powered by

Tag: tender consultants

Signage Tenders: The Secrets to Success!

Posted on by Charlotte Jarvis

Here’s how you can find and win signage tenders

How to find signage tenders

When you search for signage tenders, you’ll likely start off by using a search engine such as Google. This is understandable, and you’ll find a lot of results! However, the challenge will be narrowing it down to signage tenders that are suitable for you. For example, you may be looking for tenders in a certain location or within a particular budget.

The sites you search will have tenders listed in a variety of ways, and all will be different. It will take hours to go through these to find a tender right for you. They won’t feature the key details on some results either. This means you’ll have to scour through lengthy tender documents. Once you get through these, it might not be a suitable contract, so you’ve wasted all this time!

The good news is that there are helpful solutions available to you.

Creative Tenders

At Creative Tenders, we are one of Hudson Discover’s 11 sector-specific portals. These portals are specifically designed to make the tendering process easier. This is done by listing tenders based on selective filters. You can see tenders based on location, deadline dates, budget, and keywords.

Our Opportunity Trackers add new signage tenders to the portal daily. So, they are always up to date. Plus, we don’t use CPV codes, which can result in missed opportunities. It is what sets us apart from other tender portals.

You can also receive tender notifications when tenders are uploaded that may be of interest to you. It couldn’t be easier! Or could it?

Discover Elite

If you want to streamline the process even further, you can sign up to Discover Elite. With this service, a dedicated Account Manager will find live bids on your behalf. They’ll speak with you weekly to discuss opportunities that may interest you. This is especially helpful for those with little time to spare due to busy schedules.

Examples of signage tenders found on our portal

Creative Enterprise West (Hounslow’s Creative Enterprise Zone) – Wayfinding

London Borough of Hounslow – London – Budget: £50,000

National Signage Framework

Forestry Commission – South West – Budget: £1,200,000

Signs

ESPO – East Midlands – Budget: £25,000,000

GB-Braintree: Wayfinding Signage at Horizon120 Business Park

Braintree District Council – Eastern – Budget: £100,000

Production and Installation of Signage (To Promote the Level of Investment Underway By Hull City Council)

Hull City Council – Yorkshire and Humber – Budget: £35,000

How to win signage tenders

To win signage tenders, there’s a few tips you should know. We sat down with our Senior Bid Writers to see what their top tips are for winning signage tenders!

1.     Don’t use technical jargon

The buyer is likely to be unfamiliar with your industry. So, to avoid confusing them, make sure you don’t use any technical words that they won’t understand.

2.     Be clear and concise

Similar to our previous point, you don’t want to confuse the buyer. Keep your bid proposal as clear and concise as possible. Focus on answering the questions and don’t ramble about anything irrelevant.

3.     Express what makes you different

You should always showcase your unique selling point (USP) in your bid. This gives the buyer an idea of what you can bring to the contract that other suppliers can’t. It is also a great way to help you stand out.

4.     Showcase your experience

The buyer wants to see that you have evidence of completing signage tenders. You should include three to five case studies that detail similar projects that you did well.

5.     Proofread and edit before submission

Before you submit any bid proposal, not just ones for signage tenders, you must proofread them! If you don’t, you are almost certain to have left mistakes and errors that the buyers are likely to notice. This will give them the impression that you do not thoroughly check your work. If you don’t do this, they won’t trust you to handle their contract well.

6.     Use bid management to stay organised

You should use bid management to stay on track when working on a bid proposal. It can be easy to become overwhelmed with the workload. By breaking it down, you separate it into manageable chunks.

7.     Don’t submit the bid last minute

One of the worst things you can do is submit proposals for signage tenders at the last minute. This is often a recipe for disaster. You may come across technical issues or find that there is further information to submit. If you are already close to the deadline, it will get extremely stressful. If you submit your proposal even a minute late, you won’t be considered.

Who can help you win signage tenders?

Worried you don’t have enough time to dedicate to writing a bid? Help is available! Professional Bid Writers are at hand to support you with your bid proposal. They can take all the stress off of your hands and handle the entire process on your behalf. This is ideal for organisations or individuals that do not have the spare time.

Summary

Here’s a summary of everything we covered in our blog on signage tenders!

To find signage tenders, you should use tender portals such as Creative Tenders. You can upgrade to Discover Elite to have an Account Manager do it for you!

To win signage tenders:

1.     Don’t use technical jargon

2.     Be clear and concise

3.     Express what makes you different

4.     Showcase your experience

5.     Proofread and edit before submission

6.     Use bid management to stay organised

7.     Don’t submit the bid last minute.

Need help writing your next tender?

If you don’t have the resources or time to write a winning bid, why not outsource it? Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boasts an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bidding experience. They offer four bid writing support packages to help you on the path to success. Whether you’re new to tendering, or simply need someone to proof your written response before you submit – we can help.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who have never tendered before. This 4-week programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you’re already tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous submissions and supporting documents. They’ll give you feedback and guidance on how to improve, helping you to secure your next tenders.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written a tender and need someone to proofread it – Tender Mentor is for you. A Bid Writer will double-check it’s in line with the specification and free of any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect tender but don’t know where to start – we can help. Send the specification over to us and our Bid Team will do the rest. They’ll let you know what they need from you and provide you with a full breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf, leaving you more time to focus on your business.

Get in touch to find out more information.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite will ensure you never miss a tendering opportunity even when you’re busy!

The Ultimate Time-Saving Tool offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Discover portalsof your choice.
  • Up to five bid breakdowns per month to help you make your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable leads and tendering opportunities.
  • Award and pre-market engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Public and private buyer portal management including registering, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid strategy.

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.

 

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.

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. 

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!

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. 

MAXIMISE YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH AN ACCOUNT MANAGER – Tender portal tips

Posted on by John Hudson

TENDER PORTAL TIPS – MAXIMISE YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH OUR ACCOUNT MANAGERS! – Tender portal tips

Wham, bam, thanks for your money – goodbye!

Does this sound familiar? After signing up to some online portals it is easy to feel forgotten about and quickly become disgruntled with the whole tendering debacle.

We know that tendering can be complicated and that not everyone is a bidding expert. That is why when you sign-up to one of our platforms, you will be assigned a dedicated Account Manager.

This is where you can really maximise your membership!

As part of your subscription, your Account Manager will ensure that you receive filtered daily bulletins, specific to your sector – as well as access to the online, member’s portal.

Your Account Manager is directly contactable five days a week, to deal with any queries you might have. This service is not only limited to tender portal tips, our Account Management Team can also assist you if you are needing to advertise a tender opportunity as a buyer.

For example, if you have work that needs to be put out to tender, but you don’t have a portal to take the submissions and host the clarification questions etc, this can all be done via our portal, with access to industry-specific suppliers. Simply contact one of our Account Managers and you’re on your way!

If it is the actual tendering process itself that is proving to be problematic, i.e. you are bidding but not winning or maybe you are new to tendering and don’t know where to begin. Our dedicated Account Managers will be able to refer you directly with one of our Tender Consultants, who are experts with all tender-related projects.

Your Account Manager is part of your subscription, so make sure that you utilise this service to the full potential!

We are here to help you DISCOVER!

Get in touch today

WRITING BIDS – TOP 4 TIPS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT

Posted on by John Hudson

WHEN WRITING BIDS, TIME IS A PRECIOUS THING!

Not only is there an imminent deadline, but if you don’t give it your all and put everything you have into the bid, then it’s not only time you’re wasting – it’s money!

We’ve provided a few best practice principles to make sure you don’t create unnecessary panic at the last minute and can time-manage your bids more effectively.

1. Know your deadlines

There will have been times in the past, especially if you’re handling more than one tender at a time, where a date may have been mixed up and you’ve realised that the bid is due in 24 minutes and not 24 hours as thought. Read the tender timetable carefully – this will enable you to start planning effectively. Tender Timetables are featured in the instructions to tender and look something like this:

Example Date

 Example Milestone

02-July-2018

Opportunity published

12-July-2018

 Site Visits

23-July-2018

 Clarification Deadline

27-July-2018

 Submission Deadline

30-July-2018

 Presentation Date

31-July-2018 – 03-Aug-2018

Evaluation

03-Aug-2018

Notice to Award / Alcatel commence
13-Aug-2018

Contract Start Date


2. Assess & Digest

Make sure you assess whether or not the opportunity is the best option for you. We have been behind many projects in the past, working tirelessly on content and writing bids on behalf of our clients, when 2 days before submission, they decided it’s not right for them. Don’t waste your time and money – make sure it is right for you by closely digesting ALL of the information at hand. Yes – it may be a 100-page document you have to read through but believe us – it’ll be worth it in the long run.

Check out our ‘To Bid or not to Bid’ for further information.

3. Gantt Chart is life

Once you know the buyer’s timescales, now it’s time to get yours in order. This is where you create a plan for the tender at hand. No matter the size of the opportunity, whether it’s £10,000 or £10million, it’s very important to make sure you’re not winging it and have a structured plan in place to manage your time and approach effectively. A Gantt Chart is typically used in project management cases for longer periods, detailing responsibilities, activities and timescales. We love a good Gantt Chart and feel this is a clear-cut process for managing those all-important milestones when developing and submitting a tender.

4. Know your portal

We’ve liaised with many customers, who have never used a specific online portal before and the submission of their tender documents have been delayed due to their lack of understanding or inability to navigate. We recommend you get to know your portal in the early stages. Have a click around and know your procedures for submission.

 

One of the key things that our group of companies can offer you is the chance of receiving the opportunity from the get-go, meaning you won’t be days behind other competitors – if anything, you’ll be days in front: –

Our Tender Connect service is the home of our industry-specific platforms that enables you to receive both public and private opportunities all in one place, that is specific not only to your sector but your service within that sector. Get those all-important opportunities from when they are published, allowing more time to focus on your time management when developing your response[s].

Need further help with writing bids? – just get in touch with our Tender Consultants!

We’re always here to help!

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. 

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!

BID WRITING SUPPORT – THE DAPCAS MODEL

Posted on by John Hudson

BID WRITING SUPPORT – THE DAPCAS MODEL

Bid writing support can be varied and contradictory – that’s why we invented the DAPCAS model, to boil down the tendering process into its most simplistic formula. Here is a short breakdown to outline the parameters of the model.

D is for Decipher

Before you start tendering you need to decipher the opportunities that you want to go for.

Do NOT just go for any opportunity in the hope of being successful. This is not only a waste of time and money but weakens your overall tendering approach.

When starting any business, these are some of the questions you need to ask yourself, so that you understand your place in the market and set defined goals to succeed in tendering.

Start by asking yourself three simple questions; What services do you ideally want to deliver? Where do you want to deliver these services? and Who is your ideal buyer?

Once you have the answer to these questions, you then need to source the relevant opportunities. You can do this by signing up to our sector-specific portals, where you can receive daily tender opportunities that remain specific to your service/offering. Our service will signpost you directly to the client/buyer via published notices across the thousands of websites/portals that remain across the UK alone.

A for Assess

To bid or not to bid. That is the question!

After you have deciphered what you want to start tendering for, and you have sourced an opportunity, you then need to conduct an assessment to make sure it is 100% worthwhile.  Remember the contract title doesn’t tell you everything!

A few questions to try answering, in order to gage the feasibility of the bid are; Have you delivered work like this before? Do the opportunity outcomes align with your long-term strategy? Is it financially viable? What is your USP in the market sector?

Have a look at our ‘To Bid or Not to Bid’ for further information into ways of assessing the opportunity at hand.

P for Plan

One of the deciphering factors, as to whether your bid will be successful, is the planning of the whole tender process itself.

Each tender is different and in turn, the planning must evolve to match the specification. You should define clear-cut milestones for what needs to be actioned, when and who is responsible for the deliverables.

The volume of an Invitation to Tender (ITT) can range from half a page to 100 pages long and contain pertinent information that it is imperative to consider. Our bid writing support experts advise that each document should be read one by one with the following aspects in mind;

  • Reading Instruction – You should over-allocate time for this step as the instructions should contain everything from practicalities such as where to submit the tender to design requirements for word count, font size and style.

 

  • Submission Deadline – Obviously this is a crucial aspect as tender deadlines are very strict, a delayed submission of one minute could result in the dismissal of your bid.

 

  • Clarification Deadline – Some aspects may be unclear or missing from the specification, this is your chance to ask questions so also keep a note of this deadline.

C for Compose

Business owners/managers may not have the time, skills or resource to pull together a high-quality bid that is concise, detailed and exceeds buyer expectations. Writing is not everyone’s cup of tea – especially when you operate a fully functioning business.

Hence the reason why bid writing support exists and our Tender Consultants offering is highly sought.

However, should you wish to carry out the writing process yourself, there is one fail-safe process to ensure high-quality results. The PEE method;

  • POINT – This is where you state what you are going to do, or what you are already doing. This should be clear and concise.

 

  • EXPLAIN – As it says on the tin, explain how you are going to deliver the desired outcome.

 

  • EVIDENCE – It is no good talking about achieving something if you can’t back-up the fact that you have already accomplished something to demonstrate that you are a worthy winner.

A for Analyse

This step is something that remains an absolute necessity throughout the tendering process. We advise that you create multiple drafts and have them reviewed by multiple colleagues or be even more thorough and ask a new employee to read over the document to ensure that the inner workings of your company can be understood by somebody with little prior knowledge of your structure and function.

You should never assume that the reader shares the same depth of knowledge about your company as you.

S for Submit

 As simple as this step might sound, to a tender newcomer, it can be very daunting. You should take thorough precautions to ensure that your bid is submitted within the deadline.

If the bid is due in at 13:00 and you submit it at 13:01 – you’re out!

Once you have successfully submitted the bid you should always receive some form of acknowledgement that the bid has been received, this is most commonly done via email or an online portal.   

For further guidance and expert bid writing support, please see our Tender Consultants platform.