Tender writing test
Instructions
The Task
You are working on the bid to Aussie Rocket as a proposal writer for Brass
Monkey, a cryogenic fluids supplier, and have received a draft response from a
subject matter expert (SME) for Innovation.
Among the requirements in the RFT is that for Innovation, shown below.
Your role is to do the following:
 Using information provided, create a better response to the requirement
 Write notes and questions to the SME that are aimed at improving the
response further
Time Allowed:
Please limit yourself to a maximum of 2 hours on task.
What we want to see:
This is a test of your ability to write a convincing and compliant response to an
RFT question. It is not a test of your ability to design or lay out a proposal
document.
If you have expertise in the area covered by this brief, please restrict yourself
only to knowledge that you find here. If it’s not in this brief, please don’t use it.
All material in this brief is copyright HCi Professional Services P/L and all rights
are reserved. Do not copy any part of this document or provide it to anyone
else, except for the purpose of responding to this brief.
Please note that it is our company policy never to give anyone feedback on how
they did on this test. If you do not agree to this, please do not complete the test.
Background to the opportunity
Aussie Rocket, an interplanetary tour provider, has issued a Request for Tender
(RFT) for the supply of cryogenic fluids for placing passengers into suspended
animation on long space voyages. Passengers in AussieRocket ships are stored
frozen, and thawed out on arrival at their interplanetary destination.
Excerpt from Aussie Rocket’s RFT to which you must respond
8. Innovation
8.1 Describe the innovations you would be prepared to offer Aussie Rocket if
you were successful in being appointed as the preferred supplier.
8.2 Please indicate how you would be proactive in managing continuous
improvement on the Aussie Rocket account? Provide examples/ case
studies of continuous improvement with other customers.
Draft response for Innovation from SME
As the largest supplier of cryogenic fluids in the southern hemisphere, Brass
Monkey, has the economies of scale in cryogenic fluid production to suit any
need. We provide liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and even liquid helium for all
cryogenic purposes including industrial, and research and medical purposes.
Industrial grade cryogenic fluids provide an economic source of lowtemperature fluids to help with all your ultra-low temperature refrigeration
needs. These fluids can be provided in bulk tanker-loads as well as in the
familiar insulated cylinders.
Cryogenic fluids for research are usually provided in quantities form 500 mL to
100 L in insulated cylinders. Suitable for superconductor cooling, lowtemperature reaction vessel cooling for cryochemistry, and other experimental
and analytical purposes, they are available in Coolant, Reagent and Analytical
grades.
Medical grade cryogenic fluids are available for those critical applications where
human organs or even entire bodies need to be cooled and preserved for the
medium to long term. Brass Monkey provides the highest grade of medical
cryogenic fluids as assessed by international medical standards for cryogenic
fluids. All medical grade cryogenic fluids are available in 100 L cylinders.
As a cheaper alternate to single element cryogenic fluids we can also offer blends
such as liquified air. While not suitable for long-term medical and biological
applications due to the different components separating, liquid air is only 70
percent of the price of liquid oxygen and 60 percent of the price of liquid
nitrogen. Cryogenic air is available for industrial and research purposes.
Customers of Brass Monkey can elect to have their cryogenic fluids delivered in
non-standard volumes if they have the ability to store to bulk volumes of
cryogenic fluids in approved bulk storage facilities. Brass Monkey does not
guarantee the quality of cryogenic fluids stored in customers’ bulk storage
facilities unless an inspection regime maintaining compliance of the storage
facility with ISO 21010 is verified by independent auditor. Brass Monkey can
provide substantial discounts for bulk supply of Research and Medical cryogenic
fluids for quantities up to 2000 L per shipment.
If required, Brass Monkey can design and advice customers on the building of
bulk storage facilities to allow them to take advantage of bulk purchasing
discounts. In general, bulk purchasing will allow customers to recover the costs
of building a bulk storage facility within five years of construction. If built to a
Brass Monkey design by an approved cryogenic storage facility constructor and
if an ISO quality inspection plan is implemented by the customer, Brass Monkey
will guarantee the quality of fluids stored in the facility for three years. Brass
Monkey can also assist with the drafting of suitable a ISO quality inspection
plan.
As an ISO-certified supplier of cryogenic fluids, Brass Monkey has many years of
experience in providing quality assured cryogenic fluids and supervising the
construction of ISO certified storage facilities for cryogenic fluids.
Brass Monkey helped Rapid Chill develop a new process for creation of its
flagship product, Vegetable Confetti. Rapid Chill used to make Vegetable
Confetti using liquid nitrogen, which we supplied in 100 L bottles. Due to
increasing popularity of the product and the need to make larger and lager
batches, Rapid Chill approached us to help them design and build a bulk storage
facility. As well as designing and overseeing the building of the bulk storage
facility, we also help them test a new process using liquified air instead of
nitrogen. As a result they are now using the bulk storage facility to store liquid
air, reducing their costs through both bulk purchasing and use of a less
expensive alternative agent for chilling the vegetables before the shattering
process.
We have also helped companies in the medical and biological field such as
Gametes To Go, an assisted reproduction storage company that stores cells of
animals and plants for research. Brass Monkey supplies Gametes To Go with the
highest quality medical-use liquid nitrogen for snap freezing and storage of
these scientifically valuable resources. Recently, Gametes To Go provided the
cells to enable the University Of Tokyo to create the first ever woolly mammoth
embryo, with the cellular development proceeding as far as blastocyst stage.
During storage and transport by road and air, Gametes To Go used our medical
grade liquid nitrogen at every stage. We monitored the performance of the
refridgerant in transit and used the resulting data to develop a new storage
vessel for transporting small biological materials that were more efficient at
maintaining a constant cryogenic temperature. We can use this approach to
develop new storage solutions for all of our customers on request.