Tender vs. Contract — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on March 26, 2024
A tender is a formal offer to do work or supply goods at a fixed price, while a contract is a legal agreement between parties to perform services or deliver goods in exchange for something of value.
Difference Between Tender and Contract
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A tender process involves inviting bids for large projects, where suppliers or contractors propose their bids to complete a specific job or project. This process is highly competitive and is often used by governments and large corporations to ensure transparency and fairness. On the other hand, a contract is the result of the tendering process or direct negotiations, forming a legally binding agreement that specifies the terms and conditions under which the work is to be performed or goods supplied.
Tenders are typically publicized to generate a wide range of offers, ensuring that the tender issuer can choose from the best options available in terms of quality, efficiency, and cost. Contracts, however, are personalized agreements that detail the obligations, timelines, payment terms, and conditions agreed upon by the parties involved, often kept confidential between those parties.
The main objective of a tender is to outline the scope of the work, invite offers, and set the criteria for the selection of the proposal that best meets the issuer's requirements. In contrast, a contract aims to solidify the agreement between the party offering the tender and the one who wins the bid, ensuring there is a clear legal framework for what has been agreed upon.
In the tendering process, the focus is on the selection of the best proposal based on predetermined criteria, such as cost, technical ability, and capacity to deliver. Whereas, once a contract is awarded, the focus shifts to the execution of the agreement, including the quality of work, adherence to timelines, and compliance with the terms and conditions outlined in the contract.
Tenders and contracts, while distinct, are interconnected; the tendering process is the method by which parties are brought together to form a contract. The effective management of both is crucial in projects, especially in sectors like construction, IT services, and government procurement, where the scope and scale of operations demand a formal and transparent process for selecting vendors and managing agreements.
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Comparison Chart
Purpose
To invite bids for a project or service
To outline the terms of an agreement
Nature
Competitive and open process
Legally binding agreement
Outcome
Selection of the best proposal
Execution of agreed-upon terms
Focus
On proposing the best solution
On fulfilling contractual obligations
Confidentiality
Generally public
Usually confidential between parties
Compare with Definitions
Tender
Involves specifying requirements and evaluating bids.
They submitted their bid in response to the tender notice.
Contract
A legal agreement between parties.
They signed a contract to begin the construction work.
Tender
Aimed at ensuring fairness and transparency.
The tender process was designed to eliminate any bias.
Contract
Enforceable by law.
The breach of contract was taken to court for resolution.
Tender
Determines the best value for money proposal.
The tender was awarded to the company offering the most cost-effective solution.
Contract
Specifies terms, conditions, and obligations.
The contract includes detailed deliverables and timelines.
Tender
Used by governments and large organizations.
The government's tender for IT services attracted global companies.
Contract
Involves payment in exchange for services or goods.
The contract specified the payment terms for the project completion.
Tender
A formal invitation to bid for a project.
The city council issued a tender for the new bridge construction.
Contract
Can be the result of a tender process.
Winning the tender led to a lucrative contract for the company.
Tender
Showing gentleness, kindness, and affection
She covered his face with tender kisses
He was being so kind and tender
Contract
A contract is a legally binding document between at least two parties that defines and governs the rights and duties of the parties to an agreement. A contract is legally enforceable because it meets the requirements and approval of the law.
Tender
(of food) easy to cut or chew; not tough
Tender green beans
Contract
An agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
Tender
(of a part of the body) sensitive to pain
The pale, tender skin of her forearm
Contract
The writing or document containing such an agreement.
Tender
Young, inexperienced, or vulnerable
He started sailing at the tender age of ten
Contract
The branch of law dealing with formal agreements between parties.
Tender
(of a ship) leaning or readily inclined to roll in response to the wind.
Contract
Marriage as a formal agreement; betrothal.
Tender
Offer or present (something) formally
He tendered his resignation as leader
Contract
The last and highest bid of a suit in one hand in bridge.
Tender
An offer to carry out work, supply goods, or buy land, shares, or another asset at a stated fixed price
Being government land, it was sold by tender
We invited tenders for up to three more frigates
A minimum tender price
Contract
The number of tricks thus bid.
Tender
A vehicle used by a fire service for carrying specified supplies or equipment or fulfilling a specified role
Three fire engines, including an emergency tender, attended the scene
Contract
Contract bridge.
Tender
A dinghy or other boat used to ferry people and supplies to and from a ship.
Contract
A paid assignment to murder someone
Put out a contract on the mobster's life.
Tender
A trailing vehicle closely coupled to a steam locomotive to carry fuel and water.
Contract
To enter into by contract; establish or settle by formal agreement
Contract a marriage.
Tender
A person who looks after someone else or a machine or place
Alexei signalled to one of the engine tenders
Contract
To acquire or incur
Contract obligations.
Contract a serious illness.
Tender
Easily crushed or bruised; fragile
A tender petal.
Contract
To reduce in size by drawing together; shrink.
Tender
Easily chewed or cut
Tender beef.
Contract
To pull together; wrinkle.
Tender
Young and vulnerable
Of tender age.
Contract
(Grammar) To shorten (a word or words) by omitting or combining some of the letters or sounds, as do not to don't.
Tender
Frail; delicate.
Contract
To enter into or make an agreement
Contract for garbage collection.
Tender
Sensitive to frost or severe cold; not hardy
Tender green shoots.
Contract
To become reduced in size by or as if by being drawn together
The pupils of the patient's eyes contracted.
Tender
Easily hurt; sensitive
Tender skin.
Contract
An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement.
Marriage is a contract.
Sign a contract
Write up a contract
Read a contract
Countersign a contract
Legally-binding contract
Unwritten contract
Tender
Painful; sore
A tender tooth.
Contract
(legal) An agreement which the law will enforce in some way. A legally binding contract must contain at least one promise, i.e., a commitment or offer, by an offeror to and accepted by an offeree to do something in the future. A contract is thus executory rather than executed.
Tender
Considerate and protective; solicitous
A tender mother.
His tender concern.
Contract
(legal) The document containing such an agreement.
Tender
Characterized by or expressing gentle emotions; loving
A tender glance.
A tender ballad.
Contract
(legal) A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.
Tender
Given to sympathy or sentimentality; soft
A tender heart.
Contract
(informal) An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone.
The mafia boss put a contract out on the man who betrayed him.
Tender
(Nautical) Likely to heel easily under sail; crank.
Contract
(bridge) The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump.
Tender
To make tender.
Contract
(obsolete) Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
Tender
To offer formally
Tender a letter of resignation.
Contract
(obsolete) Not abstract; concrete.
Tender
(Law) To offer (payment or performance) pursuant to an obligation.
Contract
(ambitransitive) To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen.
The snail’s body contracted into its shell.
To contract one’s sphere of action
Tender
A strip of meat, usually chicken, often breaded, deep-fried, and served with a sauce.
Contract
(grammar) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
The word “cannot” is often contracted into “can’t”.
Tender
(Law) An offer to pay the amount due under a debt or obligation.
Contract
(transitive) To enter into a contract with. en
Tender
A written offer to contract goods or services at a specified cost or rate; a bid.
Contract
(transitive) To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
Tender
Something, especially money, offered in payment.
Contract
(intransitive) To make an agreement or contract; to covenant; to agree; to bargain.
To contract for carrying the mail
Tender
One who tends something
A lathe tender.
Contract
(transitive) To bring on; to incur; to acquire.
She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens.
To contract a debt
Tender
(Nautical) A vessel attendant on other vessels, especially one that ferries supplies between ship and shore.
Contract
(transitive) To gain or acquire (an illness).
Tender
A railroad car attached to the rear of a locomotive and designed to carry fuel and water.
Contract
To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
Tender
Sensitive or painful to the touch.
Contract
To betroth; to affiance.
Tender
Easily bruised or injured; not firm or hard; delicate.
Tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit
Contract
To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's sphere of action.
In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties.
Tender
Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.
Contract
To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
Thou didst contract and purse thy brow.
Tender
(of food) Soft and easily chewed.
Contract
To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
Each from each contract new strength and light.
Such behavior we contract by having much conversed with persons of high station.
Tender
Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
Contract
To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and lague with the aforesaid queen.
Many persons . . . had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity . . . prohibited by law.
Tender
Fond, loving, gentle, or sweet.
Suzanne was such a tender mother to her children.
Contract
To betroth; to affiance.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us.
Tender
Young and inexperienced.
Contract
To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
Tender
Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic.
Tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain
Contract
To be drawn together so as to be diminished in size or extent; to shrink; to be reduced in compass or in duration; as, iron contracts in cooling; a rope contracts when wet.
Years contracting to a moment.
Tender
Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate.
A tender subject
Contract
To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.
Tender
(nautical) Heeling over too easily when under sail; said of a vessel.
Contract
Contracted; as, a contract verb.
Tender
(obsolete) Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
Contract
Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
Tender
(obsolete) Careful to keep inviolate, or not to injure; used with of.
Contract
The agreement of two or more persons, upon a sufficient consideration or cause, to do, or to abstain from doing, some act; an agreement in which a party undertakes to do, or not to do, a particular thing; a formal bargain; a compact; an interchange of legal rights.
Tender
(obsolete) Care, kind concern, regard.
Contract
A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation.
Tender
The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.
Contract
The act of formally betrothing a man and woman.
This is the the night of the contract.
Tender
(obsolete) Someone who tends or waits on someone.
Contract
A binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law
Tender
(rail transport) A railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.
Contract
(contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
Tender
(nautical) A naval ship that functions as a mobile base for other ships.
Submarine tender
Destroyer tender
Contract
A variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks he bid
Tender
(nautical) A smaller boat used for transportation between a large ship and the shore.
Contract
Enter into a contractual arrangement
Tender
Anything which is offered, proffered, put forth or bid with the expectation of a response, answer, or reply.
You offer me the sword of my father, the very man whose bones, because of your perfidy, lie under the sod of Crecy. Aye, I'll surely take it, and just as surely you shall die with your tender through your heart!
Contract
Engage by written agreement;
They signed two new pitchers for the next season
Tender
A means of payment such as a check or cheque, cash or credit card.
Your credit card has been declined so you need to provide some other tender such as cash.
Legal tender
Contract
Squeeze or press together;
She compressed her lips
The spasm contracted the muscle
Tender
(legal) A formal offer to buy or sell something.
We will submit our tender to you within the week.
Contract
Become smaller or draw together;
The fabric shrank
The balloon shrank
Tender
Any offer or proposal made for acceptance.
Contract
Be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness;
He got AIDS
She came down with pneumonia
She took a chill
Tender
Tenderly
Love me tender, love me sweet
Never let me go
Never let me go
Contract
Make smaller;
The heat contracted the woollen garment
Tender
To make tender or delicate; to weaken.
Contract
Compress or concentrate;
Congress condensed the three-year plan into a six-month plan
Tender
(archaic) To feel tenderly towards; to regard fondly or with consideration.
Contract
Make or become more narrow or restricted;
The selection was narrowed
The road narrowed
Tender
To work on a tender.
Contract
Reduce in scope while retaining essential elements;
The manuscript must be shortened
Tender
(formal) To offer, to give.
To tender one’s resignation
Tender
To offer a payment, as at sales or auctions.
Tender
One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse.
Tender
A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like.
Tender
A car attached to a locomotive, for carrying a supply of fuel and water.
Tender
An offer, either of money to pay a debt, or of service to be performed, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture, which would be incurred by nonpayment or nonperformance; as, the tender of rent due, or of the amount of a note, with interest.
Tender
Any offer or proposal made for acceptance; as, a tender of a loan, of service, or of friendship; a tender of a bid for a contract.
A free, unlimited tender of the gospel.
Tender
The thing offered; especially, money offered in payment of an obligation.
Tender
Regard; care; kind concern.
Tender
To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt.
Tender
To offer in words; to present for acceptance.
You see how all conditions, how all minds, . . . tender downTheir services to Lord Timon.
Tender
To have a care of; to be tender toward; hence, to regard; to esteem; to value.
For first, next after life, he tendered her good.
Tender yourself more dearly.
To see a prince in want would move a miser's charity. Our western princes tendered his case, which they counted might be their own.
Tender
Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit.
Tender
Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces.
Tender
Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate.
The tender and delicate woman among you.
Tender
Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic.
The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.
Tender
Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
I love Valentine,Whose life's as tender to me as my soul!
Tender
Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; - with of.
The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion.
Tender
Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.
You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,Will never do him good.
Tender
Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain.
Tender
Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a tender subject.
Tender
Heeling over too easily when under sail; - said of a vessel.
Tender
Something used as an official medium of payment
Tender
Someone who waits on or tends to or attends to the needs of another
Tender
A formal proposal to buy at a specified price
Tender
Car attached to a locomotive to carry fuel and water
Tender
A boat for communication between ship and shore
Tender
Ship that usually provides supplies to other ships
Tender
Offer or present for acceptance
Tender
Propose a payment;
The Swiss dealer offered $2 million for the painting
Tender
Make a tender of; in legal settlements
Tender
Make tender or more tender as by marinating, pounding, or applying a tenderizer;
Tenderize meat
Tender
Given to sympathy or gentleness or sentimentality;
A tender heart
A tender smile
Tender loving care
Tender memories
A tender mother
Tender
Hurting;
The tender spot on his jaw
Tender
Susceptible to physical or emotional injury;
At a tender age
Tender
Having or displaying warmth or affection;
Affectionate children
Caring parents
A fond embrace
Fond of his nephew
A tender glance
A warm embrace
Tender
Easy to cut or chew;
Tender beef
Tender
Physically untoughened;
Tender feet
Tender
(used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail
Tender
(of plants) not hardy; easily killed by adverse growing condition;
Tender green shoots
Common Curiosities
What is the difference between a tender and a contract?
A tender is an invitation to bid for a project, while a contract is a legal agreement that specifies the terms of work or goods exchange.
Can anyone participate in a tender process?
While tenders are generally open to a wide range of bidders, certain qualifications or standards may be required to submit a bid.
How is a winning tender selected?
Selection is based on criteria such as price, capability, and the ability to meet the project requirements.
Is a tender legally binding?
A tender itself is not a contract and thus not legally binding; it is an invitation to make an offer.
Can a tender lead to a contract?
Yes, winning a tender typically results in the awarding of a contract to perform the specified work or supply goods.
What happens if a contract is breached?
Breach of contract can lead to legal proceedings, and the aggrieved party may seek damages or specific performance.
What is the significance of a contract in business?
Contracts provide a legal framework that outlines the expectations and obligations of each party, ensuring clarity and legal recourse.
Can a tender offer be rejected after submission?
Yes, tender offers can be rejected based on evaluation against the tender's criteria and requirements.
What are the main objectives of issuing a tender?
The main objectives are to ensure fairness, transparency, and to select the best value proposal for a project.
Are all contracts formed through a tender process?
No, contracts can also be formed through direct negotiations or other means without a formal tender process.
Can a tender be withdrawn?
Yes, tenders can usually be withdrawn before they are accepted, but specifics can depend on the terms of the tender document.
Why are contracts important in the tender process?
Contracts formalize the agreement resulting from the tender process, defining the legal obligations and rights of both parties involved.
Is it possible to negotiate the terms of a contract after a tender is awarded?
Generally, the terms are negotiated before the contract is awarded, but minor adjustments may be possible with mutual agreement.
How long does the tender process take?
The duration can vary widely depending on the complexity of the project and the requirements of the tender issuer.
What is a tender notice?
A tender notice is a public announcement inviting suppliers or contractors to submit bids for a project or supply of goods.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
