Guide
Indian government tendering, in plain terms
Public procurement has its own vocabulary, and most of it goes unexplained on the portals themselves. This page answers the questions that decide whether a tender is worth your week, and defines the terms you will meet in the notice.
Questions
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Glossary
The terms a tender notice uses without explaining them.
- Tender
- A published procurement opportunity: a government buyer announcing that it intends to buy goods, services or works and inviting bids.
- NIT (Notice Inviting Tender)
- The public announcement of a tender — the notice that opens the process and states where to get the documents.
- RFP, RFQ and EOI
- Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation and Expression of Interest: three forms the invitation takes, from a full proposal down to a price quote, or a first test of who is interested at all.
- BOQ (Bill of Quantities)
- The itemised schedule of what is being bought, which a bidder prices line by line.
- EMD (Earnest Money Deposit)
- Refundable bid security lodged with the bid, returned to unsuccessful bidders and forfeited if a winning bidder walks away.
- PBG (Performance Bank Guarantee)
- Security given after award, which the buyer can call on if the contract is not performed.
- Corrigendum
- An official amendment to a live tender. It can move the deadline or change eligibility, scope or money, and it binds exactly as the original notice does.
- Pre-bid meeting
- A question-and-answer session held before submission; the authority's written replies bind the tender in the same way a corrigendum does.
- Technical bid and financial bid
- The two-envelope split: the technical bid proves you qualify and is opened first, and only qualifying bidders have their financial bid opened.
- L1, L2, L3
- The lowest, second-lowest and third-lowest evaluated bidders after the financial bids are opened.
- Reverse auction
- A live descending-price event held after technical qualification, where qualified bidders undercut one another.
- LOA and LOI
- Letter of Award and Letter of Intent — the documents that tell a bidder it has won, before the contract is signed.
- DSC (Digital Signature Certificate)
- The certificate a bidder signs an electronic submission with. It belongs to a named person, who must use it themselves.
- GeM (Government e-Marketplace)
- The central marketplace at gem.gov.in, used mainly for goods and standardised services.
- CPPP (Central Public Procurement Portal)
- The central portal at eprocure.gov.in, where central ministries and many public-sector buyers publish tenders.
- GePNIC
- The e-procurement platform built by the National Informatics Centre, which most state governments run under their own branding — which is why so many state portals look alike.
- MSE and MSME preference
- Purchase preference for micro and small enterprises under the public procurement policy, which can reserve a share of a tender or relax some conditions.
- Turnover requirement
- A minimum average annual turnover a bidder must show, usually across the last three financial years, evidenced by audited accounts.
- Solvency certificate
- A bank's statement of a bidder's financial capacity, commonly demanded as eligibility evidence.
Not sure whether you would qualify?
Turnover thresholds, three-year experience clauses, MSE preference, which certificate a buyer will actually accept — send the question and we will answer it plainly, whether or not it leads anywhere commercial.