From the Latin lĭcitatĭo, -ōnis ("auction"), derived in turn from the verb licēre ("allow").[3]​.

Each country has its own bidding rules, and sometimes, depending on the object, or the amount, they may be different within the same country. Not to mention that a private company can also carry out a perfectly fair and transparent tender by designing its own rules. But in general the following phases can be distinguished[4]​:

It should be noted that the specifications bind both the convener and the bidders: the companies that apply must comply with the established conditions, but the convener cannot change them during the bidding (from the call to the award) and is obliged to award the contract to the winning company. You cannot cancel the tender because a company that you do not like wins, or because the company that the convener would have preferred does not win.

Yes, a tender can be canceled because no one has presented, or none of those presented meet the established conditions. Now, if no one shows up, this usually means that the starting price (the one set by the convener, from which bidders present greater or lesser discounts) was too low, or the conditions were too demanding.

Likewise, if an offeror makes a mistake (for example, submitting documents after the deadline) this may mean being left out of the process, which continues. But if the convener makes a mistake (for example, does not respect the regulations regarding the minimum number of days between the dissemination of the call and the end of the period for submitting offers), this may mean that the entire tender is canceled and must be started again from scratch. It may also be a cause of nullity[4]​ that the person who prepared the specifications did not have the authority to do so.

Each phase of the tender can be[6]​ subject to fraud:.

The OECD has published in Spanish the Guidelines to combat collusion between bidders in public tenders.[9]​ For its part, the Public Procurement Observatory proposes a decalogue[10]​ to prevent corruption in tenders. Among the large number of recommendations the following can be mentioned:

The role of whistleblowers or whistleblowers is considered key[11]​ in the fight against corruption. In Europe, we can highlight the Digiwhist page (from the English whistleblower), or the Corruption Research Center of Budapest, which disseminate, develop technology and publish methods to reveal corruption risks in public contracts in 35 countries.

In 2019, the G20 published its Compendium of good practices to promote integrity and transparency in infrastructure development.[12]​ In it, it advocates a comprehensive approach to avoid corruption in tenders: from the initial definition of needs to the punishment of corrupt parties, including the evaluation of offers and the prevention of conflicts of interest. It gives numerous examples of organizations and structures from different countries that have proven effective against fraud.

From the Latin lĭcitatĭo, -ōnis ("auction"), derived in turn from the verb licēre ("allow").[3]​.

Each country has its own bidding rules, and sometimes, depending on the object, or the amount, they may be different within the same country. Not to mention that a private company can also carry out a perfectly fair and transparent tender by designing its own rules. But in general the following phases can be distinguished[4]​:

It should be noted that the specifications bind both the convener and the bidders: the companies that apply must comply with the established conditions, but the convener cannot change them during the bidding (from the call to the award) and is obliged to award the contract to the winning company. You cannot cancel the tender because a company that you do not like wins, or because the company that the convener would have preferred does not win.

Yes, a tender can be canceled because no one has presented, or none of those presented meet the established conditions. Now, if no one shows up, this usually means that the starting price (the one set by the convener, from which bidders present greater or lesser discounts) was too low, or the conditions were too demanding.

Likewise, if an offeror makes a mistake (for example, submitting documents after the deadline) this may mean being left out of the process, which continues. But if the convener makes a mistake (for example, does not respect the regulations regarding the minimum number of days between the dissemination of the call and the end of the period for submitting offers), this may mean that the entire tender is canceled and must be started again from scratch. It may also be a cause of nullity[4]​ that the person who prepared the specifications did not have the authority to do so.

Each phase of the tender can be[6]​ subject to fraud:.

The OECD has published in Spanish the Guidelines to combat collusion between bidders in public tenders.[9]​ For its part, the Public Procurement Observatory proposes a decalogue[10]​ to prevent corruption in tenders. Among the large number of recommendations the following can be mentioned:

The role of whistleblowers or whistleblowers is considered key[11]​ in the fight against corruption. In Europe, we can highlight the Digiwhist page (from the English whistleblower), or the Corruption Research Center of Budapest, which disseminate, develop technology and publish methods to reveal corruption risks in public contracts in 35 countries.

In 2019, the G20 published its Compendium of good practices to promote integrity and transparency in infrastructure development.[12]​ In it, it advocates a comprehensive approach to avoid corruption in tenders: from the initial definition of needs to the punishment of corrupt parties, including the evaluation of offers and the prevention of conflicts of interest. It gives numerous examples of organizations and structures from different countries that have proven effective against fraud.