In late 2023, Midpoint completed a government office furniture contract for the Department of Agricultural Extension's Year-Round Fruit Production project at Khamarbari, Farmgate — supplying and installing office furniture at the Admin Building to 100% physical and financial completion, signed off by the Project Director. That process is more procedural than most private furniture jobs, and most of what trips suppliers up isn't the furniture itself — it's the paperwork around it.
A completion certificate is not a formality — it's a five-point check
Our contract's completion certificate confirmed five things by name: the original contract price, the final contract price as executed, the original commencement and completion dates, the actual completion date, and the physical and financial progress as a percentage. Every one of those five has to match across every document in the file — the Notice of Award, the contract, and the completion memo. A mismatch on any single figure, even a typo, is the single most common reason a completion certificate gets sent back for correction instead of signed.
"On time" and "on schedule" are two different things
Our contract's original completion date was 18 November 2023; the actual completion date recorded was 21 November 2023 — three days later, and still recorded as 100% complete. Procuring entities generally have some tolerance for a short, disclosed delay as long as the final delivery meets the full scope of the contract. What tends to cause real problems isn't a short delay near the end — it's a supplier who goes quiet mid-contract instead of flagging a delay early, which is what actually damages a track record for future tenders.
The paperwork trail matters as much as the furniture. A supplier who can produce a clean completion certificate on the first request is a supplier a procuring entity will call again.
VAT and BIN registration isn't optional groundwork — it's the first filter
Before a furniture bid is even evaluated on price or specification, most government tenders in Bangladesh require the bidder to be a registered VAT and BIN holder under the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act, 2012. Midpoint has held BIN 004814061‑0202 since mid-2022, registered against "Supplier" as the major area of economic activity — which is worth confirming early, since a mismatched registration category is a documentation problem that surfaces at the worst possible stage: after a bid has already been shortlisted.
Three things we'd tell a first-time government furniture bidder
- Get your registration category right before you bid, not after you win — VAT/BIN registration listing "Supplier" as the economic activity avoids a late-stage documentation dispute.
- Keep every figure identical across every document — contract price, dates, and quantities should match word-for-word between the Notice of Award, the contract, and your own internal paperwork.
- Flag delays the week they happen, not at handover — a three-day delay disclosed early reads very differently on a completion certificate than the same delay discovered at the final inspection.
Why this matters even if you're not a government buyer
The same documentation discipline — clear scope, a written completion sign-off, matching figures across every document — is what Midpoint applies to private residential and commercial furniture contracts too. It's a slower way to run a furniture job than a handshake and an invoice, but it's the difference between a client having to take your word for a completed job and having a signed record of it.
Midpoint supplies and installs office furniture for both institutional tenders and private offices in Dhaka — the registration and completion-certificate process above is available on request for any procuring entity evaluating a bid.
