In many cases, prior to the government contract bidding process, many government agencies will require a pre-bid conference. Typically; within these conferences, the government agencies conducting these preliminary conferences will lift the cone of silence allowing companies bidding on the specified contract to ask questions relevant to the contract and receive answers, placed in an addendum. Within the addendums, the answers to all questions asked at the pre-bid conference and by email are answered and submitted publicly.
In most cases, it is crucial to attend the pre-bid conferences for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons include but are not limited to:
- Sometimes there is a Mandatory Attendance for Pre-bid Conferences. By not attending the Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference and writing company’s information into the sign-in sheet, company will lose the opportunity to participate.
- Specified details and additional beneficial information that may or may not be found both within the bid which can be used to create a greater, more effective response.
- Documented Attendance where the procurement agents responsible for the captioned bid will document whom is present and whom is not which is also documented as public information that is also potentially provided to the attending bidders
- Many pre-bid conferences will include a walk through for the project or facility, where the company can see the exact size, features, amount of work and other important information related to the bid so they can provide the most accurate response.
- Competitive advantages which can be evident from meeting the competition and procurement agents in person and can also help the companies whom attend the conference gain a better perspective as to their competition and the procurement agents whom are most likely to evaluate them as a company bidding for a potential government contract
It is understood that in many instances companies do not have the time to attend these pre-bid conferences or send out company personnel to represent them therefore; Expert Center, LLC as part of our services has professional representatives whom are willing and capable of attending all applicable pre-bid conferences when company personnel cannot attend for any reason.
By: Brian Bodzin (Expert Center, LLC)