Common questions and answers about eTendersNI

Queries about registration

I am trying to type in the address for our organisation on the registration screen and it isn't working - what should I do?

To prevent duplicate registrations, all eTendersNI suppliers will require a Dun & Bradstreet number (D-U-N-S) to complete their eTendersNI registration.

Once eTendersNI recognises your D-U-N-S number, some of the registration fields, such as organisation address will be automatically completed for you.

Return to the top of the screen and type in your organisation name, then use the button below to search for your D-U-N-S number and retrieve your company data.

There is no charge for obtaining a D-U-N-S number, which is a unique nine digit code to identify a business. Visit the Dun & Bradstreet website to find your D-U-N-S number; or alternatively if your organisation does not currently have a number, complete a form to obtain one.

On the 'Supplier Administrator’ screen during registration, there is a drop-down menu for CA’s of interest - what does this mean?

CA refers to ‘contracting authority’ - this is the organisation that is publishing the tenders. There is an opportunity during registration to associate yourself with particular contracting authorities.

This is particularly relevant to suppliers who focus on a particular target market – for example health supplies, or educational materials.

If you select a contracting authority at this stage then you will receive an email alert when they publish a tender. You can edit your choices later, once your registration is complete.

Please note that if the contracting authority approaches Construction & Procurement Delivery (CPD) to publish the opportunity on their behalf, then you will not receive the alert unless you have also selected CPD from the list.

In general most suppliers prefer to skip this step in registration altogether – as once your registration is complete you can save certain procurement categories to your profile, to receive email alerts just for tenders relevant to your organisation.

Queries about email alerts for relevant tenders

How do I set up my profile so that eTendersNI sends email alerts for relevant tender opportunities?

In order to receive email alerts about tender opportunities, you should select the procurement categories you are interested in (CPV codes) and save these to your profile.

Use the ‘EO administration’ section to the left of the screen and select ‘EO management’, then ‘Edit CPV codes’.

Search for the relevant categories and select and save your details. eTendersNI will now send your administrator email alerts for tender opportunities published in these categories.

I am receiving emails every day from eTendersNI about tenders published by CPD, but not all of them are linked to categories we selected - what has gone wrong?

During registration there was an opportunity to register interest in particular contracting authorities, in order to receive email alerts whenever they publish a tender.

If you selected one of the contracting authorities, then you will be receiving email alerts whenever they publish any tender. Your administrator can change these settings at any time using the ‘Edit Profile’ link to the left of the home page, to de-select the contracting authority.

Queries about using the Tender Preparation Tool

I have downloaded the offline version of the tool but I can't open it - why?

The tool must be stored in local workstation directory or in a network drive that will function as a local directory. After the zip file is saved, the user must un-compress the zip file and save it to the desired place on the PC.

There are two Tender Preparation Tool files – one is for Windows Operating systems and the other for Mac Operating Systems.

In addition a certain version of Java Runtime Environment is required to run the tool. Please request the assistance of your IT department in order to verify that the latest version of Java Runtime Environment is installed on your machine.

It is important that there are no security restrictions in place within your organisation which may prevent you from using JRE (high security level in web browser that prevent/ block the use of JRE/ Java, etc).