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Tag: business development

A Comprehensive Breakdown of Tendering for Event Planning Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

Here’s an overview of what to expect and prepare for when tendering for event planning contracts

If you’re reading this article, you’re likely wondering two things about event planning contracts. The first is probably, what types of contracts are available for companies within the event planning sector? The second, what does the process of bidding for an event planning contract involve?

Finding tendering opportunities that match your services and capabilities can be an arduous and daunting process. Often, you need to filter through countless tendering platforms. The prospect of heading this process is what informed our foray into the industry. We implemented our strategy especially for bidders where existing responsibilities already take up so much of their time. At Creative Tenders, we have extensive expertise and consultancy experience in sourcing tenders and ultimately, in winning them!

The scope of event planning tenders

First, a disclaimer in relation to event planning bids is the breadth and diversity of tenders that are available. To provide a complete overview, we’ll tackle each prospective opportunity type. We’ll also look at what kind of processes you’ll need to follow when organising and constructing your tenders:

Considerations for event planning contracts

Event planning can itself be quite an intimidating term, inclusive of a diverse range of roles and responsibilities. Something we endeavour always to note with our clients is that the two most important factors to successful tendering are:

  • Experience – This refers specifically to the experience of the bidding organisation, rather than the experience of specific individuals within the organisation. 
  • Proposed methodology/solution – In the context of event planning, this encompasses your organisations management strategies and infrastructural commitments.

When demonstrating experience, it’s important to ensure that your examples illustrate, at a minimum, the following features:

  • An established understanding about the processes and procedures involved in event planning.
  • Prior experience of working on contracts with both a comparable scale and comparable planning/management responsibilities.

Typically, you’ll likely be asked to provide, at a minimum, 2-3 prior contract examples where the stated features are present. The strongest responses for contracts in event planning will often use these prior contracts. These not only act as evidence of past experience, but a platform for validating their methodology and why its suitable.

Common oversights

When entering into the bidding process for event planning/management, there are a variety of considerations you should keep in mind. There are countless instances where wholly suitable, qualified enterprises, through neglecting the following features, lost out on desired contracts:

  1. Read AND refer to the specification

Before committing to a particular contract, it is vital that the ITT (invitation-to-tender) is studied in sufficient depth. This ensures you meet the pre-qualification criteria, but also that you possess the appropriate infrastructure. Infrastructure relates to both recruitment and sourcing procedures, in place from commencement through to the conclusion of contracted works.

In lieu of an internal writing team, the following list details several strategies for determining personal/corporate suitability:

  • Location: Establish where the contracted works will take place. Firstly, where is the site/event? Secondly, where is your base-of-operations? And thirdly, is it in close enough proximity to assure the buyers of your capability to deliver during the contract?
  • Budget/scale: This should be a key consideration in all bidding proposals. Once you’ve consulted the ITT/specification for an overall budget and contract scale, take this opportunity to determine:
    • Is the budget reflective of the services that your corporation is capable of providing? If not, how will works be subcontracted to supplement this?
    • Is the scale of the project/event reflective of your infrastructure? If no, how will you alter your recruitment and outsourcing practices to make sure events are planned and managed effectively.
  • Key dates: Other key factors when searching for suitable bids are your resources and the timescales for deadlines and production. An awareness of basic key dates: contract commencement and tender submission deadlines being the primary figures worthy of note.
  • Pre-qualifying/required accreditations: Though variable per tender, contracts in the event planning industry can require an array of qualifications and licenses. These are foundational indicators of your ability to carry out and effectively meet the specified criteria for service delivery. Required qualifications may be extended to include individual experience and credentials of team members (lighting, filming, etc.). 

  1. Innovations and USPs (Unique Selling Points)

Given the diverse operational requirements which define event planning, another element worth including in responses is your enterprise’s USPs.

USPs refer to any innovations which might distinguish you amongst your competitors. To demonstrate your enterprises commitment to ongoing growth, it’s worthwhile to include >3 innovations that your company has implemented. These USPs may include any mechanisms which streamline procedures and increase productivity. Innovations come in many forms, including:

  • Systems: Though not exhaustive, systematic innovations can refer to your operating system, communications platforms, planning and reporting tools, and financial software. Assuming, for example, your organisation provides its personnel with IM platform(s), you should detail why these are comparably effective.
  • Resources: An overarching term to describe your material and infrastructural sourcing strategies. For example, if your organisation uses a unique hiring platform/strategy, how is it superior to the standard strategy?

  1. Policies and other pre-requisite documents

Like most enterprises emerging into the tendering market, your company is likely in its infancy. It may be worthwhile – prior to tendering – to ensure all appropriate corporate policies are documented and recently renewed. Though not exhaustive, the list below provides an insight into areas where policies are expected:

  • Data protection
  • Safeguarding
  • Health and safety
  • Equality
  • Code of conduct
  • Complaints

To tenderers, your policies act as indicators regarding your general operations and delivery standards. Additionally, they provide further insights into your enterprise’s lines of accountability, expectations and your treatment of employees. Policies are varied and often span numerous pages, making their production a daunting prospect for those foraying into corporate status. Luckily, at Creative Tenders, our established team of bid professionals have provided aid in refining and producing tenders. We also have extensive experience providing bespoke advice and guidance to organisations creating them.

Why tender for event planning contracts in 2022?

Since the advent of COVID-19, it’s no wonder countless suppliers assume planning contract opportunities would be scarce and excessively competitive. This isn’t completely accurate, however, as the government projection posits 35% of all tourism-based revenue will originate from events. Coupled with the government drive towards SME and VCSE sourcing, this demonstrates the present tendering climate is rife with opportunities.

How can we help?

 Presently (July 2022), restrictions continue to ease, and public events are once more becoming a commonplace occurrence. As such, the need for planning and management personnel on events of all sizes is greater than ever. A subscription to Creative Tenders provides the following support mechanisms to aid you in the process:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about event planning tenders. They can help you understand the process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new event opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Management Consultants each month.

Need additional support?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offers four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Past examples of event planning tenders found on our portal 

Event Planning & Delivery Services of the Para-Cycling Road

2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – Scotland – Budget: £990,000

Ceremonial Event Planning and Management

Scottish Government – Scotland – Budget: £700,000

GB-Middlesborough: ERDF – Grow Trees Valley Annual Conference and Event Planning

Teeside University – North East – £500,000

Whatever route you choose, Creative Tenders have options available for businesses of all sizes and contracts of all scales. We can offer your enterprise an immense leg-up in competing and thriving on contracts within the event planning sector.

How Can I Win A PR Tender?

Posted on by John Hudson

How can I increase my success bidding for a PR tender?

Are you wondering how you can win a PR tender? If you’ve never tendered before, you may have some questions about the tendering process and what to include.

4 things to expect from a PR tender

The contents of the PR tender will depend on the needs of the buyer. Each tender will be different and because of this, we will detail what is generally required and expected.

  1. Provide an outline of a PR plan

When you are responding to a PR tender, you will likely have to provide an outline of a PR plan. You should be prepared to detail how you will provide PR services for the contract you’re applying for.

Pay attention to what is noted in the tender documents. They will likely note specifics and objectives that the buyer wants to achieve from this contract. Read them carefully and demonstrate your understanding in your answers. You’d be surprised how many businesses don’t do this.

  1. Propose a working methodology

Along with the PR plan, you will often need to propose a working methodology. This could be inbound or outbound. This can include, but isn’t limited to the following:

  • Content strategy
  • Content bank
  • Content distribution
  • Web content
  • Content measurement.

The PR methodology will vary depending on the needs of the buyer and the project at hand. This is a great time to demonstrate your expertise in PR and your knowledge.

  1. Explain why your organisation is best suited to the project

For any PR tender, you want to persuade the buyer that you’re the best for the job. For this, backing up what you’re saying with facts. You could include any awards that your agency has won. Hard statistics and facts really help drive your point home.

Other metrics for reiterating why your company is the best choice, is by mentioning credentials and skills. Did anyone on the project study this at university? How many years of experience do you have collectively? Does anyone specialise in a certain area of PR? Including information like this can really strengthen your PR tender.

Your experience will have a part to play in your PR tender response. For a PR tender, you will need to detail up to three case studies. Ideally, these contract examples will be similar in scope, style and complexity to the tender you’re applying for. Remember to keep in relevant demonstrating your skills. Including how you overcame any unexpected challenges is always a plus. This will convey flexibility and problem-solving giving the buyer confidence in your capabilities.

  1. Outline of reporting methods 

Consider the reporting methods that you’re going to use during the contract. These will likely be classic PR reporting methods over a specific period. For example:

  • Website traffic
  • Volume of mentions
  • Social media engagement
  • Website views by demographics, device and region.

In conclusion

You should have a better idea of what’s required for a PR tender now. Reading the tender documents can help you gain a better understanding of what the buyer wants. You can expect to include a PR plan and working methodology.

Demonstrating your experience is essential and remember to keep it relevant. Be persuasive in your responses and explain why your company is best for the job.

DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE WITH DIGITAL MARKETING TENDERS?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

NEED HELP SOURCING PR TENDERS? WE CAN HELP!

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for digital marketing tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are 5 past examples of PR tenders sourced on our portal:

SLaM ST21 – P150 PR Support

South London and Maudsley’ NHS Foundation Trust – London Budget: £40,000

Single Party Framework for European PR Agency Services

IDA Ireland – Republic of Ireland Budget: £700,000

Admittance to a Panel for Supply of Brand & Marketing Services and/or PR Agency Services

Yorkshire Water Services Limited – Yorkshire and Humber Budget: £7.5million

Climate and Nature Communications Plan and Delivery

Herefordshire Council – West Midlands Budget: £150,000

PR & Marketing Campaign

Glenville Walker and Partners (“GWP”) – North West Budget: £7,000

A SUBSCRIPTION TO CREATIVE TENDERS CAN OFFER YOUR BUSINESS:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about tenders for design work. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free bid management consultancy each month.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow 

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for tenders for design work.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices are monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Contact us for more information.

Check out some of our other blogs:

3 Things to Consider from Event Management Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

What to Expect from Events Management Contracts

Knowing where to begin with event management contracts can be daunting and even overwhelming at times. Luckily, we are on hand to help!

We’ve put together a list of three things to consider when applying to events management contracts. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that every tender is different, and every buyer will have different requirements. It’s best to refer to the tender documents to see what exactly is required for your specific bid.

When tendering for contracts, you should always make sure you’re eligible to apply for an opportunity before progressing. Ensure you meet the economic financial standing. As a rule, you shouldn’t be going for contracts that are more than half your annual turnover.

What’s involved with events management contracts?

Some events management contracts may involve an end-to-end process. This could be including, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Event creation
  • Design
  • Management
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Management of key contributors
  • Post-event services
  • Risk mitigation.

Interested suppliers are often asked to outline the event that they are responding to. This will likely need to include a risk register or assessment.

3 tips for writing winning responses to events management contracts

  1. Proof of experience

Buyers will be expecting you to have a bank of experience of successful contracts. They will likely require you to detail up to three case studies within the last three to five years. These case studies should be similar in scope and style to the events management contracts you’re applying for.

It’s worth detailing how you overcame any unexpected challenges on these projects too. This will demonstrate your problem-solving skills and flexibility; both of which are essential in events management. This can help instil confidence in the buyer that you’re the best business for the contract.

  1. Structure your response

A winning bid for events management contracts will be well structured using clear and concise language. This isn’t just formatting, it’s also other things such as sticking to the word count. You want to ensure that you’re writing as close to the word or page count as possible. They’re there for a reason.

In terms of formatting, using bullet points can help break up blocks of text. Subheadings can also help. Often questions will contain three questions within one question. A good way to ensure that you’ve answered every aspect is by breaking it down with subheadings. That way, it will be clear for both you and the buyer that you’ve covered all bases.

Just because the tender is pre-formatted doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Consider including your brand colours and logo in your proposal. This can help your response for events management contracts stand out from others.

  1. Be united when it comes to company CVs

When you’re tendering for work, you may need to include company CVs. Putting forward uniformed CVs shows attention to detail. Imagine you’re the buyer and you’re faced with 10 CVs from a business that all look different. Then imagine you’re presented with 10 unformatted CVs – it will look a lot more professional.

Buyers often want to know will carry out each duty. Including a professional yet friendly-looking photo can be a nice touch. That way they can put a face to a name. Remember to include all the key and relevant information such as qualifications and their experience. This with further cement your capability.

So, now you know how to better your response to events management contracts. Demonstrating your proof of experience can build confidence in the buyer. Structuring your response can put you in the buyers’ good books.

NEED ASSISTANCE WRITING YOUR upcoming Events management contracts?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

WHERE CAN I FIND events management contracts FOR MY BUSINESS?

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for public affairs tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are previous public affairs tenders sourced on our portal:

Invitation To Tender for The Provision of Event, Production and Digital Media Support For The 4 Corners Festival 2022

4 Corners Festival- Northern Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

Organisation Implementation and Management of Bolsover Town Centre Events Phase 2

Bolsover District Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Major Ceremonial Event

Transport for London- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Procurement of an Outdoor Events Management Service under the Ancient Connections Project

Pembrokeshire County Council- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

QU523 – Christmas family event on Edgbaston Street (Birmingham City Centre)

Birmingham City Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Creative Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities within the creative industry.
  • A dedicated Account Manager on hand to answer any questions you may have about public affairs tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20 minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see what creative contracts in the UK can help grow your business. 

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for video and film tenders.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices are monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid.
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Tendering Portals – Reimagined

Posted on by Charlotte Jarvis

Tendering portals reimagined by Hudson Discover

Hudson’s tendering portals were designed as time-saving tools to help increase efficiency in the tendering process.

How long does it take you to search through numerous websites and find the right opportunity for your business?

Tender tracking is a full-time job. We know because our team of opportunity trackers search through thousands of websites every day.

This year, we are modernising the tender tracking process by enhancing our ten sector-specific tendering portals, including Creative Tenders.

The new features

As the updated portal is currently in development, here is a brief overview of what to expect from the new system:

The look

As you may already know, we recently rebranded the Hudson Group. Our new look is sleek and modern – therefore, our portal will be redeveloped to match.

Dynamic inter-trading

Procuring services will be even easier. Buyers will simply upload their specification and select which tendering portal they wish to target.

For example, if an accountancy business needs a new website, they can upload their specification on the new ‘Post a Project’ section and simply tick a box to send the opportunity to ‘Creative Tenders’.

Team collaboration

The new systems will allow users to assign tenders to their colleagues. Once the bid is submitted, the team can mark the tender as complete in the new ‘My Tasks’ section. This will allow for consistency across teams and increase efficiency when bidding for contracts.

User details can also be managed in the ‘My Profile’ tab. This enables the user to add or remove colleagues in just a few clicks, change passwords and update business details.

Industry collaboration

At Hudson, we believe that everything is better when we work collaboratively. We know that our clients share the same belief. Our new tendering portals will allow users to ‘opt-in’ to collaborate with other businesses.

For example, a marketing agency could contact a freelance graphic designer to ask for collaboration on a large project that they do not have the in-house design resource to deliver.

Access to more tendering portals

Clients who require access to more than one portal will be able to easily swap between systems.

Simply selecting the ‘Change Portal’ menu will allow users to move from one tender portal to another without loading different websites.

For example, a software company may require access to both our Creative Tenders and  Technology Tenders portal. 

Stay in touch

The new dashboard page will not only display the recently uploaded tenders that match your criteria but helpful updates from the Hudson Group.

For example, the dashboard will make you aware of:

  • New Tender VLE masterclasses;
  • Bid Surgery date and location announcements;
  • System changes you should be aware of;
  • Hudson notices, such as seasonal opening hours.

Remaining features

The unique benefits of our tendering portals will remain the same. Here are just a few of the features and subscription benefits that you can expect to continue:

Manual opportunity tracking

We only use manual tender tracking processes – our research identified that a third of tenders uploaded using algorithms were tagged with incorrect CPV codes.

What does this mean?

For the users of these systems, this means that they could receive notifications for irrelevant opportunities. It also means that when the users search these portals, they will still have to sift through numerous, unrelated contracts.

Our fundamental objective at Hudson Discover it to save time for our clients. Our team of opportunity trackers manually search thousands of sites every day, uploading each tender and tagging the opportunity with relevant keywords. This means that our users can simply log into the portal and filter their search results by keywords – only to be shown relevant contracts.

My favourites

When you simply can’t decide which tender to bid for, add those that stand out to your ‘My Favourites’ page. Later, you can peruse through these opportunities and compare them more easily.

Bid writing support

Our Hudson Succeed team are still only a click away. We understand that some tenders can be daunting. Our clients don’t have an unlimited amount of time or resource to spend on writing and submitting tenders. That’s why our team at Hudson Succeed are there to help.

Last year alone, the team secured £300million in direct contract wins for our clients. They proudly hold an 87% success rate and they are trusted by more than 700 businesses, globally. More information about services and testimonials can be found on the Hudson Succeed website.

Account management

Tendering can be confusing and sometimes you need a little support. Our account managers are not going anywhere.

Every client on our tendering portals receives personal support from our expert account managers. Whether you need support with getting started or responding to a specific tender, our account managers are only a phone call or an email away.

Filters

Once you sign up, all you need to do is tell the system what you are looking for and anything matching your criteria will appear on your dashboard page.

Your criteria can be categorised by location, keywords, budget and sector. This helpful functionality will remain the same.

Do current clients need to update anything?

Our existing clients do not have to change or update anything. Your account manager will contact you to let you know when the new system will be live and what to expect.

If you have any questions about the system changes or your subscription, please contact Marie Fisher via marie@hudsonprocurementgroup.co.uk.

More information

For more information about what creative contracts in the UK are available, please get in touch with our team.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

PR Consultancy Contract Exclusive to Creative Tenders

Posted on by Charlotte Jarvis

PR Consultants Required for an Exclusive Project with Hudson

We have recently uploaded a new project for PR Consultancy & Support, exclusively to Creative Tenders. This RFP requires submissions from Public Relations professionals to support Hudson with raising the profile of our group.

Hudson is the parent company of Creative Tenders and all ten sector-specific portals that sit under the Hudson Discover division. We help our clients to Discover new opportunities, Succeed at winning them, Procure more efficiently and Invest their money more wisely, all whilst helping them Grow their business, Employ the right people, capitalise on the latest technology via our internal Labs Division and ensure a sustainable and bright future for their workforce through Hudson Initiative.

Our aim

The aim of the project is to promote Hudson for the purposes of business development both externally and internally. As part of this, we have a more stringent focus on our Discover and Succeed divisions, as well as raising the profile of our Directors, Jill and John Hudson.

We want to achieve national coverage and promote our services through multiple media outlets. We will be looking to award this project to a PR Consultant/Consultancy who can help us spread our vision and raise our geographic profile, with a strong focus on London as a priority.

PR consultancy outputs include:

  • Helping to raise our Group profile and achieve national coverage. This will include facilitating all editorial content and gaining access to outlets such as BBC News, television appearances, radio appearances, national newspapers and sector magazines/publications.
  • Helping us raise the profile of our Managing Director, Jill Hudson and Group CEO, John Hudson, providing them opportunities for interviews and appearances on the above stated outlets.
  • Strategically placing Hudson’s Senior Executive staff in front of Procurement Directors, Procurement Managers, Heads of Marketing, Business Managers, Company Directors and Sales Directors for a wide range of public and private-sector organisations.
  • Being responsible for press cutting throughout contract delivery.

Please be expected to understand our multi-faceted organisation and share our ethos and vision throughout the project.

Project details

Further information for PR Consultants wishing to bid for this opportunity can be found in the downloadable brief along with submission details and in-depth requirements.

Please note, you must be a Creative Tenders subscriber in order to bid for this project. Sign up to our portal.

Clarification Deadline: 17/06/2019

Deadline for Submissions: 24/06/2019

DOWNLOAD BRIEF

Find more opportunities such as these on our Creative Tenders portal. Our Opportunity Trackers manually scour and upload creative tenders from hundreds of websites across the UK. You’re able to filter the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This saves you a lot of time – streamlining the process.

Below are some previous PR Consultancy tenders sourced on our portal:

Provision of PR Consultancy Services

Bus Eireann/Irish Bus- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Fly-Tipping Action Wales: PR Consultancy

Natural Resources Wales- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

GB-Telford: PR Consultancy Services

Telford & Wrekin Council- West Midlands- Budget: £25,000

GDPR Consultancy RFP

Charities Aid Foundation- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Provision of Marketing & PR Consultancy Services

Radius Housing- Northern Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

HUDSON PROCUREMENT GROUP UNDERGOES MAJOR MARKET RESEARCH PROJECT

Posted on by John Hudson

Procurement Policy – Major Market Research Project!

Hudson Procurement Group is currently undergoing a major research project into how businesses supply government and publicly funded bodies, in a bid to create an open, fair and transparent process by anyone spending public purse.

As part of our long-term growth strategy, we will be launching our Procure Smart platform. This research will be used to inform our knowledge as we move into our next venture – dispelling the myths and overcoming the misconceptions surrounding tendering and procurement, for all.

Whilst conducting this research we will be assessing how and where tender opportunities are published in the wider public domain. In our early stage investigations, we have discovered mass confusion amongst both buyers and suppliers regarding terminology and procurement policy, we want to eliminate this and produce these findings to advise both sides of the buy and supply table.

One of the main aims of this research project and long-term goal for Procure Smart is to gain clear insight into public spending. Through our own exploration, we have uncovered some confusion surrounding freedom of information policy requests, mainly what is available and what is not.

Our Growth Director, Jill said ‘During my 16 years’ experience working in public sector procurement, I have noticed major discrepancies between buyers and suppliers. As part of our long-term growth strategy, we are working towards complete transparency within the procurement sector by evoking a change in current government policy.

Submitting a tender response

‘We want suppliers to feel like they’re not wasting valuable time when submitting a tender response, and we want to ensure SMEs flourish by ensuring easy access of opportunities and a clear understanding of what is firstly available, and secondly what is right for their business’.

Our goal will ultimately help buyers and suppliers procure more effectively across the UK and beyond, as we lobby for smarter procurement practices to be embedded in certain legislation[s].

The launch of Procure Smart will drastically improve the way that procurement policy is conducted in the business to business industry, especially with the likes of a looming Brexit and the disconcert surrounding this.

For further information regarding this research please feel free to GET IN TOUCH!

To access information and training into tendering and procurement please see TENDER VLE!

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

ADVERTISE AND MANAGE PRIVATE SECTOR CREATIVE TENDERS

Posted on by John Hudson

ADVERTISE AND MANAGE PRIVATE SECTOR CREATIVE TENDERS

Private Sector Tenders are considered as such when a self-funded company advertises for a contractor to complete works for them by way of a contractual agreement.

Did you know that you can advertise a private opportunity such as this via our Creative Tenders portal? Whats more, you can manage, respond and receive submissions 100% free of charge regardless of whether you are an existing customer of one of our portals.

Too busy to manage the Creative project?

Let us take over! We will advertise and manage the tender opportunity on your behalf. This service includes uploading the opportunity, answering clarification questions and managing the submissions, all you need to do is choose a supplier!

Sound good? Here’s the best part. You can advertise your private sector tenders on any of our ten sector specific portals under Hudson Procurement Group!

For example, if you are a Marketing agency and you require a new piece of hardware, we would advise you to advertise this opportunity via our Technology Tenders portal. We already have Hardware-sector customers who are actively searching for opportunities on our site, put your opportunity in front of them and instantly access engaged suppliers.

One of our main goals across all of our group’s ten platforms is to encourage inter-trading to simplify the tender process from beginning to end.

This is where our Tender Connect platform comes in for phase two of our overarching business plan. This platform is built with the sole purpose of inter-trading and creating a go-to environment where both buyers and suppliers will benefit.

If you’re unsure about the stages of tendering mentioned in this blog, worry not! Our newest project, Tender VLE is here to help you understand the process. See our Clarification Questions and Breaking Down the Question videos.

We’re here to help you discover, succeed, procure and invest!

TENDER VLE IS NOW LIVE! – ONLINE BID WRITING COURSE

Posted on by John Hudson

TENDER VLE IS NOW LIVE! – ONLINE BID WRITING COURSE

B2B tendering has just been made simple as Tender VLE goes LIVE! The Tender VLE team are very excited to announce that our brand-new platform is now up and running. As we embark on this new tendering venture we would like to remind you of a few reasons behind the creation of Tender VLE.

During the team’s 40-years combined experience we have recognised the ongoing support required for both SME’s and blue-chip companies in relation to the tender process across the UK. We have noticed that many companies do not understand how to tender correctly or lack knowledge in similar areas.

Our goal is to simplify the B2B tendering process by ensuring that buyers and suppliers are on the same level of understanding – thus the birth of Tender VLE!

Company Growth Director, Jill Hudson says ‘We want to make procurement and tendering accessible to all size businesses, so we’ve launched Tender VLE to offer FREE high-quality video master classes at a level that suits you. Don’t be afraid of tendering, embrace the endless growth potential it brings to your business’.

As it stands, Tender VLE has launched containing 16 detailed videos, led by Senior Tender Consultant, Daniel Hall.

Here are the topics that Daniel has covered so far;

Breaking Down the Question – Find out how to tackle a question head-on and break it down into manageable sections. Daniel advises that you start your b2b tendering journey here!

 

PQQ Basics – Covering what a PQQ is, used for, how to complete it and why knowledge of the process is important.

 

Case Studies – How to structure your case studies and why the buyer asks to see this evidence.

 

TUPE – What it is and how it can affect suppliers.

 

Proposals and Instructions – The different approaches to tender documentation and how to comply with the requirements.

 

Clarification Questions – What does a clarification deadline mean, how you should ask these questions and a few things to bear in mind before submitting your question.

 

Time Management – Tips from our experts as to how you can effectively manage your time whilst writing a proposal.

 

Insurance when Tendering – What suppliers should be aware of when it comes to their insurance and which types of insurance you may be required to have before being invited to tender.

 

Terminology – A breakdown of the most commonly used procurement terminology and their definitions.

 

Economic and Financial Standing – How your financial suitability is established and how your turnover should affect your b2b tendering decisions.

 

Common Mistakes Made – As it says on the tin, this video looks into the most common mistakes that we have seen potential suppliers make during the tendering process and how to avoid them.

 

Framework Agreements – What a framework agreement looks like, who should enter into a framework agreement and what you can expect.

 

ITT Basics – What an ITT stands for, what does the ITT stage consist of and what to expect from this document.

 

Self-Cleaning – Defining self-cleaning, potential grounds for exclusion and how to get back in the running following non-collusion.

 

ESPD – An overview of ESPD, how it affects you and the impact of BREXIT.

 

The Tender Journey – What to expect during the tender process, the various stages and how to tackle each of them.

 

If there are any specific topics that you would like to see our Tender Consultants cover, please let us know via our LinkedIn forum HERE

Visit our brand-new Tender VLE platform by CLICKING HERE

 Or contact our bid writing consultants at Hudson Succeed for any further assistance. 

 We are here to help you UNDERSTAND!

TENDER VLE – OUR DEDICATED LINKEDIN FORUM – Bid Writing training

Posted on by John Hudson

Bid Writing training for free? – No Really!

We have exciting news! There are only four more days to wait until the launch of Tender VLE. As mentioned in our most recent NEWS, Tender VLE will be the UK’s FIRST FREE bid writing training platform. The site will consist of video-led masterclasses, delivered by our expert, in-house, bid management team.

Additionally to the main site, we will also offer a LinkedIn forum service.

What will the forum be used for?

  • Asking questions – After watching any of our videos on Tender VLE, should you still be left with unanswered questions about any of the topics – this is the place to go! Simply join the forum and ask away. One of our tendering experts will respond as soon as possible.
  • Request a topic – Is there a particular aspect of the tendering process that you would like us to cover? Let us know! If we haven’t already addressed it, we will ensure that all requested topics are covered!
  • Interact with others – The beauty of a LinkedIn forum is that you can see the questions that others have asked, along with the answers given by our bid writing, training, experts.

This forum can be used to ask us anything, our experts will do their best to respond to every question in as much detail as possible.

Senior Tender Consultant, Daniel Hall said ‘Our dedicated LinkedIn forum will be a great way for us to stay connected with our Tender VLE users. It will also help us to produce in-depth content as we move forward with the platform as we can understand the exact needs of our visitors.’

Daniel Hall will be the first instructor to appear on the site when Tender VLE launches next week. He will be taking you through the START levels of tendering, perfect for those who are either new to tendering or in need of a refresher course.

CLICK HERE to access our dedicated LinkedIn forum or simply search ‘Tender VLE Forum’ within LinkedIn!

GDPR CERTIFIED – Creative Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Creative Tenders – GDPR certified!

In light of the recent GDPR changes in Europe, we have been ensuring that all Hudson Procurement Group’s companies are updated and follow the necessary procedures.

For the main part, we were already compliant with the standards set by the General Data Protection Regulation. We believe that businesses such as ourselves, should be completely transparent with how and why we use data – so here are just a few of the ways that we have accommodated our policy in response to these changes.

  • Policy Updates – We have updated all of our privacy updates so that they are clearly structured and simple to understand.
  • ICO Membership – We have been a member of the ICO for the past two years and recently renewed our membership in coherence with the GDPR legislation.
  • Reduced Access – We have limited the number of employees who are able to access personal information about our customers.
  • Insurance – We have always been insured in the unlikely event of a data breach – as all businesses should be.

The long and short of it:

If you don’t have time to trawl through our entire privacy policy here is a condensed summary of what we use your data for;

  • In-house Analytics – We closely monitor our website analytics to ensure that we are constantly improving the user experience and to track the efforts of our team.
  • Cookie Tracking – Just as the majority of online businesses use cookies, we also track the user path of visitors to our site to further our knowledge of our customers. This allows us to create a personalised service for our customers and show the right people, the relevant information.

Group CEO, John Hudson said ‘We believe in maintaining the privacy of our customers and every visitor who uses our sites. This is why we feel it is very important to declare ourselves as GDPR certified. We implement company-wide policies to prevent data breaches however, we are thoroughly protected for extra security.’

As mentioned, we have always taken care of our customer’s personal data and abide by the new regulations.

For more information as to our GDPR compliance please get in touch HERE!

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

ONE WEEK UNTIL TENDER VLE! – Bid writing Course

Posted on by John Hudson

ONE WEEK UNTIL TENDER VLE! – Bid writing Course

Procurement training platform, Tender VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) will launch next week on 1st June 2018!

We have spoken about this new project in many of our recent blogs – but what can it do for you?

Who will benefit?

Tender VLE considers three tiers of experience when it comes to procurement training. We have modified our content to adhere to different levels of understanding that we have categorised as;

  • Start – Complete beginners guide when it comes to tendering and procurement.
  • Develop – Familiar with the processes and may have even undertaken a role in the procurement system previously.
  • Excel – This section refers to those who may already be working as Bid Writers or as part of a wider bid management team.

What is it?

 Tender VLE is an online procurement training platform. It’s the first of its kind as it is completely FREE TO USE! The site will contain video-led masterclasses, delivered by our, in-house, procurement experts, comprising of;

Daniel has multiple years’ bid writing experience, which is exemplified by his first-class degree in English and has never scored lower than 85% quality score during his Bid Writing career. He will be the first instructor to deliver expert-level content that covers the basics during our launch period and more advanced content throughout.

Director and Co-Founder, Jill has over 16 years of experience working as a Bid Writer. She has secured hundreds of contracts for suppliers across multiple industries including Creative industries, the Technology sector and Engineering firms.

At Tender VLE, our vast experience tells us that the presentation of the bid can be one of the deciding factors between a success and failure. Kathryn heads our, in-house, Creative Team, ensuring that our clients stand out through the responses’ presentation and brand-specific design, especially with the likes of Creative Tenders.

As Hudson Procurement Group’s Co-Founder, John will feature in Tender VLE’s investment masterclasses. John has experience in running multiple successful businesses and will offer first hand, long-term, strategy planning knowledge.

No time to watch the videos? Don’t worry! Each video will be accompanied by a fact sheet containing a condensed, bullet-point version, summarising each topic and a short blog that discusses the points clearly.

Why Tender VLE?

Whilst working at all levels and on both sides of the procurement industry, our experts noticed substantial knowledge gaps – leading to a complicated process. The aim of Tender VLE is to simplify the whole procedure for suppliers by clearing up any misconceptions when tendering for new work. There are many consultancies out there who provide this information and training at a cost and we know that if everyone is provided with this type of information freely, then this levels the playing field with all SME operators nationally.

Want to request a topic?

We will be adding videos to the procurement training site on a regular basis so please feel free to request a specific topic and our procurement experts will do their best to cover it in as much detail as possible.

Please send all requests or further queries via our Tender VLE LinkedIn forum.

Don’t have the time or resources to bid for work? We understand that it can be a lengthy process, get in touch with our Tender Consultants HERE to see how we can support your procurement efforts even further.

Tender VLE will launch on 1st June 2018 and can be accessed via
www.tendervle.co.uk completely FREE!

We’re here to help you SUCCEED!

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

BID SUPPORT – BREAKING DOWN THE QUESTION

Posted on by John Hudson

Bid Support – Breaking down the question

If you do not know what the question is asking – this is your first hurdle.

In order to jump that hurdle, carefully examine what kind of question it is.

Although there are hundreds of question variations out there, our bid support allows you to tackle every question you get through a very simple breakdown technique.

Does the question have (what it seems like) 10 questions in one? Does it look something like this:

EXAMPLE 1:

Please explain your risk management procedures, including what risks you feel are vital to overcome as part of this contract, as well as monitoring and mitigation approaches you would use. Please detail who will manage said risks and provide examples of where you have overcome similar risks.

This question asks for a lot of information and the first step to jump this hurdle, is to tackle it bit by bit. We break this question down into more manageable chunks, allowing clear-cut focus on every aspect of the question, making it easier for the evaluator to mark us against their evaluation criteria. We have pinpointed these out and, as part of our bid support, always encourage you to write out sub-headings to manage this effectively. Such as:

General Risk Management Procedures

Contract-specific risks

  • Risks
  • Monitoring
  • Mitigation

Risk Lead

Risk Management Experience

Under each subheading, you can then start to write your content.

Sometimes, however, the question is not that easy to break down and maybe a lot smaller, making the whole manageable chunks scenario more difficult.

Does the question ask you to explain, describe, or provide detail of a process and/or situation? If so, this is a useful way of the buyer seeing how well you respond to this and how you’re reacting to their requirements.

Open questioning allows the buyer to ask for a lot of information with a short question.

EXAMPLE 2:

Describe how you manage risks?

This question is 5 words long; however, your response limit can be in excess of 5,000 words, dependent on your offering and sector.

The management of risks may have reams of information attached to it. The important thing to do is break this down into smaller subheadings and further questioning.

Sometimes the buyer can be quite extensive in their evaluation guidance and based on this, you may already have your subheadings laid out for you, dependent on what the buyer is looking for/marking during the evaluation stage.

If the evaluation guidance doesn’t provide much detail – then look at the specification and make sure you fully understand what the client is looking for, so you can start breaking your response down into further discussion points.

For example: Your subheadings for the above example may be;

  • Recognising Risks– detailing how you identify/assess risks?
  • Monitoring Risks– what system you use to track these risks?
  • Risk Responsibilities– who maintains responsibility for managing risks?
  • Mitigating Risks– what do you do to mitigate said risks?
  • Risk Reviews– how often do you review these to adapt to change?
  • Contract Risks– what you feel are the top risks for this particular contract?
  • Compliance– what national standards/best practice do you comply with?

These are merely seven subheadings you can write about when drafting your response.

Depending on what the contract is for and the specification included – there could be a whole load of various points you need to discuss.

This is merely a small step with Bid Support when looking at a tender response, but a very important one. We are by no means English teachers, but when it comes to developing a response to accommodate buyer’s needs and requirements, we know what we are talking about!

Need further bid support? Get in touch now with our Tender Consultants!

Start by receiving those all-important opportunities today by booking a free demo from one of our 10-industry-specific portals, dedicated to helping you DISCOVER the right tender opportunities to bid for!

BEST NEW BUSINESS – HUDSON PROCUREMENT GROUP RECEIVES 3 NOMINATIONS

Posted on by John Hudson

BEST NEW BUSINESS – HUDSON PROCUREMENT GROUP RECEIVES 3 NOMINATIONS

We are over the moon to announce that we have been shortlisted for not one, not two, but three awards at this year’s National Best New Business Awards! The awards will be held at Kensington, London, this coming June!

Hudson Procurement Group has been shortlisted as a finalist for Business Innovation and Service Industry of the Year. Our Growth Director, Jill Hudson, has been shortlisted as Woman of the Year!

What an achievement!

“We are ecstatic with our nominations for these national awards. This is a credit to our fantastic team who constantly push the boundaries, allowing us to help our customers in the best possible way and to see continuous organisational growth!” says Jill.

Our organisation has seen massive business growth since our inception in 2016. Working toward 4 key strands of service to our customers. This includes:

Discover Succeed Procure Invest
This is where customers can receive both private and public tender opportunities daily to their inbox and search for tender and business opportunities. These are not only specific to their sector but specific to their actual service! Buyers are able to publish opportunities for free and stay connected to industry-specific suppliers! This involves a team of formidable Bid Managers / Bid Writers, who make up our Tender Consultants.  They support customers to succeed with their tendering efforts through various services. This also includes bid writing, guide and reviews, tender readiness and improvement programmes. Alongside this, our all-new Tender VLE, a virtual learning environment dedicated to helping businesses understand the tendering world. Similar to our Tender Consultants, we have recently launched our Procure Consult offering, where our procurement experts support buyers in helping develop tender documents that make it easier for them to evaluate and procure more effectively, including developing specifications and minimising ‘scope creep’. We are also launching an all-in-one tendering platform that will ensure efficiency when it comes to future tendering! This is where our billion-pound goal comes into effect, utilising the data that we have received for our digital platforms and capitalising on our Spend Trends offering. This will evaluate both national and international procurement spend to help deliver upon economic changes and forecasts around the world. Procurement will not only be easier to digest, but help large companies invest … in what’s best! Coming Soon!

Our Group CEO, John Hudson has commented saying, ‘to be recognised for our efforts on a national scale is fantastic news and for being a new organisation, this demonstrates that Hudson Procurement Group has already established a strong foothold in the UK market today!”

For a list of this year’s award’s finalists – CLICK HERE!

The winner of each category will be revealed at the Awards on Friday 29th June.

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.