Multilateral tenders, often referred to as public projects financed by development funds, represent a significant global market. Each year, these tenders generate thousands of business opportunities across various sectors worldwide. This blog post will delve into what multilateral tenders are, their attractiveness, and their primary objectives, providing valuable insights for businesses looking to expand their international reach.
1. The Attractiveness of This Market
Public projects financed by development funds represent an extremely attractive market for companies worldwide. The main reasons for the attractiveness of this market include:
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Wide Range of Business Opportunities: Multilateral tenders offer thousands of business opportunities in almost all sectors, from engineering services and technical support (consulting, reports, training, technical cooperation, feasibility studies) to the supply of goods and heavy equipment, and especially the execution of civil engineering works (e.g., construction of bridges, hospitals, airports).
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Guarantee of Secure Payment: Since these projects are financed by international development funds and organizations, companies can count on high payment security, which reduces financial risk.
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Transparent and Open Procedures: Procurement processes are transparent and open, ensuring fair competition and equal conditions for all participants.
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Business Reputation: Participation and success in multilateral tenders contribute to building a company's business reputation and credibility at an international level.
Estimating the annual investments of development funds is challenging due to the large number of active funds (over 300). However, major funds such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank together generate over 200 billion euros annually, with a tendency for growth.
2. Main Goal
The primary objective of development aid, realized through multilateral tenders, is to improve the quality of life, taking into account the social and economic status of countries most in need of such assistance. Therefore, most of these projects are delivered in regions such as Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, or Latin America. The amount of allocated funds has significantly increased over the past years, showing a growth of up to 5% annually since 2009, reaching 300 published tenders per day.
For medium-sized companies, initiating the internationalization process through development tenders can be very interesting. These projects offer high payment security and do not require the company to have previously participated in similar projects in the target country, which significantly reduces the initial investment and the risk of an international strategy.
In addition to development tenders, there are also international tenders financed by government funds but open to international bidders. The goal of these tenders is to attract more bids or foreign bidders in cases where there may not be sufficiently qualified companies or those with the necessary capacities in the domestic country.
Platforms like BidRadar monitor daily development, international, and local public procurement announcements, presenting them to users in an understandable and simple way. The ability to create a customized search profile according to specific user requirements (target country, business sector etc.) ensures that users receive only relevant information, thereby saving time and allowing them to focus on preparing their bids.
