This guide is the checklist behind a Barbados government bid: each document and step, grouped by the point in a procurement when it is asked for, with who can lawfully do it. For how procurement in Barbados works overall (the Act, Bonfire, thresholds, timing, evaluation and challenges), see How to bid for government tenders in Barbados.
Before you bid
Your company and tax records
1. Company incorporation at CAIPO (Barbadian bidders). A local company proves its legal capacity with the certificate of incorporation from the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office, together with its filings: the notice of directors (Form 9) and the registered address (Form 4).
- Cost: BBD 750.00 for the Articles of Incorporation (Form 1); BBD 30.00 for the name search and reservation (Form 33).
- Valid: ongoing, with annual returns.
- Who does it: an attorney-at-law files the forms at CAIPO for the incorporators; your founders or directors sign the incorporation documents.
- From abroad: not needed to bid (see the foreign section below).
2. TIN through a TAMIS business tax account. The Barbados Revenue Authority issues your Taxpayer Identification Number through a business tax account in TAMIS (tamis.bra.gov.bb). The same account handles corporation tax, PAYE, VAT and tax clearance, and the TIN is recorded in the Suppliers Register.
- Valid: ongoing.
- Who does it: your accountant prepares the data and documents; you sign up for the account yourself and keep the TAMIS login.
3. VAT registration, if your income passes the threshold. Registration is required once annual income reaches BBD 200,000 (monthly revenue over BBD 16,666.67). It matters for how you price and for contracting as a VAT-registered supplier.
- Valid: ongoing.
- Who does it: your accountant prepares the registration with the CAIPO documents (Forms 1, 3, 4, 9 and 33); you file it through your own TAMIS account.
4. Small Business registration (optional). Registering with the Ministry of Energy and Business under the Small Business Act, through singleregistration.gov.bb, brings special tax benefits. We found no procurement price preference attached to it, so treat it as a tax decision rather than a bidding requirement. The data can be prepared for you; you register under your own identity.
Your two procurement registrations
5. Bonfire vendor account. The free account on the Government of Barbados e-procurement portal (gov-bb.bonfirehub.com) that lets you download bid packages and upload submissions, for central-government and many state-body tenders.
- Cost and time: free to register and to submit; the same day, once you enter the code from the confirmation email.
- Who does it: choose “Register as a Vendor” and follow the prompts. Your company profile and categories can be prepared for you, but you create the account with your own email, activate it and keep the password.
6. Entry in the Suppliers Register. The Chief Procurement Officer keeps a statutory register, and no procurement contract may be signed with a supplier that is not on it. Each entry records your name, address and contact details, evidence of your legal capacity to contract and your supply category (goods, services or works), plus your TIN and national insurance number where you have them.
- Valid: 1 year, renewable each year by the date the Chief Procurement Officer sets.
- Who does it: you apply in the form the Chief Procurement Officer specifies (the portal FAQ ties it to vendor registration). The legal-capacity evidence can be compiled for you; you sign and submit the application or renewal.
- Keep it current: tell the register in writing about any material change, such as your name, address or eligibility.
With your bid
7. Eligibility evidence (s.88). You are eligible if you have legal capacity and are not insolvent, in receivership, bankrupt, being wound up or under court administration. You become ineligible for 5 years after, for example, giving false information, collusion or corruption, failing to provide a required performance security, or a recognised foreign or international debarment. The grounds reach your directors and officers too, so their history counts. The declarations or documents the solicitation names can be prepared for you; your company signs them truthfully.
8. BRA General Tax Clearance Certificate, where the bid package asks. Confirmation from the Barbados Revenue Authority that your taxes are in order; BRA lists applications for tender among its uses, and it is common for local suppliers.
- How: in your own TAMIS account, open the Account tab, choose “Tax Clearance Certificate”, then “Request Certificate”. Upload any documents required; a case number is generated and assigned to an officer.
- Who does it: your accountant brings returns and payments up to date beforehand; you submit the request from your own account.
- From abroad: a supplier without Barbados tax obligations gives a home-country equivalent, or an official statement that none exists (s.88(3)).
9. Qualification evidence. Entities may ask for proof of professional and technical qualifications, financial resources and equipment, managerial capability and experience, and enough personnel, but can apply only the criteria stated in the solicitation. References, CVs and financial statements (prepared or audited by your accountant) are mapped to those criteria; you provide genuine references and sign.
10. Everything in English. All procurement documents and communications must be in English, so any evidence in another language needs an English translation.
11. Tender security, only where the solicitation requires it. Security is optional for the entity; if it is asked for, every bidder gives it. It is never asked from individual consultants.
- Time: a few days from your bank or insurer.
- Valid: as the solicitation sets, and extended if bid validity is extended.
- Who does it: the bank or insurer issues it in the solicitation’s form, and the wording and validity can be checked for you; you apply and sign the indemnity.
- Forfeiture: if you withdraw after the deadline, fail to sign the contract or fail to give the performance security.
- The issuer matters: the entity can reject security from an issuer that is insolvent or not creditworthy, and whether a foreign issuer is acceptable depends on the solicitation.
12. Local content plan (utility-scale electricity only). Procurement of utility-scale generation and storage under the Electricity Supply Regulations 2025 asks every bidder for a local content plan covering at least 5 years and an offer of equity to local investors within 3 years of commercial operation. The plan can be drafted for you; you sign the commitments.
13. The signed tender, uploaded on Bonfire. A tender must be in writing and signed; for electronic submission the solicitation sets how authenticity is ensured.
- Cost: free.
- Who does it: all files can be prepared for you. Your authorised signatory signs (a scan of a wet-ink signature, or as the solicitation allows), and you upload and finalise in your own Bonfire account. The status then shows under Submissions > Completed.
- Before the deadline: you can “un-submit” to withdraw or change the submission. Deadlines are in Atlantic Standard Time (for example 11.30 p.m. AST).
If you’re in line for award
| Step or proof | Issued by | Cost and time | Valid for | What only you do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suppliers Register entry, if not already in place | Chief Procurement Officer | — | 1 year | Sign and submit the application |
| Performance security, where the solicitation requires it, before the contract is executed | Your bank or insurer, in the solicitation’s form | — | Per contract | Sign the counter-indemnity; refusing makes you ineligible for 5 years (s.88(2)(e)) |
| Contract execution, after a standstill of at least 10 working days from the successful-tender notice | The procuring entity: a purchase order below BBD 50,000, otherwise a written agreement in a form approved by the Solicitor-General | — | — | Your authorised officer signs, after your attorney reviews |
| External company registration at CAIPO (Form 28), for a foreign contractor carrying out work in Barbados, where the solicitation asks | CAIPO, filed by a Barbadian attorney | BBD 3,000.00; annual return (Form 31) BBD 100.00 | Ongoing, with annual return | Pass the board resolution and sign the forms |
A power of attorney executed abroad for signing the contract should be certified or apostilled. Barbados has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 30 November 1966, so documents from other parties need an apostille from the issuing country instead of consular legalisation.
Who does what
| Step | Who can do it | What only you do |
|---|---|---|
| CAIPO incorporation and external-company registration | An attorney-at-law | Directors sign; pass the board resolution |
| TAMIS account and TIN | Your accountant prepares the data | Create the account and keep the login |
| VAT registration | Your accountant prepares it | File it in your own TAMIS account |
| Bonfire vendor account | Profile and categories prepared for you | Create it with your own email, activate it, keep the password |
| Suppliers Register | Legal-capacity evidence compiled for you | Sign and submit; renew each year; report changes |
| Tax clearance | Your accountant clears arrears first | Request it from your own TAMIS account |
| Eligibility declarations and qualification evidence | Prepared and mapped to the criteria for you | Sign truthfully; provide genuine references |
| Certified home-country documents | A notary, with an apostille where asked | Obtain the originals from your home authorities |
| Tender and performance security | Your bank or insurer | Apply and sign the indemnity |
| Bonfire submission | Files prepared for you | Your signatory signs; you upload and finalise |
| Contract | Your attorney reviews | Your authorised officer signs |
The professionals involved
| Professional | Licensed or regulated by | What they do for a bidder |
|---|---|---|
| Attorney-at-law admitted to practise in Barbados | Supreme Court of Barbados and the Barbados Bar Association (Legal Profession Act) | Register a local or external company at CAIPO (Forms 1, 28 and 31) and act as registered agent, review the solicitation and the Solicitor-General-approved contract, certify copies of corporate documents, and file reconsideration applications and appeals to the Public Procurement Tribunal |
| Notary public (in your home country, or in Barbados) | The home-country notarial authority | Certify copies of the home-country documents a foreign supplier uses as eligibility evidence, and notarise affidavits or statutory declarations a solicitation asks for |
| Chartered or public accountant (ICAB member) | Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados | Prepare or audit the financial statements used as evidence of financial resources, get your tax position ready for a clearance certificate, and handle VAT and national insurance registrations and filings for a local company |
| Bank or insurance company | Central Bank of Barbados or the Financial Services Commission | Issue tender security when a solicitation requires it, and the performance security due before the contract is executed |
| Bid consultant or proposal writer | No statutory regulator | Build the compliance matrix from the solicitation, draft the technical and financial proposals for your signature, and watch Bonfire for addenda |
If your company is from abroad
You don’t need a Barbadian company: foreign firms register as vendors without a TAMIS number and may rely on certified home-country documents; who may bid is explained in How to bid for government tenders in Barbados. For the paperwork:
Regional and international firms open the Bonfire account the same way as local ones, and are not asked for a TAMIS number. On the Suppliers Register, tax and national insurance numbers are needed only where available. You prove eligibility with certified copies of the equivalent home documents (such as a certificate of incorporation or good standing and tax and social-security compliance), or an official statement that such documents are not issued in your country (s.88(3)); a home-country notary certifies them, typically within 1-3 weeks, and an apostille is added where the solicitation wants one. Non-English documents need English versions. Whether a foreign bank’s tender security is acceptable is set by each solicitation. CAIPO external-company registration is not needed to bid, though it may matter if you carry out the work in Barbados; check the solicitation.
Pitfalls
- Keep your logins to yourself. Bonfire uploads and TAMIS tax-clearance requests are your own actions; advisers never need your password.
- Renew the Suppliers Register every year. No contract can be signed without a current entry.
- Check your directors as well as the company. The s.88(2) grounds apply to directors and officers of a corporate supplier.
- Never coordinate with another bidder. Collusion, coercion, interfering with other suppliers and knowingly underpricing make the supplier, and its directors, ineligible for 5 years.
- Don’t win and then refuse the performance security. That too brings 5 years of ineligibility.
- Put everything in English, including translations of any foreign evidence.
- Use gov-bb.bonfirehub.com directly. The procure.gov.bb gateway’s TLS certificate expired on 14 Aug 2026.
- Check whose rules apply. Donor- or MDB-funded tenders can follow the lender’s rules, which prevail over the Act (s.3(2)).
Doing it with askTender
In Barbados, the portal’s team-user option isn’t confirmed, so you log in and press submit yourself, in a guided session with askTender. Everything before that is prepared for you. You sign only what the law reserves to you: the Suppliers Register application, the eligibility declarations, the tender and the contract. The askTender Desk prepares the declarations, forms and evidence, assembles the bid and coordinates the certificates and securities; askTender Partners, such as an attorney-at-law, a notary or an ICAB accountant, do the steps their licence covers.
Questions
What is the difference between the Bonfire account and the Suppliers Register?
The Bonfire vendor account is the free portal login you use to download bid packages and upload your submission; it is activated the same day with an emailed code. The Suppliers Register is the Chief Procurement Officer’s statutory list: no procurement contract can be signed with a supplier that is not on it, and the entry must be renewed every year.
Do I need a Barbados tax number to bid?
Only if you are a Barbadian business. Local firms get a TIN through a TAMIS business tax account. Regional and international firms register on Bonfire without a TAMIS number, and their tax number goes into the Suppliers Register only where available.
How do I get a tax clearance certificate in Barbados?
From your own TAMIS account: open the Account tab, choose Tax Clearance Certificate, then Request Certificate, and upload any documents asked for. A case number is generated and assigned to an officer. Have your accountant clear any arrears first. A foreign supplier gives a home-country equivalent, or an official statement that none is issued.
How much does it cost to incorporate a company in Barbados?
BBD 750.00 for the Articles of Incorporation (Form 1), plus BBD 30.00 for the name search and reservation (Form 33). A foreign company registering at CAIPO as an external company pays BBD 3,000.00 (Form 28) and BBD 100.00 for each annual return (Form 31). Neither is needed by a foreign firm just to bid.
Does Barbados accept apostilles?
Yes. Barbados has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 30 November 1966, so documents from other parties carry an apostille instead of consular legalisation. A home-country notary certifies the copies, and an apostille is added where the solicitation asks for one.
Sources
- Government Procurement Department: e-procurement portal FAQ
- Public Procurement Act, 2021 (Act 2021-30)
- Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 2023-11)
- CAIPO: schedule of fees
- Barbados Revenue Authority: types of registration
- Barbados Revenue Authority: applying for General Tax Clearance
- Barbados Revenue Authority: who must register for VAT
- Official Gazette, 10 October 2025: Electricity Supply Regulations, 2025
- HCCH: Apostille Convention status table
This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.