When Suppliers Enter Too Late

By the time a tender is published, the needs are usually defined and the procurement process has been underway behind the scenes for a long time. The opportunity to influence the scope is minimal and the requirements are already set. A significant share of public sector business is also conducted through direct awards, meaning purchases that fall below the national thresholds. These are not always advertised publicly and can be difficult to identify unless one already knows the background behind them. Many suppliers also face competitors who, thanks to local presence or established relationships, receive signals long before anything becomes visible externally.
This means that without insight into early decisions, suppliers risk missing valuable opportunities and entering others with poor conditions.

 

Meeting Minutes Provide Access to the Earliest Market Signals

In municipalities and regions, almost every procurement is preceded by a formal decision. It may involve a planned renovation, an investment in a digital system, the need for external consultants or organisational changes. These decisions are documented in meeting minutes. The documents are often lengthy and technical, but they provide direct insight into future business opportunities.
In other words, meeting minutes are often the very first indication that a need is emerging.

 

The Challenge: The Information Exists but Is Difficult to Use

Although the minutes are publicly available, they are difficult for many suppliers to work with. They are published on various websites, differ in structure and formatting and often contain hundreds of pages of text. Manually monitoring and analysing these documents is both time consuming and inefficient. As a result, a significant amount of business critical information remains unused.
The key point is that although the data exists, it is practically inaccessible without the right tools.

 

Mercell Makes Meeting Minutes Accessible and Useful for Suppliers

Mercell has developed functionality in Mercell Bidding that gathers meeting minutes from municipalities and regions in one place. The documents become searchable and can be monitored just like traditional tenders. Suppliers can filter by business area, keywords or CPV codes to find the information most relevant to their offering.
This means that data which was previously difficult to manage is now transformed into a concrete and valuable part of the business development process, something we at Mercell refer to as Sales Leads.

 

AI Creates Insights and Identifies Business Opportunities

With the help of AI, the content of the minutes can be analysed and interpreted in a completely new way. Long documents can be summarised into accessible insights and relevant decisions are highlighted automatically. AI can also identify when a statement or decision points to a future purchase or potential procurement. This transforms meeting minutes from unstructured text into structured business opportunities.
In practice, this means that suppliers receive early clues about upcoming opportunities without having to read through large volumes of documents.

 

How Suppliers Can Implement These Insights Strategically

When suppliers begin integrating meeting minutes into their business strategy, new possibilities emerge. Early insights make it possible to prioritise the right municipalities and regions and to initiate contact before any procurement is planned. Conversations can then focus on needs, solutions and potential approaches rather than responding to a fixed set of requirements. This strengthens relationships, builds trust and increases the likelihood that the public buyer will later request the type of solution the supplier offers.
The essential point is that early information enables suppliers to act as partners rather than merely bidders.

 

A Concrete Example

Imagine a supplier of digital learning solutions. Inside Mercell Bidding, they see that one municipality has decided to develop a strategy for increased digitalisation in schools. Another municipality mentions in its minutes that it plans to review the possibility of replacing its current learning platform. These are not procurements, but they are clear signals that a future opportunity is forming. The supplier can reach out to the municipality, offer expertise and establish a relationship long before any formal initiative begins.
This demonstrates how a meeting minute can evolve from an anonymous PDF into a concrete Sales Lead.

 

When Sales Become Proactive Instead of Reactive

Monitoring meeting minutes moves suppliers closer to the origin of public sector business. The sales process no longer begins at the tender notice but at the very first decision that indicates a need. This leads to better planning, more relevant customer dialogues and a more predictable pipeline. The goal is not only to win more business but to win the right business with greater influence over the process.
The central idea is that early insights make public sector sales both smarter and more predictable.

 

The Future of Public Sector Sales Begins Where Decisions Are Made

Procurement rarely begins with an announcement. It begins when a committee or board identifies a need and makes a decision that shapes the future of a public organisation. With Mercell’s new functionality, suppliers can capture these signals as they occur. This creates a competitive advantage that was previously difficult to access and sets a new standard for how suppliers can work with the public sector.
In other words, the future of public sector sales is not about waiting for opportunities but about identifying them at the moment they are born.

 

Want to Stay Ahead in the Public Sector?

Discover how Mercell Bidding can turn meeting minutes into a practical tool for proactive sales. With real time access to municipal and regional meeting minutes, you can identify opportunities early, understand customer needs and act before competitors even notice the signals.
Try Mercell Bidding and start monitoring tomorrow’s opportunities today.