NIC Ventures, part of NIC group, recently launched Kenya’s first online bid bond requisition portal by the name ‘BeeDee’ in partnership with Masterpiece Fusion. The company came up with the product as a way to improve business for their trade finance clients who often go through a tedious process of acquiring bid bonds.
NIC Ventures managing director James Muigai said that the company is committed to empowering SMEs as a way of contributing to Kenya’s economic growth. “BeeDee is one of the many innovative products NIC ventures plans to release in the market,” said the director.
How it works
BeeDee is easily accessible through the web portal beedee.co.ke from any device and is available to NIC Bank customers and Non-customers. The first step is to get a quotation for the bid bond. BeeDee offers competitive prices for its service. Once satisfied with the price of the tender security, you go through a one-time registration process where you key in your name, email address, phone number, and an identification number. The system simultaneously conducts digital verification to ensure that the client is authentic.
Next step is to register your company. The system requires that you enter the name, email address, and company registration number. Additionally, you are expected to upload the company resolution in order to secure the bank guarantee. BeeDee performs a rigorous verification process to ensure that information entered is correct and the person entering it is authorized to do so. Part of the vetting process involves a company search which costs KSh650.
Clients have several payment options such as card payments and M-Pesa and the company is working on adding more payment platforms. The online service provides up to KSh5 million unsecured guarantee to bidders.
Once you are done with the one-off registration process, you are able to generate a bid bond by entering information on the tender such as the reference number, tendering period, purpose of the tender, and the procuring entity. BeeDee has several preselected procuring firms which you can pick from and they include; Banks, insurance companies, state-owned corporations, and private businesses.
The last step involves picking a bid bond template that suits your tendering organization requirements. BeeDee’s tender security comes with a QR code that can be used to verify the document’s authenticity.
The application process is quick and easy to follow. It eliminates the voluminous paperwork involved in physical application and saves on time and resources.
