Efficient tender discovery is crucial in the fast-paced world of procurement. To stay ahead of the competition, it is important to constantly monitor tender opportunities. Whether you are an experienced professional or new to the industry, modern monitoring tools can help you easily find and navigate through tender opportunities. This blog post will delve into different aspects of using tender monitoring tools.

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Navigating the maze with CPV codes:

CPV codes play a crucial role in tender classification. These codes categorize tenders based on specific products and services and are organized into 45 main categories, which all have sub-codes, totalling 9,454 codes. Every tender will have at least one main CPV code—this is the main classifier of the tender. An example of a CPV code would be 33000000 - Medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. This is the highest category of CPV codes, which includes all medical-related sub-categories such as 33651600 - Vaccines and 33141800 - Dental consumables. 

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When monitoring tenders, it is important to set CPV filters correctly, but we often see that suppliers are not using CPV codes optimally. To illustrate, let's assume we are a company supplying dental consumables. It is in our interest to:

• Maximize the chances of seeing all tenders involving your needs, such as dental consumables in this case
• Minimize the noise from tenders that are not relevant to us, such as vaccines

On one hand, it may seem logical to track all tenders by using the specific CPV code 33141800 - Dental consumables. While this method would effectively reduce the noise from unrelated tenders (such as vaccines), it could also result in missing out on some relevant tenders. It is common for buyers to choose broader CPV codes for their tenders, such as 33000000 - Medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. Although this code is expected to generate a large number of irrelevant tenders, including those for vaccines, sonography, and hospital beds, we still need to use it to ensure that we don't overlook any relevant opportunities.

Given these shortfalls of the CPV system, how can we improve our monitoring precision?

Enhancing precision with keyword searches: Keyword search is used to identify relevant tenders based on keyword hits in tender-related information, such as the tender title, description and other fields.
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To use keywords effectively, we suggest the following:

• Use numerous specific keywords related to your industry, such as 'dental,' 'hygiene,' or 'dentist'
• Avoid using generic keywords like 'medical' unless you are a large supplier of various medical equipment
• Research previous tenders to identify the common labels buyers use for relevant tenders

In tandem with CPV codes, it is possible to set tender filters to reduce noise and maximize the possibility of finding relevant tenders. 
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But can we apply the same strategies when searching for tenders abroad? 
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Going global—tenders beyond borders: International tenders present a great opportunity for suppliers, especially within the EU that supports cross-country tendering.
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When identifying opportunities in other EU countries, it is important to:

• Use broad (high level) and narrow (low level) CPV codes
• Translate opportunities in your native language or English
• Use keyword search on translated opportunities
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Unfortunately, many tenders are published in local languages only, so it is important to use automatic translation.
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At Sorsera, we use Google AI translation for this purpose: to understand foreign tenders, so our keyword search works.
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Customized tender notifications: Reacting quickly to tenders is crucial, which is why setting up daily tender alerts is important. Here are some things to consider when doing so:

• Create several filters (we find that 4-6 is the sweet spot) to catch tenders based on broad and narrow CPVs as well as keyword search combinations
• Check which CPV codes your company and competitors are winning; these should be used for your tender profile
• Customize filters for each team member, as it's likely that different people will find different tenders relevant
• Monitor what works and what doesn't. If you find filters being too broad (creating noise) or too narrow (resulting in a lack of results), adjust them until you are satisfied.
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Having a strong grasp of precise tender discovery is essential.
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🎯 Our team has worked with many companies to help them refine their approach to finding tenders. Try our free 21-day trial or book a demo with us to see how we can help your company win more tenders.