Workflow: Public and Private Tenders — From Opportunity to Contract

Modules involved: Leads · Opportunities · Proposals · Sales Orders · Contracts · Documents · Tasks · Projects · Invoices · Goals · Tags
Who uses it: Bid Manager, Legal, Estimating Engineer, Commercial Director, Finance
Typical duration: 2–8 weeks (from identification to submission); months (from award to contract completion)

Overview

The tender workflow covers participation in public procurement procedures (SEAP/eLicitație) or private tenders. Unlike direct sales, tendering imposes strict legal deadlines, voluminous qualification documentation and a clear separation between the bidding phase and the execution phase. CRMConnect manages the entire cycle: identifying the procedure as a lead, qualifying the opportunity, preparing the technical and financial file in Document Management, calculating the bid via Sales Order/Estimate, tracking submission through deadline tasks, award with the signed contract, and execution via a project with instalment or work-progress invoicing.

Difference from direct sales: The opportunity stays in "Bid Submitted" state for days or weeks until results are announced. Intermediate deadlines (clarifications, appeals) must be tracked separately via tasks.

Flow Diagram

[TENDER IDENTIFICATION]
  │  source: SEAP, private portal, direct relationship, newsletter
  │  → Lead created with tag "Public Tender" or "Private Tender"
  │  → Custom field: "Submission deadline" + "Procedure number"
  │
  ↓
[QUALIFICATION]
  │  check: technical, financial requirements, execution capacity
  │  analysis: estimated margin, risk, available resources
  │  ├── Qualified → Opportunity (estimated value, probability 40%)
  │  └── Not qualified → Lead marked Lost
  │        reason: "Technical requirements not met" / "Insufficient margin"
  │        / "No available resources"
  │
  ↓
[TECHNICAL FILE PREPARATION]
  │  Tasks per responsible (with deadline before submission date):
  │  ├── Legal: attestation certificates, declarations, tax clearance,
  │  │          ONRC extract, ISO certificate
  │  ├── Technical: similar experience (previous contracts),
  │  │             CVs of key experts, execution methodology,
  │  │             quality plan, Gantt chart
  │  └── Finance: 3-year balance sheets, turnover, bid bond,
  │               professional insurance
  │  Documents: attached in Document Management → linked to Opportunity
  │
  ↓
[FINANCIAL BID]
  │  Sales Order/Estimate: bid lines with quantities, unit prices, total
  │  Proposal: bid formatted per tender specification requirements
  │  Task "Bid submission": deadline = exact deadline from announcement
  │  Task "Clarifications": deadline = clarification response deadline
  │
  ↓
[BID SUBMISSION]
  │  bid submitted (SEAP electronic / physical / secure email)
  │  Task "Submission" → marked Completed
  │  Opportunity → status "Bid Submitted"
  │  record: submission date/time, registration number (custom field)
  │
  ↓
[EVALUATION PERIOD]
  │  Additional tasks if they arise:
  │  ├── Response to clarification requests (evaluator → bidder)
  │  ├── Completing missing documents
  │  └── Tracking results announcement deadline
  │
  ↓
[AWARD / RESULT ANNOUNCEMENT]
  │
  ├── WON → Opportunity → status Won
  │     │  probability: 100%
  │     │  value updated (if there was price negotiation)
  │     │  Tag added: "Won"
  │     │
  │     ├── Final negotiation (if procedure allows)
  │     │
  │     └── CONTRACT SIGNED
  │           │  Contract created in CRM (from Opportunity or manually)
  │           │  digital or physical signature + scanned in Document Mgmt
  │           │  → Project created for execution
  │
  └── LOST → Opportunity → status Lost
        │  lost_reason filled in:
        │  "Higher price", "Insufficient technical score",
        │  "Disqualified on documentation", "Withdrew before submission"
        │  Tag added: "Lost"
        │
        └── Appeal? → Task "File appeal with CNSC"
              (if decision is made to appeal the result)
  │
  ↓ (Won branch)
[CONTRACT EXECUTION]
  │  Project → Milestones per contract phases
  │  Tasks → internal team members + subcontractors
  │  Timesheets → daily hours logged
  │  Expenses → project costs (travel, materials)
  │
  ↓
[INSTALMENT INVOICING / WORK PROGRESS BILLING]
  │  Invoice per work statement accepted by beneficiary
  │  eInvoice → mandatorily transmitted via SPV (B2G — public beneficiary)
  │  payment within contractual term (30–60 days, typical in public contracts)
  │
[CONTRACT COMPLETED ✓ · PERFORMANCE BOND RELEASED ✓]

Step by Step

1. Tender identification — Creating the Lead

Where: /admin/leads → Add Lead

Typical identification sources:

Key fields on the Lead:

Practical tip: Configure a "Date" type custom field on Lead named "Submission deadline". Set up an automatic reminder/task 5 days before this date so you don't miss the deadline.

2. Qualification — Go/No-Go Decision

Where: From lead → Convert to Opportunity or Mark Lost

Qualification criteria analysed:

If Go:

• Lead → converted to Opportunity
• Opportunity fields: estimated value, initial probability (40%), expected close date

If No-Go:

• Lead → marked Lost
• lost_reason: "Technical requirements not met" / "Margin below threshold" / "Resources unavailable"
• Documented for subsequent analysis (how many tenders we missed and why)

3. Technical file preparation — Task Management

Where: Tasks tab in Opportunity + /admin/document_management

Tendering task structure:

Document Management — file organisation:

Recommended folder in Document Management (associated with the opportunity):

📁 [Procedure] — [Beneficiary] — [Year]
  ├── 📁 Qualification documents
  │     ├── Certificates and declarations
  │     ├── Financial documents
  │     └── References and similar experience
  ├── 📁 Technical bid
  │     ├── Methodology
  │     ├── Expert CVs
  │     └── Gantt chart
  ├── 📁 Financial bid
  │     ├── Financial bid form
  │     └── Detailed bill of quantities
  └── 📁 Correspondence
        ├── Received clarifications
        └── Transmitted responses

4. Financial bid calculation — Sales Order/Estimate

Where: /admin/estimates → Add Estimate — associated with the opportunity

Structure of a bid estimate:

Pricing strategies:

Practical tip: Create a Sales Order template per tender type (e.g. "IT Services", "Construction works", "Equipment supply"). For each new procedure, clone the template and adjust quantities and prices.

5. The Proposal — the formal bid document

Where: /admin/proposals → Add Proposal or from Sales Order → Convert to Proposal

Typical Proposal content for a tender:

Proposal statuses:

6. Bid submission

Where: "Bid submission" Task in the opportunity

On submission:

1. Assembled file → verified complete
2. Submission on required channel (SEAP electronic with digital signature, physical sealed envelope, secure email)
3. Submission confirmation recorded (registration number, timestamp)
4. "Submission" Task → marked Completed
5. Opportunity → status updated: "Bid Submitted" (custom field or tag)
6. Custom field: "Submission date", "SEAP registration number"

Practical tip: Don't leave submission to the last hour. Technical problems with SEAP or digital signatures are frequent. Target submission at least 24 hours before the deadline.

7. Evaluation period — Follow-up

Where: Tasks on the Opportunity

Possible tasks during this period:

Recommended custom statuses on Opportunity:

8. Award — Won or Lost

Won case:

1. Opportunity → Won (click the Won button in the opportunity)
2. Value updated with the final awarded amount
3. Tag added: "Won" + "SEAP" or "Private"
4. Proposal → status Accepted

Lost case:

1. Opportunity → Lost
2. lost_reason filled with the official reason:
   • "Non-competitive price — cheaper bid by X%"
   • "Insufficient technical score"
   • "Disqualified — missing document"
   • "Withdrew from procedure"
3. Tag added: "Lost"
4. Post-mortem analysis documented in opportunity notes

Appealed case:

1. Opportunity → remains open or gets "Appealed" tag
2. Task created: "File appeal with CNSC" (National Council for Dispute Resolution)
3. Task: "Monitor appeal resolution deadline"
4. If appeal is upheld → procedure restart or direct award

9. Contract — Creation and signing

Where: /admin/contracts → Add Contract or from Opportunity → Create Contract

Key contract fields:

Typical guarantees in public contracts:

10. Execution — Project and Tasks

Where: /admin/projects → Add Project (linked to Contract + Client)

Project setup:

11. Instalment invoicing / work progress billing

Where: /admin/invoices → Add Invoice (or from Project → Create Invoice)

Invoicing models in public contracts:

eInvoice — mandatory B2G:

• All invoices issued to public entities (State, municipalities, ministries, institutions) must be transmitted via e-Invoice (ANAF's RO e-Invoice system)
• CRMConnect generates the UBL XML format and transmits automatically via SPV if ANAF integration is configured
• Transmission deadline: on the day of invoice issue

What gets created automatically

Where the flow can stall

Relevant reports

• Tender pipeline — Opportunities filtered by "Tender" tag + status: how many are in preparation, submitted, won, lost
• Tender success rate — Won vs. Lost Opportunities per period, per type (public/private), per value
• Lost reason analysis — Reasons for losses (price, technical, documentation) for improving future bids
• Tender goals — Targets for won contracts by number and value vs. actuals
• Project Overview — Logged hours vs. sales order, expenses vs. budget, profitability
• eInvoice status — Invoices transmitted to ANAF and their acceptance/rejection status

Modules involved — detailed documentation

• Leads
• Opportunities
• Proposals
• Sales Orders
• Contracts
• Document Management
• Tasks
• Projects
• Invoices
• Goals
• Tags

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