced, the arithmetic, totals carried to the Form of Tender, the abnormally-low test, currency and VAT.
Rehearses the buyer's compliance check over the whole packing list: presence, format, names, signatures, page limits, validity and the same facts everywhere. Passes or sends back with the rule.
Approve, sign and upload. The agents propose; a named person decides.
On every bid and every document, ask why, what the rule says or what happens if — or give an instruction. Answers cite the passage, and nothing is sent until a person says so.
What could still get Lot 2 excluded?
Two things, and nothing else: the ISO 9001:2015 certificate and the Q1 plan of approach. The ISO 9001 on file runs out on 10 Nov, before the 12 Nov deadline; the renewed R3 is ready. The plan of approach is 9 pages against 8 since answer 17. The other 21 documents pass all their checks.
Is the insurance valid at award?
Valid on the deadline, which is what §5.6.1 asks. The policy runs to 31 Dec; the award is planned for 18 Dec and the contract starts 1 Mar, so §5.6.2 needs proof the cover continues before award. I set a task for Pieter Hendriks for 1 Dec.
Ask Ruben to upload the R3 certificate everywhere
R3 is already in the certificate store. Four bids use ISO 9001: T-0405 and T-0418 already cite R3; T-0412 waits for your acceptance; T-0415 (UK) cites R3 in its questionnaire. I will tell Ruben which bids use it, and propose nothing else.
Is the Harbors offer still eligible on 1 December?
Only if the SAM.gov registration is renewed: it must be active when the offer is submitted and at award, and ours ends on 21 Nov. Marcus Reid started the renewal at 07:20; I check its status every morning and will tell you if it is not active by 24 Nov.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The validity rules and thresholds every bid is checked against are settings. A change needs a second approver, and the agents replay every open bid against the new rule before it is accepted.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Trade register extract | Not older than 6 months on the deadline | Unless the tender says otherwise |
| Tax compliance statement | Not older than 6 months at award | Held for award; winner only |
| Insurance | Valid on the deadline; renewal proof before award | Task to the Contracts Manager 2 weeks before award |
| ISO, VCA and CO2 certificates | Valid on the deadline and at award | Warn 60 days ahead |
| SAM.gov registration | Active at offer and at award | FAR 52.204-7; renew 60 days ahead |
| Core supplier information (UK) | Confirmed before each submission | Procurement Act 2023 |
| Page limits | No tolerance | Appendices count unless the tender says not |
| Requirement confidence | Below 90% a person confirms | Never guessed |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample tender data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (TED, European public procurement — over 3,000 invitations to tender, contract awards and other notices every working day, and contracts worth about EUR 815 billion published each year). Regulation named as context: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7 (ESPD), Directive 2014/24/EU arts. 56(3), 57 and 59, FAR 52.204-7 (SAM registration at offer and award), and the Procurement Act 2023 (Find a Tender, in force 24 February 2025). The baseline of 3 of 41 bids set aside belongs to the fictional demo company. Kestrel & Vane Group, its buyers, people, notices and certificates named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that takes a public-sector bid from the published notice to the portal's receipt: finding tenders, reading the documents, filling the forms, collecting certificates and checking that everything is present, valid and in format before upload. Tender Management adds eight agents that watch TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and TenderNed, build the packing list per envelope, fill the ESPD from the company file and rehearse the buyer's compliance check, while the Bid Manager approves and the authorised signatory signs and uploads.
An independent submission checker runs the tender's own rules over the whole packing list before upload — in the demo, 184 checks across 11 rules: presence, format, file names, signatures, page limits, validity on the deadline and at award, and the same facts in every document. When a check fails, the right agent proposes the fix with the passage cited, and a person accepts it.
Yes. The certificate keeper checks every certificate, extract and registration against three dates for each bid — the deadline, the planned award and the contract start — using the tender's own rule. When one fails, it finds the renewed document and asks its owner to confirm, and the form filler updates every reference to it.
The form filler fills the ESPD, the Form of Tender and the declarations from the company file, with each answer cited to its source, and exports the ESPD as XML or PDF. It never signs, and never answers an exclusion ground without evidence: the Contracts Manager confirms those answers.
The tender reader compares every answer in the note with the requirements and the packing list, shows each change before and after, re-plans the affected items and tells the owners. In the demo, answer 17 cut the plan of approach from 10 to 8 pages including appendices, and the submission checker sent the 9-page draft back with that answer cited.
The portal watcher reads TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and TenderNed every 30 minutes against your search profile. It also watches each portal registration — such as the SAM.gov entity registration and the UK core supplier information — against every open bid.
Yes. The agents propose and check; they never sign or submit. Owners confirm their documents, the Bid Manager accepts each fix and approves the submission with a reason code, and only the authorised signatory signs and uploads. Every step is a sealed entry on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your company file, bid library, search profile and a sample of past tenders — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on one of your own tenders first.
Questionnaires back in days, not weeks, and every answer matches what customers were told.
1-min demoRFP Response AutomationHigher win rate, no promise you can't keep, and the bid in on time.
1-min demoDue Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ) ResponseEvery DDQ answered from approved sources, and no investor told two different stories.
1-min demoWe'll run Tender Management on one of your own past tenders, its clarification notes and your company file.