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Overview of the Tender process
Are you Fit to Tender?
Opportunities - where are they?
A few Tips
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• EU Directives
• UK Public Contract & Utilities Regulations 2008/Public Procurement Regs 2011
• EU Procurement Thresholds (January 2014)
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- £100k/£172k services
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- £4.3m works
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- £66k framework contracts
• Requirement for transparency
• Public money being spent
• Risk Averse
• Under scrutiny!
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Spend increases
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Restricted tender Process
(including framework agreements)
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Open tender
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Mini tender
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Purchase order - quotes
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Prior Indicative
Notice
37 (min) days to respond or 30 days if
e-notice used
Contract
Notice
Pre-Qualifying
Stage
40 days (min) to respond or 35
days with e tender documents
Invitations to
Tender issued
Tenders
submitted
Tenders
evaluated
Contract
Awarded
Within 48 days
Contract Award
Notice
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A type of preferred supplier list
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Ideal for small businesses
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Mini-tenders and call–offs
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No guarantee of work
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• Are laid out in the Financial Regulations for any public body
• States rules for purchasing dependant on the value of the spend
• E.G Croydon Council
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- £5k -£20k – Obtain 3 written quotes
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- >£20k – competitive tendering exercise on London Portal
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- >£100k – formal tendering
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Increase in contract value
Your formal policies
Your proposal writing skills
Added Value
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your marketing
capability
Your presentation
skills
Your pricing
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What is Fit to Tender?
Working Style
Written Policy Documents
Relevant Skills &
Experience
Business Probity
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Consultancy permission except as
permitted by copyright law
High Value/Long Lifespan/
High Risk Contracts
Working
Style
Written Policy Documents
Relevant
Skills &
Experience
Business Probity
No copying without Blackbird
Consultancy permission except as
permitted by copyright law
Low Value/”One off” Supplies/
Low Risk Contracts
Working Style
Written
Policies
Relevant Skills & Experience
Business
Probity
No copying without Blackbird
Consultancy permission except as
permitted by copyright law
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Business Probity
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Certificate of Incorporation (if applicable)
Organisational Structure Chart
VAT Registration (if applicable)
Accounts
Bank details
Insurances
Ofsted Registration
Policies & Accreditations
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Health & Safety & Environment – including risk assessments
Quality – complaints procedure
Equality & Diversity
Safeguarding
Business continuity & disaster recovery plan
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Skills & Experience
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Case Studies
References
Testimonials
Client Lists
Business & Professional Members - e.g. NEYTCO
Staff
• CVs
• Qualifications - NVQ
• DBS checks
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Working Style
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Operations Manuals
Process Maps
Training
Software Systems e.g. data bases
Innovative Products and Services
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For opportunities over the EU threshold
http://ted.europa.eu
For opportunities with the Government and its agencies > £10K
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
Local Authorities websites and
https://uk.eu-supply.com
https://www.londontenders.org
www.businessportal.southeasteiep.gov.uk
Trade Magazines - Nursery World
http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/tenders
http://readyforbusiness.org/2015/05/tender-opportunities-forsocial-enterprise-smes-15/
NEYTCO http://neytco.co.uk/news
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All questions are answered, all information requested is
submitted, all boxes are ticked and completed
Legal/Business Probity
Financial/Insurance
Policies & Certifications – H&S/CHAS/I8001; Equality &
Diversity; Env/ISO 14001; Quality/ISO 9001
Commercial capability – contract/project management;
resource management; resource management; H&S, Quality
& Env management/HR – recruitment & training
Technical capability – technical skills & competencies;
relevant experience; references; accreditations & sector
specific memberships
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All the instructions have been followed
Documents & information requested has been supplied and
presented in the order requested
All service requirements have been addressed
The proposal is focused on the contracting authority and not
on the bidder
All the contract risks and risks to the buyer have been
addressed
Social Values have been addressed
Criteria evaluation has been addressed
Added value
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Bidding for opportunities that are not appropriate
Late submission
Non compliant – policies/finances/insurances etc
Not following the instructions of the PQQ/ITT/RFI/Grant application
Not focussing on the client
Not being mindful of the clients requirements – evaluation
criteria/weighting
Not completely answering the question
Not supplying any or enough relevant evidence or using the same examples
In adequate experience
Not enough detail – leaving the reader asking questions
Not taking into account the competition
Not allowing enough time to prepare a great submission
Complacency – current incumbent don't provide more of the same!
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Why?
- Keep ahead of the competition
- Industry expert
- Offer value
How ?
- Blogs, industry and trade magazines
- Research the current incumbents
- Identify what your point of difference is
- Identify potential clients/funders and form relationships
- Nurture current client relationships
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No 2 – Preparation is King!
Why?
- Will always be ready to respond to an opportunity
- Will not miss an opportunity
- Minimise stress, time and money
How?
- Conduct an analysis to identify gaps in current
knowledge/documentation and information
- Compile an accessible library of information and keep it up
to date
- Sign up to portals that your potential clients use to advertise
opportunities
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Why?
- Risk rejection of submission
- Waste of time & money
- De-motivating
How?
- Read the documents – once, twice, three times!
- Make use of clarification questions
- List documents and information required
- Understand the Instructions to Tenderers
- Set up a project plan with timelines
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No 4 - Focus on the Clients needs
Why?
- Risk
- Reputation
- Reward
How?
- Research the client
- Understand their requirements
- Align your services with their strategy and/or need
- Identify the benefits – Financial & Social Impact
- Articulate the benefits throughout your submission
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Why?
- Readability
- All aspects will be covered
- Easily evaluated
How?
- Analyse each question
- Relate each question to clients
requirements/specification/strategy/objectives/evaluation criteria
- Break each question down into sub questions
- Highlight the key words
- Draft responses in bullet points
- Use key words in responses
- Identify evidence needed – quantative and narrative
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Why?
- Readability
- Easy to Evaluate
How?
- Use sections
- Paragraphs
- Sentences
- Words
- Number & Refer to Attachments/Appendices
- Photographs
- Graphics
Add personality !!
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Why?
- Readability
- Client centric – it is all about them
How?
- Refer to them in your response by name
- Refer to their stakeholders by name
- Make your response personal by using you, yours etc
- Don’t tell them what they should be doing
For each item discussed tell them
- How the activity/service relates to their needs
- How the activity/service will benefit the customer/service user
- What outcomes, outputs and impacts will come from the activity/service
- How capable or qualified you are in that area
- How your solution relates to their evaluation criteria
- Back up all your points with evidence from previous projects
DON’T LET THEM SAY – SO WHAT?
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Why?
- Will make your Bid stand out
- Will mean more points
How?
Identify what you can offer at no extra cost e.g.
- Workshops and seminars for client personnel
- Access to real time information via a portal
- Employee secondment to community projects
- Excellent performance monitoring
- Sustainability beyond the lifetime of the project
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Why?
- Readability
How?
- Plan sufficient time for checking
- Read through and check for grammar and spelling
- Get someone else to sense check it
- Does your bid match the clients specification?
- Does the text flow smoothly?
- Check that all appendices are numbered and correct in body of
submission
- Check that all forms requiring signatures are complete
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Why?
- Less stress
How?
- Don’t try to do everything yourself
- Delegate jobs to others
- Keep on top of the to do list
- Make sure you are familiar with the portal
- Aim to submit with at least 24 hours before deadline to
allow for technical problems
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Why?
- Learn and improve
How?
- Respond to emails from the buyers
- Always take the opportunity to receive more detailed
feedback
- Always conduct a review with those involved in the process
No copying without Blackbird Consultancy permission except as permitted by copyright law
No copying without Blackbird Consultancy permission except as permitted by copyright law
Thank you!!
info@theblackbirdconsultancy.co.uk
www.theblackbirdconsultancy.co.uk
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