The tender asks for three years of turnover and past government experience. I'm brand new. Do I just give up?
The short answer
No, but read the eligibility clauses like a lawyer before you spend a week writing the bid. Turnover and past-experience conditions kill more startup bids than price ever does. Your three real moves: claim DPIIT relaxations that waive prior turnover and experience, bid as a consortium or sub-vendor under an established firm to borrow their track record, or filter for GeM listings and startup-runway tenders written to let new vendors in. Chasing a tender you're structurally ineligible for is the most common wasted month in govt sales.
Go deeper, your way
3 hand-picked resources, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
📄 Article
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeBeginner
Why we picked it
This is the read-it-like-a-lawyer guide. It shows exactly how buyers set the gates that kill startup bids: turnover pinned at 30 to 50 percent of tender value averaged over three financial years, and 'similar work' experience defined by scope, value and timeframe. Its blunt advice, build a matrix of your projects against the spec and if you clearly fall below, do not waste resources bidding, is precisely the pre-bid filter that saves you a wasted month.
Why we picked it
The authoritative, government-hosted explanation of exactly what a DPIIT-recognised startup gets in public procurement. If you want to know your real rights before you bid, this is the primary source, not a blog's interpretation of it.
Why we picked it
Your fastest route around a turnover or experience wall you cannot clear alone: borrow someone else's track record. It walks the concrete move, three firms each capped at a 2 crore bidding limit combine into a consortium to clear a larger tender, and separates a consortium (existing firms teaming up) from a JV (a new legal entity), plus the pre-bid agreement covering profit split, roles and exit that any real government bid requires.
