How to Prepare a Landscaping Tender or RFP: A Checklist for Procurement Teams
A landscape tender often fails before the first bid arrives, because the scope is described loosely and each bidder fills the gaps differently. The cheapest quote then turns out to cover the least. A clearer tender gives you comparable bids and a better contractor.
Start with a clear scope document
Include a site plan or area schedule, the number and type of trees, lawns, beds and potted plants, existing irrigation, and the standard you expect. For design and build tenders, include the brief, constraints and the level of detail you want in the drawings.
Hold a site visit and share the answers
Hold a pre-bid site visit and circulate every question and answer to all bidders. Bidders who walk the site price the real conditions rather than assumptions, and the visit shows who has experience with comparable sites.
Set eligibility you can verify
Ask for registration documents, statutory compliance, relevant experience at comparable sites, and references. Be specific about what counts as comparable, such as a campus of a similar area or a contract of a similar duration.
Evaluate technical capability separately from price
Score the technical submission first: staffing plan, supervision, equipment, safety approach, reporting and sample schedules. Then open the price. A structured score sheet keeps the decision defensible.
Use a price format that exposes differences
Ask bidders to price by activity or by area, and to show manpower, materials and any chargeable extras in separate lines. A single lump sum hides what is and is not included.
Check how plant losses and extras are priced
Ask for rates for replacement plants, additional manpower and out-of-scope work, so that variations are agreed in advance rather than negotiated later.
Plan the handover and the first 90 days
Ask each bidder how they will mobilise, survey the site and report in the first three months. Contractors who plan the start well usually run the contract well.
Bonita works with corporate, institutional and industrial clients on tender-based contracts. See how we approach campuses and IT parks, airports and large institutional facilities and educational and healthcare institutions, or send us your tender details.
