In IT, as in many other areas, local vendors may be competitively disadvantaged against
international companies that might have more experience in composing tender documents.
Local vendors may be competitive, but companies who have dealt successfully with
UNDP before often know how to refine their tender documents and handle the process
of bidding better. Language may also be a entry barrier for local companies if the tender
documents are in for example English, or not in the local language, as for example is the
case of Cambodia where the language was Khmer, Afghanistan where the language was
Dari or Pashto and Moldova where the language was Russian or Romanian. Most of these
local markets are very small and to afford a translator is for them already a considerable
investment for one process.
To avoid this issue, in many cases the tender are specified “local only.” Yet in many cases
the local market is very small and many vendors fail the minimum requirements of the
tender. In such situations, in order not to compromise competitive requirements while
still aiming at including as possible local vendors, a potential strategy is to encourage
international companies to partner up with local companies.
Another solution would be to host a pre-bid conference/training explaining the different
required documents to the prospective vendors. The conference can for example clarify
on issues related to:
- How to answer the technical section?
- What does a “minimum requirement” mean?
- How to use the standard procurement matrix sheet?
- Explain some terminologies which might not be understood because of
language barriers
- What does a ‘professional profile look like?
