The use of electronic tendering to bid for business is on the increase, but not all recruiters like it.

Kate Harris, commercial director at healthcare recruiter Pulse, told Recruiter that pure online tendering now accounted for around half of what the firm did. “Five years ago very little tendering was pure online, but it’s been increasing over the past five years,” said Harris.

Harris said that electronic tendering was a good thing for Pulse. It was fair because the process was the same for everyone, and was transparent because you could see what was going on, she said. It was also easy to communicate with the buyer. Submitting documents electronically was more reliable than using couriers, she added.

Fiona Brunton, from the Brunton Consultancy, which trains recruiters in how to write tender documents, told Recruiter that the days when ‘buyers’ asked for “eight copies of documentation in ring binders” from agencies were largely over.

She said that environmental concerns to reduce the amount of paper used, cost and greater efficiency, as well as the desire that all suppliers are treated equally, were the key drivers of the trend.

Electronic tendering comes in a range of forms, from electronic portals such as Bravo Solutions, where the whole process is online, to basic email. Q&A forums, in which recruiters participate and can see responses from procurers to other suppliers’ questions, are also becoming more common. Online tendering is particularly prevalent in the public sector.

However, James Kelly, managing director of HR, IT and recruitment outsourcing company Lorien Resourcing, was critical of many aspects of electronic tendering.

“The bit they miss is the human element, which is not built up over a month of tendering, it’s built up over years of supply,” he said. “My view is, in the market we are in, cost is coming ahead of quality. I think that’s the key issue.”

And he was disparaging of e-auctions in which recruiters bid against each other. “It’s literally like watching a trading screen and watching your stock plummet through the floor,” said Kelly.

Kelly said that as a result of these concerns Lorien had set up a committee to consider whether it was worth their while going through the electronic tendering process. “It takes a lot of time and effort to put these things together,” he added.

Harris criticised the tendency for some buyers to shorten the process simply because it was electronic. “Good practice would be four weeks, because you still have a lot of documentation to deal with,” she said.

Gary Dowding, head of strategic procurement at the Chamberlain’s Department in the City of London, told Recruiter that the authority was currently rolling out an electronic tendering system called Due North. This was replacing a manual system, said Dowding, and will allow recruiters to register expressions of interest, submit tender documents, and communicate with the department, all online.

“The new system should enable us to improve the professionalism of what we are doing, and make it easier for agencies to submit bids,”
said Dowding.