NUPCO tenders: how they work and how a supplier bids
NUPCO tenders are published on the NUPCO supplier portal, each with a numbered item list of medical products. A registered supplier downloads the tender's bid response file, prices the items it can supply, and uploads the file with its documents before the closing date; NUPCO then publishes the award results.
Updated Published ProcDuck
This page explains the tender itself: where it is published, what it is made of, and the steps from day one to award. If you are after the company's definition, start with What is NUPCO?.
Where NUPCO tenders are published
NUPCO tenders are published on the NUPCO supplier portal, an SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) system where a supplier registers, sees the open tenders and submits bids. They do not appear on Etimad, and the portal sends no alerts tailored to your products; whoever does not sign in does not see what is new. That is why supply companies rely on a daily check or on a platform like ProcDuck that indexes new tenders throughout the working day and matches them against their catalog.
What a NUPCO tender is made of
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Tender number | A prefix, a serial and the year, such as NPT0064/25 or NDP0585/26. It is the reference in every correspondence and in the award results. |
| Title and description | What the tender buys in general: surgical consumables, medicines, laboratory equipment. |
| Publication date and closing date | The closing date (the last offer date) in Riyadh time; after it the system accepts nothing. |
| Item list | An Excel file with one row per item: material code, description, quantity and unit. One tender may hold dozens or hundreds of items. |
| Terms and conditions | Bid validity, delivery and payment terms, required documents. Accepted inside the portal before submitting. |
| Bid response file | An Excel workbook downloaded from the tender itself, in which you fill prices and product data and upload back. Explained on its own page. |
The material code: the key to everything
Every item in a NUPCO tender carries a fixed numeric material code that identifies the product regardless of how its description is worded. The same code recurs across tenders and in the award results, which makes it the best way to tell whether a new tender concerns you: link your product catalog to NUPCO codes and you see at once which items match your products, and pull up each code's award history and who won it before. In ProcDuck a code is linked to a product once and the matching repeats automatically; see NUPCO codes on products.
The steps of bidding on a NUPCO tender
- Open the tender on its first day, not on closing day. Open the item list and the terms page to confirm your browser works with the portal; a dead button is a two-minute browser setting when found early and a lost tender when found late. See NUPCO portal problems.
- Download the item list, the bid response file and the terms. Read the terms in full: bid validity, delivery deadlines and required documents decide whether the tender suits you at all.
- Decide which items you will bid on. NUPCO bidding is item by item; you are not obliged to cover the whole list. Match the material codes to your catalog and drop what you lack a valid registration or authorization for.
- Price each item. Unit price in SAR before VAT, and the VAT rate (15% for taxable items, zero for medicines and medical equipment that qualify for zero-rating). Check the code's past awards before settling on a number; see price history.
- Fill the technical columns of the bid file: the Change Option on the items you bid on, trade name, manufacturer and country of origin, the SFDA/MDMA registration numbers, catalog number, lead time and the rest of what NUPCO asks. The column-by-column explanation is in How to fill the bid response file.
- Prepare the attachments: a quotation PDF, the catalog page for each product, the SFDA certificates and the MDMA annex, plus the attachments list file that ties each item to its file names.
- Upload the file and the attachments and submit before the closing time. Check that the portal shows the right item count after the upload and keep the confirmation number. The portal accepts nothing after the closing time, Riyadh time.
What happens after submission
After closing, NUPCO evaluates bids technically (is the product registered and compliant with the specification, are the documents complete) and then financially. It then publishes the preliminary award results per item: the winning vendor, the manufacturer, the country of origin and the catalog number; then the final results after the objection and review period; then purchase orders or contracts follow. Reading those files and what they teach is in NUPCO award results.
The windows are short, so plan for them
NUPCO tenders open with shorter windows than many are used to on Etimad, sometimes only a handful of working days between publication and closing. The difference between a supplier who submits comfortably and one who submits in the last hour is not effort but infrastructure: a document library that is ready and valid, a catalog linked to NUPCO codes, current prices for the core products, and an alert that arrives the hour the tender publishes. Read why NUPCO tenders reward fast movers.
Frequently asked questions
How often does NUPCO publish new tenders?
Continuously through the working week, not on a fixed schedule. New tenders appear on the portal as they are issued, which is why ProcDuck indexes them every hour of the Saudi working day.
Can I bid on only some of the items?
Yes. NUPCO bidding is per item: you fill the price and the Change Option for the items you take part in and leave the rest empty, and each item is evaluated on its own.
What is a NUPCO material code?
A fixed number that identifies a product across every NUPCO tender and award result regardless of how the description is worded. Link your products to these codes to see at once which tender concerns you and each product's award history.
In which time zone is a NUPCO closing date?
Riyadh time. The portal accepts no bid after the stated time, so submit well before it to leave room for fixing an upload problem.
Where do I see who won a tender?
In the award-result files NUPCO publishes, preliminary then final, naming the winning vendor, manufacturer, country of origin and catalog number for each item. ProcDuck archives these files and shows them in the price history and the vendor map.