• 26 Nov 2015

    Beware: Hundreds of suppliers caught in tender scams

    In the last two months we have once again become aware of the risk to bidders of being scammed through tender scams. These scams take on a number of forms but some central themes are always present. Tender document fee In the most basic of scams, fra...
    • 17 Nov 2015

    Entrepreneurship in SA gets a boost

    South Africa has earned the right to host the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in 2017. The bid was awarded to Johannesburg as part of the opening ceremony at GEC 2015 in Milan, Italy on Monday. This week Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is b...
    • 10 Nov 2015

    It’s the season for new tenders

    Popular belief suggest that tender peaks occur in February and May just before the year-end of national/provincial government and municipalities respectively. This would be last minute attempts to prevent the loss of unspent budget. The third period ...
    • 28 Oct 2015

    Please attend: Important briefing session in 7 days

    We have been analysing tender data published in our tender notification service over the past two years. In this article we try to make sense of Tender Briefing Sessions and get to understand what potential bidders can expect. We considered two main ...
    • 30 Sep 2015

    Tender fees: Supplier abuse?

    Are suppliers being abused by high tender document fees? Two years of data from our tender notification service reveals some interesting facts on the practice of charging suppliers for access to tender documents. These fees can range from zero to ten...
    • 16 Sep 2015

    Government tenders - worth giving fresh consideration

    To succeed at government tenders, small business have to learn to jump the hoops but it may be well worth the effort. Last week we shared a news article where a senior government official advised small businesses not to shy away from the public sector as a target. Many small businesses have given up hope of winning business with government. The perceived challenges often seem insurmountable and not worth the financial...
    • 8 Sep 2015

    600 to 1: Finally a Central Supplier Database for government

    Central Supplier Database consolidates more than 600 databases I found the lack of media coverage on the launch of the new Central Supplier Database (CSD) for the South African government last week astonishing. It is almost as if th...
    • 14 Aug 2015

    Tenders are generally open for 21 days – but do not assume

    Tenders are generally open for 21 days - but do not assume Suppliers or service providers generally have 21 days to respond to a tender. This is the result of recent analysis from our database of tenders over the past 30 months.&nbs...
    • 3 Aug 2015

    SA government e-tenders more accessible to businesses

    SA government tenders more accessible to businesses The new tender advertising portal from the South African National Treasury is starting to assist potential suppliers, service provide...