Running Multi-Stage Tenders in Atamis

Conducting a multi-stage tender is an effective way to evaluate suppliers through a structured, phased process. It allows you to begin with a wider pool of potential suppliers, evaluate their responses, shortlist those who meet your criteria, and then progress the successful suppliers to the next stage for further assessment.

In Atamis, the multi-stage tender process is managed using procurement stages and tasks. Understanding how these work together is essential to ensuring that your tender progresses correctly through each phase while maintaining a clear, controlled, and auditable process.

This guide explains how to set up and manage a multi-stage tender in Atamis, from the initial stage through to subsequent rounds of evaluation.

1. Running Your Initial Stage

Every multi-stage tender begins with an initial procurement stage. Depending on your procurement process, this could be a Pre-Qualification stage, a Tender/RFx stage, or another stage appropriate to your organisation's requirements.

Keep Your Tender Components Aligned

When setting up your tender, it is important to ensure that all elements are assigned to the same procurement stage.

This includes:

• Tender details
• Tasks
• Requirement sections
• Any other stage-specific configuration

Keeping these elements aligned ensures that Atamis can correctly manage the tender as it progresses through each stage.

Once your tender has been configured, follow the standard Atamis workflow to:

1. Invite suppliers.
2. Allow suppliers to submit their responses.
3. Close the response period.
4. Evaluate supplier submissions.
5. Determine which suppliers have met the criteria to progress.

At the end of the first stage, you should have a clear list of successful suppliers who will progress to the next phase and unsuccessful suppliers who will not continue.

2.🛑 The Golden Rule: Use New Procurement Stage Only Once

Once you have completed the evaluation of the first stage and are ready to move to the next phase, you must use a task with the action type New Procurement Stage.

The New Procurement Stage action type should be added to one task only for each transition between procurement stages.

Important: Do not add the New Procurement Stage action type to any other tasks within the tender. The action should only be used on the specific task intended to move the tender and shortlisted suppliers into the next procurement stage.

For example, if you are moving from Stage 1 to Stage 2, create one task with the New Procurement Stage action type. Once this task has been executed, the new stage will be created and the shortlisted suppliers will be moved to the next stage.

Adding the same action type to multiple tasks can cause the procurement stage transition to be triggered more than once and may result in unexpected system behaviour.

Example

Correct setup:

• Task 1 – Complete Evaluation → No New Procurement Stage action
• Task 2 – Progress to Stage 2 → New Procurement Stage
• Task 3 – Approve Requirements → No New Procurement Stage action
• Task 4 – Open Tender → No New Procurement Stage action

Remember: The New Procurement Stage action type should be used only on the task that is specifically responsible for creating the next procurement stage.

3. Setting Up the Next Stage

Before moving to the next stage, you need to consider the requirements that suppliers will need to complete during that phase.

Atamis gives you flexibility over when these requirement sections are created. You can either:

• Create the requirement sections in advance when setting up the tender; or
• Create them as part of the New Procurement Stage task when you are ready to move to the next phase.

If you create the requirements in advance

If you choose to create the requirements before moving to the next stage:

1. Assign each requirement section to the correct procurement stage(this is done withing the details tab of the requirement folder). 
2. Keep the requirement sections in Draft status.
3. Do not approve or make them available to suppliers until the relevant stage is ready to begin.

This allows you to prepare the next stage in advance while ensuring that suppliers cannot access the requirements prematurely.

If you create the requirements during the New Procurement Stage task

If the requirements have not already been created, you can create the new requirement sections as part of the New Procurement Stage task.

However, if the requirement sections have already been created, you do not need to create them again.

Important: If the requirement sections already exist for the new stage, leave the Requirement Section field blank when completing the New Procurement Stage task.

4. Executing the New Procurement Stage Task

When you execute the New Procurement Stage task, Atamis will guide you through the actions required to establish the next phase of the tender.

You will be prompted to:

1. Shortlist successful suppliers

Select the suppliers who have successfully met your evaluation criteria and should progress to the next stage.

2. Remove unsuccessful suppliers

Suppliers who have not met the required criteria will not be carried forward into the new stage.

3. Transfer the tender details

Atamis will carry the relevant tender information forward into the new procurement stage.

4. Create or associate the requirements

If the requirement sections have not already been created, you can create them as part of this process.

If they have already been created and assigned to the correct stage, leave the Requirement Section field blank.

5. Treat the New Stage as a New Tender

Once the new procurement stage has been created, it is important to think of it as a new tender phase.

Although Atamis carries the relevant tender information forward, you will still need to complete the setup activities required for the new stage.

Important: Evaluation scores do not carry over. When moving to the next stage, the scoring for all shortlisted suppliers resets to zero. You will be evaluating their subsequent responses from a blank slate based solely on the new requirements.

This includes:

• Reviewing the new requirement sections.
• Approving the requirements when they are ready.
• Setting up the tasks required for the new stage.
• Inviting the shortlisted suppliers to participate.
• Setting the appropriate response period.
• Opening and closing the new stage.

The shortlisted suppliers will then be able to participate in the new phase according to the requirements and timescales you have established.

6. Setting Up Open and Close Tasks

Each procurement stage requires its own appropriate response window.

Although Atamis allows you to reuse Open and Close tasks from the previous stage, it is strongly recommended that you create new Open and Close tasks for each subsequent stage.

Reusing tasks from the previous stage can result in overlapping or conflicting timelines, which may cause unexpected system behaviour.

Recommended approach

For each new procurement stage:

1. Create a new Open task.
2. Create a new Close task.
3. Set the dates and times appropriate to the new stage.
4. Check that the tasks are assigned to the correct procurement stage.
5. Review the timeline before publishing or opening the stage.

Tip: Always check the dates and times for the new stage carefully before proceeding. This will help prevent conflicts with tasks and deadlines from the previous stage.

7. Inviting Suppliers to the Next Stage

Once the new stage has been configured and the requirements are ready, you will need to formally invite the shortlisted suppliers to participate.

The suppliers who successfully progressed through the previous stage can then be invited to respond to the requirements for the new stage.

Remember that the new stage should have its own:

• Requirements(ensure you have at least one required question)
• Response window
• Open and Close tasks
• Supplier invitation process

This ensures that the second stage operates independently from the previous stage while remaining part of the overall multi-stage tender.

8. Handling New Suppliers or Latecomers

Depending on your procurement rules, you may be able to include additional suppliers during the second stage.

If your procurement process allows this, there are two options:

Open tender

You can republish the tender to the Opportunities page, allowing additional suppliers to view the opportunity and submit a response.

Closed tender

If the tender is being conducted as a closed process, you can manually add additional suppliers where permitted by your procurement procedure.

Important: Whether new suppliers can be introduced at a later stage will depend on your procurement rules and the specific procedure being followed. Ensure that any additions are permitted before inviting new suppliers.

9. Repeating the Process for Further Stages

The same process can be repeated if your procurement contains more than two stages.

For example:

Stage 1 – Pre-Qualification
↓
New Procurement Stage
↓
Stage 2 – Tender/RFx
↓
New Procurement Stage
↓
Stage 3 – Tender/Rfx 2nd Iteration

At the end of each stage, evaluate the suppliers, identify those who should progress, and use the New Procurement Stage task to move the tender into the next phase.

Summary

The key to successfully managing a multi-stage tender in Atamis is understanding that each stage is managed separately while remaining part of the overall procurement process.

The most important points to remember are:

• Keep all tender components aligned to the correct procurement stage.
• Complete the evaluation before progressing suppliers.
• Remember that evaluation scores reset to zero at the start of each new stage.
• Always use the New Procurement Stage task when moving to the next phase.
• Create requirement sections in advance or as part of the New Procurement Stage task.
• If the requirements already exist, leave the Requirement Section field blank.
• Treat each new stage as a fresh tender phase and complete the required setup activities.
• Create new Open and Close tasks for each stage rather than reusing tasks from the previous stage.
• Check all dates, times, requirements, and supplier invitations before opening the new stage.

Following this process will help ensure that your multi-stage tender progresses correctly through Atamis and that each stage is clearly separated, controlled, and ready for the suppliers who have been selected to continue.

Updated 02 September 2026 13:14