---
id: KB-CN-009
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/public-tenders-preparing-the-documentation
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: obracivil
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-015, KB-CN-006]
citadoPor: [KB-CS-016]
---

# Public tenders: preparing the documentation

_What repeats in every bid and what has to be redone each time._

**Responde a:** documentation for public tendering · preparing a public bid · technical capability documentation · what repeats in every tender

Bidding for public contracts consumes days of work, and a large part of that work is redoing what was already done for the last one. The difference between a team bidding ten times a year and one bidding thirty is rarely size: it is how much they have prepared in advance.

## What repeats almost every time

| Block | How often it changes | What to have |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Company details and capacity | Rarely | Up to date and ready |
| Financial standing | Annually | With the last update date visible |
| Similar works completed | When you finish one | With its completion certificate, collected at the end |
| Certifications and insurance | Annually | With warnings before they expire |
| Assigned technical team | Per bid | With qualifications and experience already digitised |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The third row is the most valuable and the worst preserved. The completion certificate is requested when the works finish, while the client relationship is live; requesting it three years later for a specific tender is slow and sometimes impossible.

## How to shorten preparation

1. **A permanent "company documentation" file** — What repeats, always current, not a folder per tender full of copies.
2. **Due dates with warnings** — An expired insurance discovered the evening before submission is the classic cause of exclusion.
3. **One file per tender that links rather than copies** — What is specific to that bid; the common part is referenced.
4. **And collect the certificate as each job ends** — The highest-yield investment and the most forgotten.

> [!WARNING]
> Beware exclusion on a formality. Many bids fall not on price or technical merit, but because a document had expired, was wrongly signed, or a declaration was missing. It is the most avoidable part and gets the least attention.

## After submitting

**En corto**

- Keep what was submitted exactly as submitted, with its receipt and date.
- And keep losing bids too: next time starts from there.
- And note the reason if you were excluded, however painful.

That last point reduces future exclusions: the same three mistakes nearly always repeat, and they only become visible once someone has been noting them.

> [!NOTE]
> It applies equally to large private tenders, supplier approvals and supply competitions: the specification changes, not the fact that 70% of what is asked for is always the same.

**Can a previous bid be reused?**

The common part yes; the technical content and price, no.

**What about joint ventures?**

Each company contributes to the shared file; agree beforehand who keeps the whole.

**How long must submissions be kept?**

Years: appeals and reviews can come much later.

## Ejemplos

**A contractor spends four days per tender redoing the same documentation.**

- Builds the permanent company file with due dates
- Collects the completion certificate as each job ends

→ Prepares bids in a day and stops losing tenders to expired documents.

**The documentation is gathered in the final week.**

- Keeps a permanent file current

→ Each tender costs a fraction of the previous one.

**A certificate expires right on the deadline.**

- Records expiries with a warning

→ Renewal happens beforehand.

**A document is missing on submission day.**

- Checks what is missing in advance

→ The gap closes with time to spare.

**Each tender asks for the same in another format.**

- Keeps the original and adapts on submission

→ The underlying work happens once.

**What was submitted must be evidenced after the award.**

- Keeps what was submitted, with its date

→ You answer with what was handed in.