SBD 9 — The Certificate of Independent Bid Determination, Explained

SBD 9 is the Certificate of Independent Bid Determination — the Standard Bidding Document on which you certify that your bid was put together independently: no consultation, agreement or arrangement with any competitor about prices, about whether to bid, or about what the bid would contain. Know one thing before anything else: on 31 March 2022 National Treasury folded SBD 9 into the consolidated SBD 4 Bidder's Disclosure, so most current tender packs no longer carry it as a separate form — but older packs still do, which is why it keeps appearing and why it still matters.

What SBD 9 certifies

The certificate is a signed declaration that the bid was arrived at independently. In substance you certify that there has been no consultation, communication, agreement or arrangement with any competitor about:

prices — yours or theirs, including formulas or discounts used to work them out;
the intention to bid — no agreement that one of you would bid and the other stay out;
the content of the bid — quality, quantity, specifications or delivery particulars;
dividing up the work — no arrangement about who bids for which contracts or in which areas.

It is signed by the person authorised to sign the bid, and like every declaration in the pack, its power comes from the consequences of signing it falsely rather than from the questions it asks.

Why the state asks for it — collusive tendering

SBD 9 exists because bid rigging is a real and prosecuted problem in public procurement. Collusive tendering — competitors agreeing prices, taking turns to win, or submitting deliberately losing "cover" bids to dress up a rigged result — is a prohibited practice under the Competition Act, and the penalties reach both the businesses and the contracts involved. The certificate puts every bidder's independence on record in writing, so a bid later shown to be collusive is not just a competition-law problem but a false declaration to the state as well.

One boundary is worth knowing: a joint venture or subcontracting arrangement that is disclosed openly in the bid is not collusion. The certificate targets secret coordination between supposed competitors — not partnerships the buyer can see and assess.

SBD 9 is now usually inside SBD 4 — match your pack

Since the 31 March 2022 consolidation, the current SBD 4 Bidder's Disclosure carries the independent-bid-determination certificate as one of its sections, alongside the old conflict-of-interest questions and the past-conduct declaration that used to be SBD 8. The rollout is uneven, so the rule is the one that governs every SBD form: complete whichever version is in the pack in front of you. If your pack lists SBD 9 as its own returnable, complete and sign it. If it only contains the consolidated SBD 4, signing that form covers it — there is no separate SBD 9 to hunt for. SBD 4, the form that absorbed it, explained →

Where SBD 9 comes from

Like every Standard Bidding Document, SBD 9 is not something you download separately — it arrives inside the tender pack from the National Treasury eTenders portal, and the returnable-documents schedule tells you whether that pack requires it. See how all the SBD forms fit together →

Working through a real pack — every form, in the order evaluators check them — is what the Tender Ready SA toolkit walks first-time bidders through.

How to fill in SBD 9 — get the form and a completed example

Most people searching for this form want two things: the blank document, and a filled-in one to copy from. Here are both.

The blank form — now folded into SBD 4 on newer packs. Standard bidding documents are revised from time to time, so take it from the source rather than from a copy: download SBD 9 — Certificate of Independent Bid Determination from the National Treasury eTenders portal. Always check the version in your own tender pack matches.
A completed worked example — the same form filled in correctly, with the four fields first-time bidders get wrong marked up. Free, by email, below.

Send me the worked example

Want every form done this way — all seven SBDs, the returnables and the submission-day checks? That is the R399 toolkit.

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One form is easy — a full tender pack is not

Understanding the paperwork is step one. Winning the bid is step two — and it's where most businesses lose. The Tender Ready SA toolkit hands you the exact system: the returnable-documents checklist that stops you being disqualified, how to price to win, and the dreaded SBD forms decoded in plain English. For R399, once.

completing every SBD form in the pack

Frequently asked questions

What is SBD 9?

SBD 9 is the Certificate of Independent Bid Determination — the Standard Bidding Document on which you certify that your bid was priced and prepared independently, without any agreement or communication with competing bidders.

Do I still need to submit SBD 9?

Only if your tender pack lists it as a separate returnable. Since 31 March 2022 its content sits inside the consolidated SBD 4 Bidder's Disclosure, so most current packs need only that form. Older packs still carry SBD 9 separately — if yours does, complete and sign it.

What is bid rigging?

Competitors secretly coordinating a tender: agreeing prices, agreeing who will win, submitting deliberate cover bids or dividing contracts between them. It is a prohibited practice under the Competition Act, and SBD 9 is the declaration that you did none of it.

Is a joint venture collusion under SBD 9?

No. A joint venture or subcontracting arrangement disclosed openly in the bid is a partnership the buyer can assess, not secret coordination. The certificate targets undisclosed agreements between supposed competitors.