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Tag: creative tenders

TENDERS & BUYER PRESENTATIONS – TOP 3 BENEFITS OF ATTENDING A SITE VISIT

Posted on by John Hudson

TENDERS & BUYER PRESENTATIONS – TOP 3 BENEFITS OF ATTENDING A SITE VISIT

It’s an obvious analogy: The bigger tenders are – the more effort that is required from both the supplier and buyer!

We’ve been to hundreds of site visits and buyer presentations to know that this is a crucial part of tenders and how they are developed.

Buyer presentations are delivered usually halfway through the Tender exercise and they provide all tenderers/suppliers the opportunity to get to know the buyer’s environment and culture, as well as a more detailed outlook on the requirements at hand.

This is usually for large-scale public-sector contracts. 

The buyer invites all suppliers to a site visit, which may include a group tour or a group presentation. This is to provide suppliers with a better opportunity to comprehend what’s expected of them during delivery and with developing their tender response.

We’ve provided our top 3 benefits in attending a buyer presentation/site visit.

  1. To comprehend – sometimes it takes more than a specification document to truly understand what’s expected – especially in a large, multi-million-pound contract that spans multiple regions. As you can expect, with undergoing these types of visits, online clarification questions are often decreased as all aspects will be clarified on the day. Yes – the buyer should make this public to all tenderers, but we’ve found that you’ll tend to grasp more out of the day rather than on a paper-reflected document. Whole conversations aren’t recorded and provided, so there will always be something (possibly crucial) that may be missed on paper, but clear on the day.

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  1. To introduce yourself – by getting your face in front of the buyer[s] – this not only introduces yourself to them but if you display strong professionalism, knowledge and decorum – this will also stick in their minds. If you send your administrator on the day who’s clueless about your operations – and this is clearly projected – the buyer will consider your organisation less committed to the project and you don’t want to be remembered for that. Choose your most knowledgeable staff to attend who you know will act professionally and come back with a steered view of how better to develop your tender response and leave a lasting impression on the buyer.

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  1. To stay ahead of your competitors – now we aren’t one for shaming our competitors – no matter how subtle. However, if you attend grouped discussions you’ll see exactly who your competition is. This provides in many ways a more competitive Tender process as you should be trying to enhance your response based on advantages over your counterparts. For example: If Company X is present and they deliver a certain way – you can always state how your delivery model provides much more added value to the buyer. Don’t go naming and shaming in your response – keep it classy and always have the buyer’s needs in mind!

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These are just some of the things that make attendance at a site visit crucial when developing your tender response.

If you require any support at all with the development of your tenders – please get in touch with our Tender Consultants who’ll be happy to assist you in your efforts.

CLICK HERE for a FREE Consultation.

We’re here to help you succeed!

CREATIVE TENDERING OPPORTUNITIES | WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Posted on by John Hudson

CREATIVE TENDERING OPPORTUNITIES – THAT’S WHAT WE DO! WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE, HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY! 

If you are a customer on one of our platforms, please help us by having your say. Highlight what does work for you and what doesn’t, when it comes to your subscription against one of our many platforms.

We take customer feedback very seriously. We do so to ensure that every business engaging with our services is treated with the utmost professionalism and care.

We welcome any comments and feedback continually and deliver the means by which to capture this data on a monthly basis.

Every month we send a brief survey. This looks at various aspects of our offerings, with the aim of receiving as much feedback as possible to serve our continuous improvement measures.

We constantly work on ways to improve and we rely heavily on our customer’s voice to ensure specific needs are met both efficiently and effectively.

The survey will only take a couple of minutes and features 5 questions to answer at your leisure.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART!

If you’re not a customer, but want to experience first-hand how we can provide you with creative tendering opportunities including Marketing Tenders and Printing Tenders. Please click the following link to book a FREE demo with one of our dedicated Account Managers. They will guide you through the most relevant Tender Platform that remains specific to your provision.

 BOOK YOUR FREE DEMO FOR CREATIVE TENDERS NOW!

Want to find out more about our overall services, please visit our group website HERE to find out more.

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. 

TUPE – WHAT IS IT & HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOU?

Posted on by John Hudson

TUPE – WHAT IS IT & HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOU?

I know what some of you are thinking – what on earth is TUPE?

One thing we are not here to do, is provide you a whole lot of legal jargon surrounding compliance and adherence to specific laws. This blog focuses on the basics of TUPE and how this applies to suppliers who are tendering!

TUPE is an abbreviation of Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment.

This is commonly used in a range of industries and rarely used in others, however we still think this is useful to comprehend, as this is widely considered across many UK tenders.

Let’s give you an example:

So, Bill, Bob and Ben are all IT Technicians for a local council on behalf of Company X.

Company Y has just won the tender to provide the IT Technical Solutions Contract over a 5-year period for this local council, meaning Company X will no longer provide the services.

To ensure Bill, Bob and Ben are not made redundant or out of work due to supplier changeover, the local council has stipulated that TUPE will apply as part of Company Y’s contract win.

Company Y must then liaise with Bill, Bob and Ben and ensure their transfer from Company X over to Company Y goes without a hitch. They undergo company consultations and inductions and ensure a fair and transparent process is followed, which complies with regulations.

Make sense? – it’s basically a procedure, governed by law, to move employees and any liabilities associated with them from an old employer to a new employer, and when it comes to procurement and supplier changeover, TUPE can be rife!

How does it affect you?

Again, this is used dominantly in some sectors, whilst rarely used in others. You may find you may never have to deal with TUPE. But it’s always good to be aware of what to expect.

The likes of Engineering, Technology, Construction, Utilities, Manufacturing and Logistics, where continuous delivery/support is required with certain buyers from grass-root operatives, means TUPE majorly applies to ensure employees of Company A can continue to work on contracts when Company B takes over.

If TUPE does apply and you have to inherit one or more employees as part of the contract-win, you’ll have to consider multiple things regarding the management of TUPE as per your tender response.

What you should do:

  • Assess the TUPE database! – this may be on a spreadsheet or a similar information sheet – make sure full assessment is made on this. This should detail employee liabilities, such as sick pay, holiday pay, etc. This is where the most basic details of the employee come to light, so you can ensure you can afford the staff you may potentially inherit.
  • Price Correctly! – use the details of all TUPE staff (acquired from the database/information sheet) to ensure you are taking into account clear variances in your pricing model. You, as Company 2 may pay your staff a specific amount, but Company 1 may pay them a lot differently. Take this into consideration.
  • Understand your responsibilities! – do you need to contact the new employees directly or will the buyer bridge this relationship initially? – Understand what you need to do when it comes to managing TUPE staff.
  • Get Help! – in your tender response, if there are any questions on TUPE management, state how you’ll use a reputable and fully qualified legal service for support, advice and guidance to ensure full complicity against the regulations.

If you’re struggling with the mind field that can be TUPE regulations and require some support with your tender management approach, GET IN TOUCH TODAY! Our Tender Consultants are always here to help you understand, prepare and succeed!

How about discovering those all-important opportunities where TUPE may or may not apply? Our Tender Connect service, offers 10-industry-specific platforms providing you will both Public AND Private opportunities across your sector.

Framework Agreement – Top 4 questions to ask yourself!

Posted on by John Hudson

FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT – TOP 4 THINGS TO ASK YOURSELF

You’re most likely to see the term ‘Framework Agreement’ scattered across our tendering portals, asking for multiple suppliers to deliver/supply either one or more services/goods across various locations. Sounds pretty broad, right?

Well, through utilising a Framework Agreement, this is a much smarter way of working for a lot of buyers and procurement agencies. Although it may be a contractual headache at times, the long-term aspects to delivery remain progressive and are more and more often used across the UK procurement sector.

See our ‘TENDERING DOESN’T NEED TO BE COMPLICATED’ blog for other terms you may see!

Multi-provider Framework Agreements are quite simply, contracts or agreements between one or more organisations. There is such a thing as a Single Provider Framework, where one provider is utilised for ad-hoc call-off requests for particular services/goods, however, that is a story for another day.

Multi-provider frameworks can be exhibited via the following example:

London-based Council seeks up to 8 Creative Agencies / Freelancers (per LOT) to undergo multiple creative services. This includes:

  • LOT 1: – Digital Design & Branding
  • LOT 2: – Website Development & Build
  • LOT 3: – PR & Marketing
  • LOT 4: – Managed Print Services

As you can see here, the buyer is asking for 8 suppliers per LOT (service), meaning there will be a total of 24 suppliers as part of this contract. Although you may have to share the spotlight with your competitors, it’s a fantastic way of getting your company heard across the Creative Sector and to show your position in the market alongside your competitors. Plus, there’s work and money involved.

The majority of companies argue that if you don’t score the highest tender, then your impending work is decreased by a long shot. Sometimes, you may be right, but a lot of the time you may be wrong.

Here are the 4 crucial questions you must ask yourself when tendering for a framework agreement:

1. How many suppliers is the opportunity open to?

Remember, the more suppliers the opportunity is open to, the more chance of securing a place on the Framework.

2. Do you have a good chance of winning it?

Obvious question you might say, but you’d be surprised at how many organisations go for work that (at the time of tendering) they could potentially deliver but haven’t got the corporate literature or writing skills to make them stand out on paper. Look at our ‘To Bid or not to Bid’ blog to look at what you can do to ensure your success is maximised! 

3. Are you going for multiple LOTs?

Do you have to submit a response per service/LOT? Does this mean you have to submit 4 or more tender responses? – if so, always make sure you have the resource and time to do this. Never replicate your answers, always give as much time to each individual tender/LOT to ensure increased chances of success. It is better to focus more of your time with something that you can deliver better in, than going for all LOTs where other competitors may have the upper-hand. Go for the LOT where you know you can be number one! If you don’t think you’ve got the upper-hand, then should you be wasting time on it.

4. What is the process of contract award?

One of the most important aspects of a Framework Agreement is to understand the process that you undergo when you’re in the framework and how is work dished out? This could work in multiple ways, so remember to read the instructions carefully. Some examples include:

  • Mini-competition – this is where the buyer asks all suppliers on the framework to quote them a price for a specific job at hand. This may include a quality aspect also. The cheapest quote wins!
  • First Supplier wins all – this is where the supplier who scored the highest via the tender process, will be guaranteed all work. If they can’t deliver a specific element, then it will go down the chain to the supplier who scored second. If they can’t deliver, then the supplier who came third and so on – all the more reason to be completely focused on the service you work best in and become number one!
  • Drop down effect – some buyers take it in turns to disperse work. In this case, the highest-ranking supplier would receive the first job, the second highest ranking supplier the second job and so on.

All decisions to how the framework is managed are declared by the buyer in the ITT (invitation to tender) stage. It’s usually transparent from the get go!

Find out how you can receive various framework opportunities straight to your inbox, by BOOKING A FREE DEMO TODAY!

Frameworks can be extremely complex when tendering for works. Remember our Tender Consultants are here to help!

PRIVATE TENDER OPPORTUNITIES – Intertrading at its finest!

Posted on by John Hudson

Want to find more Private Tender Opportunities?

The best way to inter-trade is with us – are you ready to do business?

Intertrading – a term that so many businesses want to hear day in and day out. It’s a term that indicates business transactions being a two-way street, featuring both Private Tender Opportunities and B2B-specific leads – “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”

The main aim of Hudson Procurement Group is to ensure procurement and tendering is managed in the easiest, most transparent ways possible and we feel intertrading is a big part of that!

We have been back to the drawing board in the development of our Hudson Discover offering, due to the unrivalled success of our 10 industry-specific platforms.

Hudson Discover is all about INTERTRADING and ensuring that our customers who are receiving public contract opportunities via their subscription to our dedicated sector-specific website, can easily work alongside another customer via a different platform and receive Private Tender Opportunities.

Phase 2 is currently underway, and this will be on the ground running by December 2018.

We are wanting to tell you about what to expect and how YOU can maximise your opportunity tracking and how you can soon procure in a more effective and efficient way.

For e.g., if you are a Graphic Design agency and in need of a new piece of hardware? Those registered on our Creative Tenders portal can publish an opportunity which is made available to our Technology Tenders portal – filled with hardware-affiliated organisations. Or, if a Cleaning Company (subscribed to our Facilities Tenders portal) is after a new update to their website, voila – post the opportunity on Creative Tenders and you’re onto a winner!

We are here to help you bridge the gap between exchanging new business so it’s easier and more centralised.

We have also published a brand-new opportunity on our Creative Tenders portal TODAY! This is an EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY aimed at Digital Agencies for the provision of a Content Management System and Website! Opportunity ends on 16th April 2018!

All the more reason to be a part of the action, right?

Of course, it isn’t only subscribed customers who can post opportunities across our platforms to our growing customer-base, any buyer across the UK can do this. And the best part is – it’s 100% FREE to publish opportunities. Our team will even help you ensure the specification is clear, coherent and developed to avoid scope-creep etc.

So, what are you waiting for?

Join our platforms to see exclusive private opportunities from buyers across other industry sectors and ensure you intertrade more effectively using a one-stop-shop for all of your business needs.

Get in touch and BOOK A FREE DEMO TODAY!

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. 

BBC LAUNCHES THIRD PHASE OF THEIR DRAMA DIRECTORS SCHEME | RIVER CITY

Posted on by John Hudson

BBC launches the third phase of their ‘Drama Directors Scheme’ with the Scottish soap opera ‘River City’.

Do you want the chance to be behind one of the UK’s biggest drama series?

Well now, you can.

Pitches and CVs are being sought nationwide to find the next best director[s] to serve on multiple Continuing Drama Series.

BBC has announced that ‘River City’ will be the next show that will provide 2 trainee directors with the opportunity to be mentored within the next year.

BBC has stated that “as part of [director] training, successful candidates will receive a full credit on one episode of the drama. If the director has shown that they can meet the standards required, the show aims to hire them within nine months for a full directorial commission. It is our ambition that this will be the first step of an ongoing partnership with each of these directors; and, as their careers develop, so will their relationship with the BBC and the wider television drama community.

The opportunity is already underway with a deadline of 09th April 2018 at 10 am.

Please CLICK HERE for procedures on how to apply.

You can find similar opportunities to this on our Video Production Tenders page.

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. 

WHAT ARE CPV CODES? THE PAINS AND PITFALLS OF PROCUREMENT

Posted on by John Hudson

What are CPV Codes? The Pains of Procurement

CPV Codes – the abbreviation most people assume is Complex, Problematic, Valueless.

In actual fact, the term stands for Common Procurement Vocabulary – although the prior may still apply.

 What are they?

CPV codes are used to categorise tenders into a ‘subject matter’. This allows for buyers to classify a criterion of what they want to procure and helping suppliers source these business opportunities more efficiently and effectively.

Or so we had hoped.

CPV Codes are 8-digit signifiers, followed by a classification number (for e.g. 12345678-1). This is to electronically source tender/business opportunities and publish them in front of the eyes of the right businesses that offer the required service.

Basically – when a Council needs to tender for a Security contract (for example) over 5 years costing approximately £700,000 per annum, they have to post this on OJEU (due to the high value amount). They publicise this to both UK and European companies (due to the value) and list the code in order for it to be recognised by relevant Security Companies nationally and internationally. In this case, the code is 79710000-4.

This opportunity is then broadcast on various websites across the country specifically appealing to those companies who are registered on various platforms to receive opportunities with the code 79710000-4.

Following so far?

Now, the initial concept of CPV codes was destined to be the answer to buyers and supplier’s prayers nationally, as procurement moved closer toward the digital age over a decade ago. However, somewhere along the line, things got a tad confusing and more complex.

Because UK procurement is so vast and wide, there is literally a CPV code for every service and product you can think of that is mainstreamed in the UK/EU. It’s apparent that a lot of buyers are either not aware of this, are using codes incorrectly or not using them at all.

Want to find out about CPV codes and love a little light reading? Feel free to read this 375-page document – it tells you every code from the supply of Petroleum jelly (09221100-5) to the supply of Beetroot (03221111-7).

In 2016, there was a large piece of research carried out by the European Commission which stated that out of the sampled 405 contract notices tested.  23% had the wrong code associated with the scope of work tendered. That is nearly a quarter of notices not being sourced and published in the correct way through using these codes, making it HARDER for buyers to get their opportunities in front of the right businesses. Now imagine if they had tested 1000 contract notices. How many of these would have been seen by a minority and not the majority.

A recent example of this (from Feb 2018 – below) shows a DPS for the Provision of One-to-One Tutors.

CPV Codes
CPV Codes

Please also see ‘DPS – What is a Dynamic Purchasing System?’ for more information on this type of opportunity.

The buyer AND online portal in question have used the following code – 80000000-4 Education & Training Services, and probably unbeknownst to the buyer, there is a more specific code available for use – Tutorial Services 80590000-6. This is a prime example of how opportunities aren’t filtered across sub-sectors and are typically kept general and as a supplier (for let’s say ‘Business Enterprise Training’, who don’t offer 1-2-1 tutorials to children) you are either inundated with irrelevant opportunities or depending on what codes are used and which portals you are registered with (as not  websites use CPV coding) – receiving no opportunities at all.

Now, what if the buyer had only used the code Tutorial Services 80590000-6 and the supplier wasn’t receiving notifications due to them clicking an incorrect code upon sign-up or if the portal doesn’t use the CPV code option all at.

WE HOPE YOU’RE STILL WITH US!

It’s worthy to note that a contract for the ‘COLLECTION OF KEY QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION ON THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S MERGER DECISIONS’ was never awarded due to the code for ‘market research’ being used, when in fact, something more appropriate like the code for ‘economic research’ or ‘research services’ could have been used.

 This is where Tender Connect steps in.

We NEVER rely on CPV codes and through using procurement specialists, we filter through all opportunities in the Creative Sector across hundreds of notification platforms daily to ensure our customers receive the bespoke opportunities that apply to THEM!

The majority of national portals have electronic algorithms that scour and publish opportunities based on CPV codes alone, meaning a quarter of these are not being publicised as effectively as they can be.

With our services – If you are a website/digital agency, a design agency or an events management company, you’ll receive individual tenders that apply to you.

We also provide Full Service Agencies a range of opportunities that are specific to them too!

 

Please see our ‘Why use Creative Tenders’ blog for how this works in full.

Or for more information about our Creative Tenders portal CLICK HERE.

Don’t get put off by CPV codes.

We don’t use them!

We don’t need to!

Join the revolution!

WHY CHOOSE CREATIVE TENDERS? Helping you discover Creative Bids!

Posted on by John Hudson

WHY CHOOSE CREATIVE TENDERS? Helping you discover Creative Bids!

Creative bids can be difficult to find, so we have put together a short guide to demonstrate how Creative Tenders can help you!

Creative Tenders is an online platform which ensures all UK-wide contracts and tender opportunities (both private and public) are captured from the excessive number of national portals. These are categorised through specific sub-sectors, and uploaded on a user-friendly website – daily!

That’s ‘what’ it is – now let’s go to the ‘why’ you should be using it. 

Are you registered to a platform where you receive opportunities regularly?

If so –surely, you’ll have noticed that you receive opportunities that are not relevant to you. Or, sometimes receive the opportunity one week after it is posted, OR do not receive any opportunities at all.

These are a few of the many key issues we have recognised in our procurement/tendering experiences. Where electronic algorithms based purely on CPV codes hinder any efforts of receiving tender opportunities. We don’t mean to confuse you – but for a lot of SMEs that’s exactly what this is – confusing!

Please see our ‘What are CPV Codes? The Pains of Procurement’ blog to understand what CPV Codes are all about.

Basically – we are the only company in the UK that has sector-specific RESOURCE who scours thousands of internet portals MANUALLY and sends sub-sector opportunities to customers DAILY! Meaning, when our team members come across either public AND/OR private opportunities for creative bids, such as ‘website design’ – this will be immediately published to our customers who identify as a ‘website agency’ (for example).

Creative Tenders offers daily notifications of the most up-to-date business / tender opportunities across the UK. This is filtered and broken down to the following sub-sectors:

  • Design
  • Digital/Software
  • Marketing/Communications/Advertising
  • Video/Animation/Photography
  • Events/Exhibitions
  • PR
  • Print

After careful research and the fact our Growth Director, Jill Hudson (nee. Newey), holds almost two decades worth of experience in the Creative Sector. We know the types of creative bids that YOU WANT to see!

This is one of the 10 platforms we offer, with others including:

Phase 1 of our growth plans is happening now, so you can discover business opportunities that is bespoke to your service offering.

Phase 2 is coming later in the year with the launch of our Tender Connect Service. This will be where customers from our alternative platforms (above) can post private opportunities across another specific platform. i.e. if an events company on Creative Tenders requires catering support they will publish the opportunity to our Hospitality Tenders platform, directly to our Catering customer.

Inter-trading at its finest!

“We have been using Creative Tenders for over 7 months now and have already gained two contract wins based on the private and public opportunities available on this website, that we didn’t come across anywhere else. We love it how all opportunities are in one place and dedicated to the service we offer. This has saved us time seeking these ourselves, which has allowed more time on developing the opportunities at hand.” Design Agency, Creative Tenders.

As some may say – the proof is in the pudding. We offer a FREE demo to anyone who is interested. Get in touch now to join the hundreds of customers who are receiving bespoke opportunities daily!

Let us help you DISCOVER!

DIGITAL MARKET PLACE – Creative Tenders Support

Posted on by John Hudson

DIGITAL MARKET PLACE – Creative Tenders Support

So, the government launched Digital Market Place to support digital companies with sourcing government contracts and government buyers to source digital suppliers.  Seems simple, right? Not exactly.

In theory, we totally love Digital Market Place, I mean who wouldn’t as a tender writer for digital businesses.  Our main concern, however, is that the tenders are locked down to registered suppliers and it’s been an age since they’ve opened it up for new registrations.  Great for our customers who are already registered, not so great for those who aren’t.

It’s simple to register your interest to get a notification when they open the gates for new supplier registrations, all you have to do is click this link and add your email address – https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/suppliers/supply.

The types of tenders you will find on Digital Market Place range from day-rate development work to full-scale multi-million-pound software and web projects. In our opinion, budgets tend to be larger and contracts posted are for experienced digital agencies rather than start-ups/small agencies, but don’t let that put you off applying to be a registered supplier. Once you’re on, you’re on.  You do however have to keep details up to date to ensure your registration remains live.

The words from the horse’s mouth over at https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/suppliers/supply states that:

You will be able to apply to sell:

  • digital outcomes, for example, a team to build a service
  • digital specialists, for example, an individual developer or user researcher
  • user research studios
  • user research participants

G-Cloud

You will be able to apply to sell:

  • cloud hosting
  • software
  • technical support

We will issue via our social channels and customer newsletters, information regarding Digital Market Place’s registration announcement, so keep an eye out in your inbox.

HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you want to know? Creative Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you want to know? Creative Tenders

Every month – we want to hear from YOU!

Creative Tenders wants to get to know you as a customer and understand your thoughts, processes, and problems when it comes to UK tendering.

Our vision has remained the same since DAY 1:

We want to help businesses effectively discover contract opportunities that are out there, help them to succeed with their tendering efforts. We love to support like-minded organisations to procure through guided support and innovative inter-trading, and help deliver crucial economic results that helps conglomerates invest in what’s best.

As part of our impending launch for Tender VLE, we are wanting to find out your ‘pains of procurement’. So, we can deliver you FREE training and support in order to maximise your chances of tendering success.

This questionnaire features 5 short questions, which takes around 2 minutes to complete.

This is your chance to be heard and tell us your opinions on procurement, what you want to know and/or what you want to understand better!

If something doesn’t make sense – tell us!

We will try and get this across in a simple yet effective fashion!

CLICK HERE to take part!

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR AREAS INCLUDING;

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

Bid Writing – To bid or not to bid?

Posted on by John Hudson

Bid Writing – To bid or not to bid?

THAT is the question! … Right?

Many factors may affect your decision to either bid or not bid for a contract. Rather than making it a gruelling and drawn out tender process, keep it simple.

We have put together a few checklist points, which you can use to determine an answer to the age-old question of tendering – to bid or not to bid?

CHECKLIST
Have you got 3 ideal case studies?
These are to be similar in scope, value and scale etc.
Is it right for you?
Look at the size, scope, location, specification – carefully assess the work – don’t be bidding for work in Uganda if you can’t deliver there
Is it financially viable?
Is it worth it? – would you be making a profit?
Do you meet the financial standing?
The golden rule is that you shouldn’t bid for a contract that is worth more than 50% of your annual turnover
Do you offer something unique in the market?
Look at your organisation’s USPs– what can you do that your competitors can’t?
Does this fit in with a long-term strategy?
Will this help expansion and fit into key goals for your company?
Do you need to outsource any work?
If so, how much? If it’s more than 50% why should you be chosen over other prime deliverers?
Does your company have the ability to deliver the project on paper?
Check your team CVs – is the experience and capability there?
Do you have time?
Do you require support? Can you afford to commit the time, effort and cost?
Would you choose yourself for this?
Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes – would you offer your company the workload compared to your competitors? How good can you put your offering across on paper?

How we can help further…

These are just a few examples of what you can ask yourself when deciding to bid or not to bid for a contract in your sector. We can help you decide via a highly effective and simple tender-readiness exercise our company provides, along with writing services, tender/procurement training and the best opportunity tracking around via industry-specific portals!

We don’t just look at the fact whether you should bid or not bid for any project but take into consideration your current practices, policies and written documentation to see if this sufficient against tender-specific requirements. It’s all well and good deciding to bid for a project/contract, but if you don’t have adequate processes, manuals and method statements etc., this will undoubtedly be your downfall. Make sure you’re fully ready to go!

Take the hassle out of the bid decision-making process and go for what is right for YOU!

Let us help you get there and ultimately make you grow, develop and standout!

Get in touch!

The Rules and Regulations when Tendering!

Posted on by John Hudson

The Rules and Regulations when Tendering

Procurement: – The aspect of a business that many organisations wish was easier.

Buyers in the public sector, such as housing associations, councils, and other relevant government departments are dealing with public money. Our taxes! So, therefore, all that is procured must be done so in the fairest and most transparent ways possible.

If any conflicts of interest and/or other bias proceedings occur when tendering, there can be serious consequences to this. Especially with buyers paying massive fines and/or representatives facing prison time. The way in which procurement departments procure all works in the fairest way possible is called ‘sourcing the most economically advantageous tender’ (MEAT). This is usually established via an open process:

Open Process

 Open to all organisations to submit a tender. On large projects, this may involve a pre-qualification process (PQQ) that results in a list of suitable suppliers who will be invited to tender (ITT). This open approach usually results in a large number of responses of varying suitability (i.e. both large companies AND SMEs).

It has been noted that more needs to be done to ensure ALL organisations are familiar with the ‘open process’ of tendering and the rules and regulations behind it. Hudson Procurement Group are here to do just that! Our aim is to improve the nation’s understanding of the broad term that is Procurement and eliminate the worries and qualms of managing tender processes by providing lucrative guidance and advice to ALL.

Our focus here is purely based on how the rules of public sector tendering via an open process can affect you and what can be done to ensure you’re at the top of your game:

Each UK public sector buyer is obliged by EU law to:

  • publish the contract opportunity in the public domain – our industry-specific portals (incl. Creative Tenders, and Technology Tenders to name a few) are the first of its kind to have manual daily bulletins processed/disseminated by an efficient team of people, rather than [mostly] flawed algorithms via automated systems used by ALL our competitors;
  • inform all suppliers of how tenders are to be evaluated – 95% of the time this is split between a quality and a commercial ratio (sometimes including a presentation stage too) – outline your tender strategy/focuses here – is 80% of the mark purely based on cost – are your rates competitive?
  • ask for whatever they feel is relevant to the opportunity – this could be method statements, evidence of past work, policies and written procedures – are you up to date with all background content – you don’t want to spend another 2 whole days creating a new policy from scratch- this minimises time from your actual tender response;
  • not discriminate against businesses registered in another EU country– so currently you may be up against your French competitors or other EU companies that are trying to make their mark in the UK – know your market – how do YOU stand out?
  • clearly, state all deadlines – this includes deadline to ask clarification questions & deadline for submission etc. Organise your time wisely based on this!
  • provide at least a 10-day standstill period – this is the period between contract award notification and actual contract award, allowing other suppliers the opportunity to contest/dispute the decision[s] made;

What will change in the coming years?

As we all know, some sort of changes may likely occur over time due to the whole Brexit saga and we will be the first to update you on how this affects you! For now, there has been no immediate impact on the legislative position in the UK and all the provisions listed above continue to apply!

These are just a few regulations in a very large pond filled with procurement jargon. Our upcoming Tender VLE service will ensure this jargon is broken down and shared via understanding methods and practice. The days of wishing procurement were easier are now over! Watch this space!

In Development – Tender VLE

Posted on by John Hudson

In Development – Tender VLE

Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have a one-stop shop for all your tender needs?

How about a shop that doesn’t charge and provides access to ongoing training, advice and guidance weekly?

3 words: LOOK NO FURTHER.

Here at Hudson Procurement Group we are proud to announce the launch of Tender VLE. 

A fantastic and engaging virtual learning environment which provides ongoing support, both with bid writing and procurement, TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, FOR FREE!

With hundreds of subscribers already established on our innovative sector-specific platforms, one thing has become well known to us. This is that the majority of our customers require additional tender support from time to time. Our platforms currently allow customers to view opportunities that are not only specific to their sector, but specific to their exact service. We do this through daily bulletins manually created by internal staff, meaning opportunities are scoured across the country daily to ensure exact matches are ALWAYS listed.

This is proving extremely successful and highly desired by all clients. But, now it’s time to start acting on these opportunities and dealing with what most would describe as the ‘pain of procurement’ – writing a tender!

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ENTER Tender VLE

Tender VLE is a video-based e-learning platform that allows YOU to get up to speed with how tendering works. It also runs you through how YOU can maximise these opportunities by developing knowledge further in this field. It’s important now, more than ever to develop your skillset and embrace tendering rather than shy away from it.

We understand that video content is at its height, and there is a surprisingly low amount of knowledge-based tendering information available online. For these reasons, we will be using highly engaging video material in all learning sessions. This will be accompanied by a written ‘how-to’ guides so that we cater for the masses.

We’ve invested in the development of this product because our customers need it. We act quickly on customer requests and believe the easiest way to share knowledge far and wide is via online video master-classes. We’ve also decided to provide this content for free!

We won’t charge to grow and develop the UK economy. We hope that within the next couple of years we are able to develop an accredited version of our training to widen opportunity routes into writing for businesses, allowing a structured landscape for tender education.

Our launch date is May 2018 – be prepared to grow, develop and stand out with the best tender training available!