Doing business with government is always a very delicate matter. There are usually two scenarios. Either you try it in a country with – let’s put it mildly – less developed institutions. Then, the stink of corruption always sticks to your business, no matter how clean you try to be.

Luckily, most developed countries have been able to eradicate substantial parts of the shady business once involved in public procurement. Unfortunately, this brings about the second scenario – bone crushing bureaucracy. A standard way to keep tendering clean is to enclose it in several rings of rules, conditions, formalities and requirements. As an unintended consequence, small players and foreign players are often de facto excluded from tendering, especially when talking about smaller deals. Getting through the country-specific rules for public tendering is simply too much for the potential reward given.

This is an unfortunate state of affairs. In the private sector, it is normal for companies from all corners of the world to bid even for the smallest and most ordinary products or services – one of the many wonders of globalisation! This is to the benefit of both seller and buyer, and there is no reason why public procurement should be deprived of the same advantages.

We created Tenderio to change this. It may be a small step for the world of tendering, but it can provide a big leap for some businesses, which have never considered expanding their business opportunities beyond the realms of their national borders. The difficulty comes in making the complicated process of bidding simple – and Tenderio does exactly this. Starting with translation and ending up with turnkey bid preparation, it intends to bring small businesses into the big world of global bidding.