From prequalification to contract: 18 months supporting a European manufacturer

The starting point was a manufacturer with a product proven in Europe, no registration in Costa Rica and no track record with the institutional buyer. The first stage was not commercial but administrative: registration of the manufacturer in the public procurement system, legalisation and apostille of corporate documents, and the appointment, within its own structure, of the person with authority to bid and to contract. Our role was to coordinate and sustain that process, not to replace the manufacturer in it.

The second stage was technical. The tender required demonstrable experience in installations of similar characteristics, and product certifications that the manufacturer did hold, but issued under equivalent rather than identical standards. Documenting that equivalence for the buyer took longer than coordinating the preparation of the entire commercial offer.

The third was about timing. Months passed between publication of the tender, clarifications, award and signature, and throughout that window the manufacturer had to hold both price and factory availability. Anticipating that window and negotiating it internally with headquarters was a central part of the work.

The lesson we repeat with every new client: the contract is not won on the day the bid is submitted. It is won in the months before, when the file that allows you to bid without observations is being built.