Inside the practice
The tender day — as it happened.
One hall, twelve suppliers, laptops open, every bid sealed until the clock ran out. This is what a digital tender looks like in an Egyptian hospital.
Nasr City Specialized Hospital led one consolidated supplies tender — 10+ hospitals buying together — on Teradix. Suppliers bid sealed and live, the cycle collapsed from months to 7 days, and a charity hospital kept care affordable for the families who depend on it.
Dr. Ahmed Saafan, chairman of the association that runs NCSH, tells the story himself in the film.
One hall, twelve suppliers, laptops open, every bid sealed until the clock ran out. This is what a digital tender looks like in an Egyptian hospital.
NCSH is run by four charitable associations for middle-income families. Supplies for 10+ hospitals were tendered by hand over months, and suppliers could see enough of each other's positions to split the lots between themselves.
The board's mandate was simple: maintain quality without raising costs. That meant one consolidated, sealed, digital tender — and Egypt's first hospital to run one.
Dr. Ahmed SaafanChairman · Nasr City Association for Development & Social Care▶ 3:40
Dr. Ahmed Saafan chairs the association that runs NCSH for middle-income families. He set the goal — keep quality, don't raise prices — and witnessed first-hand the sealed digital tender that delivered it.
“This successful experience must be repeated. We will offer it to every medical entity in Egypt — the same approach, with no going back to the traditional model.”
Every step that used to live in inboxes and spreadsheets now runs in one place, time-stamped.
Cycle as reported by NCSH: from months to 7 days.
A sealed medical-supplies tender on Teradix, the way NCSH's finance team saw it. Bids stay hidden from everyone — including the buyer — until the deadline. Then they open together.
Faithful recreation with illustrative line items. Every bid, revision and award is logged with user, timestamp and IP.
Invitation to award in one week. The committee spent its time deciding, not chasing.
Millions of pounds returned to patient care — on the same items, from the same market.
"I take this, you take that" is over. Nobody sees a competitor's price until the bids open.
Every invitation, bid, revision and award is time-stamped and exportable. The chairman gets one report, not a folder of emails — and all four associations get the same answer to "why this supplier?".
The first hospital in the country to run a fully digital, sealed medical-supply tender — with suppliers reporting they were "very satisfied" with a calmer, fairer process.
We represent four charitable associations serving middle-income patients. Our goal was to protect the middle class — to maintain quality without raising costs. Supplies are 15–30% of the patient's bill, so we needed a consolidated, digital tender.
The practice ran smoothly and calmly, and all participants were very satisfied with the performance.
An online system means more transparency — for suppliers and for the institution. Through it we pursue the greatest possible savings, which ultimately serve the patient.
It stopped suppliers from agreeing among themselves to split quantities and sizes. We no longer know who holds which item — “I take this, you take that” is completely over now.
It preserved confidentiality for the companies and gave us comfort even on pricing.
Teradix sits on top of your ERP or hospital system. Nothing is replaced; the tender simply stops living in email.
Your supplies catalogue and approved supplier base go in as they are — Excel, ERP export, or HIS.
Days 1–3Suppliers are invited, bid blind on identical items in Arabic or English, and can revise until the deadline.
Days 4–9Compare line by line, award per item or per lot, and hand the board a complete, auditable trail.
Day 10No. Suppliers receive an invitation link, register in minutes, and bid from a browser in Arabic or English. NCSH's suppliers bid from the hall on their own laptops on day one.
No — that's the point. Bids are sealed for everyone, including the procurement team, until the tender closes. Then they open together, ranked, with the full history.
No. Teradix runs the tender on top of your system of record. Items go in from an export; the award and PO data go back. SAP, Oracle, Dynamics and local HIS setups are all live today.
Most hospitals run their first sealed tender within two weeks of signing: three days to load items and suppliers, then a live event.
Twenty minutes, on your own item list if you share one: how the tender is set up, what suppliers see, what the CFO sees at opening, and what the board report looks like.
Tell us where you are today and we'll show you, on your own items, what NCSH's result looks like for your hospital.
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