SBD 1: the Invitation to Bid, blank by blank

What each part of SBD 1 asks for, which blanks the department fills and which you fill, what the CSD MAAA number is, and how SBD forms differ from municipal MBD forms.

SBD 1 is the cover form of a bid. It has 36 blanks, and 14 of them are not yours: they belong to the department or public entity inviting the bid. Most mistakes on SBD 1 come from leaving those blank or copying them wrongly.

Part A: the department’s blanks

Copy these exactly from the tender notice or the front page of the bid document:

the name of the department or public entity inviting the bid
the bid number; character for character, including slashes and spaces
the closing date and closing time, and the description of the bid
the bid box address where documents may be deposited
two contact blocks; bidding procedure enquiries and technical enquiries; each with a contact person, telephone, fax and email

Many departments pre-fill these. If yours has not, fill them in: a pack with an empty header can end up in the wrong pile.

Part A: your supplier information

Name of bidder; your registered legal name, the same on every form in the pack.
Postal address and street address.
Telephone number (code and number), cellphone, fax (code and number) and email address.
VAT registration number, if you are registered.

Supplier compliance status: TCS PIN or CSD number

SBD 1 asks for your SARS Tax Compliance Status (TCS) PIN or your Central Supplier Database number. Part B clause 2.6 says a CSD number may be supplied where no TCS PIN is available. Most bidders give both. SBD 1 does not ask for your income tax reference number itself.

What is a CSD MAAA number?

The Central Supplier Database is National Treasury’s register of suppliers to government. When you register, you get a supplier number made of the letters MAAA followed by seven digits; for example MAAA1234567. Organs of state are expected to buy from suppliers registered on the CSD, so the number appears on SBD 1 and again on SBD 4, where clause 2.4.1 asks for the MAAA number of every CSD-registered company linked to your directors.

On SBD 1 the form prints “MAAA” before the blank, so you write only the digits. Check them against your CSD registration report, not your memory.

The supplier questionnaire

Two yes/no questions:

Are you the accredited representative in South Africa for the goods or services offered? If yes, enclose proof.
Are you a foreign-based supplier for the goods or services offered? If yes, answer the five-question questionnaire for foreign suppliers: residence in South Africa, a branch, a permanent establishment, South African source income and South African tax liability.

Part B: terms and conditions, and your signature

Part B sets out the bid submission rules and the tax compliance requirements. It ends with three blanks you complete by hand: the signature of the bidder, the capacity under which the bid is signed, and the date. Proof of authority to sign; usually a company resolution; must be submitted with the bid.

MBD vs SBD

SBD forms; Standard Bidding Documents; are used by national and provincial departments and public entities that fall under the Public Finance Management Act. Municipalities and municipal entities, which fall under the Municipal Finance Management Act, use the MBD family; Municipal Bidding Documents; whose numbering mostly mirrors the SBDs: MBD 1, MBD 4, MBD 6.1, MBD 8, MBD 9.

The questions overlap heavily, but the forms are not interchangeable: a municipal tender wants its MBD forms. The values you give; registration numbers, directors, declarations; are the same, which is why keeping them in one place pays off whichever family you are filling in. TenderFill fills both: choose municipal when you start a pack and it fills the MBD set, including MBD 4’s own questions about service of the state and MBD 8’s question about municipal rates arrears.

Free, no sign-up

Fill in SBD 4 and SBD 9 now

Answer the questions, download both forms filled in and flattened, sign by hand. Nothing you type is kept.

Open the free SBD 4 + SBD 9 tool

What TenderFill does not do

It checks your company’s readiness, not your bid. It reads the tender pack you upload and checks your company’s records and documents against it. It does not read or judge the bid you submit, and it may miss a requirement: the tender document is the authority.
It does not guarantee compliance. Every pack requires your review before submission. You must still check signatures, pricing and tender-specific instructions.
Your department’s own forms take precedence. Many bid packs ship their own layout of the SBD forms, and SBD 1 asks for bids on the official forms provided, not retyped. If your bid pack includes its own version of a form, fill in theirs; the Field Answer Sheet tells you what to write where.
It fills the standard municipal forms, not a municipality’s own. For a municipal tender the pack is MBD 1, 4, 6.1, 7.2, 8 and 9 as National Treasury publishes them. Many municipalities issue their own versions, especially of MBD 4; fill in theirs from the Field Answer Sheet. It does not fill MBD 7.1 or 7.3, the goods and works contract forms, or any MBD 3 pricing schedule.
It does not prepare a joint venture’s bid as one. Each party to a joint venture or consortium needs its own pack, and the tender will usually want the signed JV agreement too.

Part A: the department’s blanks

Copy these exactly from the tender notice or the front page of the bid document:

the name of the department or public entity inviting the bid

the bid number; character for character, including slashes and spaces

the closing date and closing time, and the description of the bid

the bid box address where documents may be deposited

two contact blocks; bidding procedure enquiries and technical enquiries; each with a contact person, telephone, fax and email

Many departments pre-fill these. If yours has not, fill them in: a pack with an empty header can end up in the wrong pile.

Supplier compliance status: TCS PIN or CSD number

What is a CSD MAAA number?

On SBD 1 the form prints “MAAA” before the blank, so you write only the digits. Check them against your CSD registration report, not your memory.

The supplier questionnaire

Two yes/no questions:

Are you the accredited representative in South Africa for the goods or services offered? If yes, enclose proof.

Are you a foreign-based supplier for the goods or services offered? If yes, answer the five-question questionnaire for foreign suppliers: residence in South Africa, a branch, a permanent establishment, South African source income and South African tax liability.

Part B: terms and conditions, and your signature

MBD vs SBD

What TenderFill does not do

It checks your company’s readiness, not your bid. It reads the tender pack you upload and checks your company’s records and documents against it. It does not read or judge the bid you submit, and it may miss a requirement: the tender document is the authority.

It does not guarantee compliance. Every pack requires your review before submission. You must still check signatures, pricing and tender-specific instructions.

Your department’s own forms take precedence. Many bid packs ship their own layout of the SBD forms, and SBD 1 asks for bids on the official forms provided, not retyped. If your bid pack includes its own version of a form, fill in theirs; the Field Answer Sheet tells you what to write where.

It fills the standard municipal forms, not a municipality’s own. For a municipal tender the pack is MBD 1, 4, 6.1, 7.2, 8 and 9 as National Treasury publishes them. Many municipalities issue their own versions, especially of MBD 4; fill in theirs from the Field Answer Sheet. It does not fill MBD 7.1 or 7.3, the goods and works contract forms, or any MBD 3 pricing schedule.

It does not prepare a joint venture’s bid as one. Each party to a joint venture or consortium needs its own pack, and the tender will usually want the signed JV agreement too.