What a hospital tender needs before you quote

A uniform tender usually arrives with a quantity, a colour and a deadline. It rarely arrives with the information that decides the price.

Here are the five things we ask before quoting, in the order they change the number.

The first is the department split. Two hundred pieces across six departments is a different job from two hundred of one style, because each department usually wants a different colour or trim, and each one needs its own size curve.

The second is the size distribution. A tender that says two hundred sets without a size breakdown is not quotation ready. The real cost sits in the tails. If you need ten sets in 4XL, that changes the fabric order and the cutting plan.

The third is the embroidery. A chest logo, a name, a department name and a hospital crest are four different jobs. Placement, size and thread count all affect time. A logo on a placket is not the same job as a logo on a chest.

The fourth is the sample requirement. If the tender requires an approved physical sample before the bulk run, that adds a cycle. It is usually worth it, but it has to be in the timeline.

The fifth is the delivery point. One address in Kathmandu is not the same as nine addresses across five provinces, each with its own receiving process.

None of this is designed to make a tender harder. It is the difference between a price you can hold and a price you have to renegotiate in week three.

Basant Thapa, who writes procurement documents for a hospital group in the east, now puts those five lines in every tender. The bids come back closer to the final invoice, and the renegotiation in week three stopped happening.

If you are writing a tender now, put those five lines in the document. You will get cleaner bids and fewer surprises, from us or from anyone else.