Before a technical evaluation committee reads a single page of your solution, someone has checked whether you are allowed to bid at all. That check is mechanical, it is done against documents and registries, and the vendor's website is the first place the evaluator looks to see whether the documents will hold up. A site that states the facts plainly saves an hour. A site that hides them, or contradicts the bid, costs the bid.
This article lists what gets checked in a typical Indian government or municipal software tender, where the evaluator verifies it, and what a vendor's website should therefore say.
The eligibility facts
Tender documents differ, but the pre-qualification section of most software tenders asks for the same things.
Legal entity. The registered company name, the corporate identification number and the registered office as filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The evaluator checks the CIN against the MCA master data and expects the website to show the same name and address, character for character.
Tax registrations. GST registration and the permanent account number. The bid carries the certificates; the website is expected to show the GST number in its footer or legal pages, and evaluators do notice when it is missing.
Certifications. ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO/IEC 27001 for information security, sometimes ISO/IEC 20000-1 for service management, and a CMMI appraisal level for development capability. Each is verified by certificate number, issuing body, scope statement and validity dates. An ISO certificate is checked against the certification body's register; a CMMI appraisal against the published appraisal results. A website that shows the mark but not the number reads as unverified.
Turnover and financial standing. Audited statements for the last three years, a net-worth certificate, sometimes a bank solvency letter. These live in the bid, not on the website, but the evaluator will look for consistency: a website that claims a headcount or a client list the financials cannot support is a flag.
Past experience. Work orders and completion certificates for similar projects, often with a minimum value and a "similar work" definition. Case studies on the website should match the work orders in the bid: same client, same scope, same dates. A case study without a client name is fine when the work order is in the bid; a case study that names a client the bid does not is a question.
Registrations and declarations. A Government e-Marketplace seller registration where the buyer procures through it, an MSME or Udyam registration where the tender gives a preference, and a declaration that the bidder is not blacklisted by any government body. The website should state the registrations it holds and nothing it does not.
Earnest money and bid security. Paid with the bid, not a website matter, but a vendor that publishes its registered bank details for such payments saves the finance team a call.
Where the evaluator verifies each fact
The evaluator does not take the website's word. The website is the index; the registries are the source.
- Company name, CIN and registered office: the MCA portal's master data.
- GST: the GST portal's search by GSTIN.
- ISO certificates: the certification body's online register, or the accreditation body's, by certificate number.
- CMMI: the published appraisal results, by organisation name.
- DPIIT Startup India recognition: the Startup India portal.
- Past work: the work orders and completion certificates in the bid, sometimes followed by a call to the client.
If the website's numbers lead straight to those registries, the check takes minutes. If the evaluator has to email for a certificate number, the check takes days and the vendor looks less prepared than its competitors.
What the website should therefore say
A page written for evaluators, and the site as a whole, should state:
- The legal name, CIN, registered office and the office actually used, labelled as such.
- GST and PAN, in the footer or on a legal page.
- Every certification with issuing body, certificate number, scope, validity dates and a link to verify, plus a downloadable copy.
- The CMMI appraisal level with the appraisal date and the organisation scope.
- Registrations held: GeM, MSME or Udyam, DPIIT, and any state or sector empanelments, each with its number.
- A named contact for tender and expression-of-interest enquiries, with an email address that is monitored.
- Case studies that match the work orders the company would submit, with client consent for any name used.
- The security and data-protection practices in plain language, because the technical evaluation will ask about them next.
And it should say nothing it cannot prove. An evaluator who finds one inflated claim reads every other claim as inflated.
The mistakes that cost bids
The same problems come up on vendor websites often enough to list.
- A certification mark with no number. The badge is on every page and the certificate is nowhere. The evaluator assumes it is expired or was never held, and asks; a day is lost either way.
- Two different company names. A brand name on the website, a legal name in the bid, and no line connecting them. Public-sector procurement runs on the legal name.
- A client list without consent. Logos of companies that never agreed to appear, or a case study naming a client the work order does not. One phone call from the evaluator to that client ends the bid.
- Round numbers with no source. "500 projects delivered" with nothing behind it. Evaluators do not score claims like this; they score the work orders in the bid, and the claim only raises the question of what else is rounded.
- Contact details that go nowhere. A tender enquiry sent to a form that nobody reads. The evaluator moves to the next vendor.
None of these is hard to fix. All of them are checked.
How this site handles it
The government page on this site is written to that list. It shows the registered company details and the certifications, and gives a route for tender enquiries; the security page covers the commitments the technical evaluation asks about.
For vendors reading this
If you sell software to public bodies, put the eligibility facts on your website this week, with the numbers. It costs nothing, it is checked on every bid, and it is the cheapest credibility you will ever buy.
