Founders mix these up. They are different registrations for different jobs.
- CIPA — creates the legal person (or business name). Without this, you have no company to put on tenders.
- BURS — tax. TIN, returns, tax clearance. Tender boards read tax clearance before they trust you.
- Trading licence — local council authorisation for many activities. Suppliers especially need the right licence for what they sell.
- PPRA — procurement registration: codes and subcodes that let you bid for public work.
Order of build, practically: form the company → tax and bank → trading licence where required → PPRA codes for the work you will bid. Skipping steps produces a half-registered firm that cannot finish the stack when a tender appears.
Our tender-ready path (from P7,500) is Basic Company plus licence and PPRA codes — the stack named above, measured once.