How to Win Contracts
(Tenders)
By Mark Penny
J&B Recycling Ltd
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Who are J&B Recycling?
Winning Tenders, Do We Qualify?
Successes and Failures
Sourcing Opportunities
PQQ
Invitation to Tender
Asking Questions
Writing the Tender
Post Tender
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J&B Recycling
Medium Sized company (145 employees and
Click to edit the
£10M turnover), operating a range of waste
and recycling services across North East outline text format
England and Scotland.
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Operation of Material Recovery Facilities
(MRF), Transfer Stations, Plant and Vehicles .
Management of Council facilities such as
Transfer Stations and Household Waste
Recycling Centres.
Collection services, skip hire etc.
Winner of Hartlepool Business of the Year
Award and Environment Award in 2011 and
Service Award 2005.
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Outline Level
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Two Material Recycling Facilities (MRF)
Baltic Street MRF
For the processing of Glass, General Waste and C&D type waste.
Windermere MRF (Hartlepool) - £5M investment in 2008
For the processing of Mixed and Pre Sorted Recyclables (Kerbside and Commercial)
Waste is sorted in automated plant to produce a variety of sorted single grade outputs.
Winning Tenders, Do We Qualify?
Successes and Failures
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Over last 4 years, J&B has submitted 32
tenders (ALL FOR SERVICES)
Won 12 tenders worth combined value in excess
of £3.25 M per annum, plus £0.3M from one offs
37% success rate when tendering
All are 3-5 year contracts apart from two short
term site clearances
Two contracts extended for a further 2 and 5
years
Examples of Local Authority Success
Tees Valley
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A range of contracts directly with
Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar Councils
Joint Tees Valley contract for Bring Sites with
all five Tees Valley local authorities
Little success with Hartlepool Council unless
joint tenders
Scottish Borders Council SBC
Worked with SBC since 2006
Includes transport in bulk of comingled kerbside materials from three council Transfer
Stations to our site and processing at J&B Recycling MRF
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Fife Council
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Worked with Fife since October 2010 to recycle plastic and cans
Collection from Council owned transfer stations in bulk
Sorting and Recycling of dual stream kerbside recyclables
Other Public Sector Success
Middlesbrough College (16,000 students)
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Originally a four site campus. Now relocated to single city centre site
Total Waste Management, with 95% recycling rate
Housing Hartlepool (now Vela Group - including Tri-star Homes)
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“I am very impressed with J&B's service provision and in the
commitment shown to Housing Hartlepool and our staff. We have
created a very good relationship with mutual respect between the
staff of both Companies”
John Gill , Building Services Manager, Housing Hartlepool
Failures
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Price versus Quality : 100/0, 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40,
50/50 evaluation
We have never lost a tender where we have been best
on price!
We have lost quite a few where we have been best on
quality though!
Same information submitted to different councils -1st on
quality for one but 5th on quality for the other!
Human error - missing attachment.
Beware of cut and paste.
Sourcing Opportunities
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Tender Notices - set up customised e-mail alerts via area, council,
description code, threshold etc.
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NEPO (free), North East only*
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Sid4health (free) NHS platform, search only
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Delta eSourcing , (subscription)
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inTend (subscription)
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Bip Tracker (subscription)*
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Blue Light (free), national*
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Public Contracts Scotland (free)*
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TED, Official Journal of EU (free)
Subscriptions can be £regional, ££UK or £££European levels.
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Trade Press
Individual Council Websites
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Pre
Qualification
Questionnaire
(PQQ)
PQQs generally need the same information but often in a different
order or format
Often does not include detailed specification for what is required by
contract. Brief description in notice.
Beware the double negative for exclusion questions (pass/fail).
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Has your organisation been served any prohibition notices?
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Can you confirm that your organisation has not been served any
prohibition notices?
ISO and or CHAS accreditation saves a lot of time
Build a bank of stock paragraphs and attachments to draw from
Pedantic on Health and Safety
May not be a PQQ, included in ITT
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Invitation
to
Tender
Don’t be overawed
Maybe in two parts. Part one being PQQ type
questions which can be pass/fail.
Be aware of evaluation scoring breakdown %.
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Price
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Methodology & Service Delivery
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Innovative processes
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Customer Care
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Resources
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Environmental Issues
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Quality Issues
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Community benefits and local deliverables
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Asking
Questions
Tender Portals
Stay anonymous
 Read ITT and specifications thoroughly
 Don’t give away ideas (information is made
public)
Site Visits
 Talk to competitors at group visits
 Individual visits
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Writing
and
thenottender
Ensure
compliant
bid,submitting
alternatives may
be
considered without a compliant bid.
Don’t cross reference. Repeat information if necessary
for different questions, or ask yourself if the earlier
response was relevant?
Make it easy to read and find the answers
Don’t overload, keep it relevant
Avoid generic responses and information
Exclude promotional literature and unnecessary
attachments
Take note of question deadlines as the answers may
mean you have to alter your response
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Post
Tender
Ask for feedback,
irrespective
of result - they
cannot refuse
If feedback is limited, ask for more
Learn from mistakes
Refine your technique
If you win, arrange a pre-start meeting and
ensure adequate resources for roll out.
Make sure both parties have the same
understanding as this is the most important
phase.
Summary
Strategy
Restrict targets
Planning
Allow plenty of time for completion
Submission
Relevant information only
Feedback
Always ask for feedback if not provided
Successful Roll Out
Get off to a good start
Good Luck