Publish a tender and invite suppliers
Check readiness, confirm the supplier list and go live.
Updated 7 October 2026
Add suppliers
From the Suppliers panel on the tender, add companies from your contact book or add a new one. On the Free plan you can invite up to 10 suppliers per tender; paid plans allow 100 to 500.
Check readiness
The tender shows a readiness checklist: Closing date set, Scope written, Requirements added, Criteria total 100% and, if you use a review team, Blue Team and Red Team sign-off.
Publish
- Press Publish.
- TenderLock shows the closing date and the list of suppliers who will be emailed. If anyone is missing or shouldn't be there, press Not yet and fix it first.
- Press Publish to confirm.
The tender becomes version 1 and every supplier on the list is emailed straight away. After this, any change is a formal amendment. You'll get notifications as each supplier opens, accepts or declines.
Approvals
If your organisation has set an approval value in Settings › Organisation (Business plan and above), tenders above that value need a second person to approve them. Press Send for approval and an Approver publishes it or sends it back.
Suppliers added after publishing
Suppliers you add to a live tender are invited straight away.