powered by

Tag: Website 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.

♦

  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.

♦

  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!

♦

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!

I’M IN COMPETITION WITH MYSELF AND I’M LOSING! – Tender Basics!

Posted on by John Hudson

I’M IN COMPETITION WITH MYSELF AND I’M LOSING! – Tender Basics!

Tender Basics are the foundation of your bid writing success. Our Growth Director, Jill Hudson, has over 16 years’ experience with Tender Writing, so she knows how lonely it can get when you see rejection in the early days.

“I quite quickly went from a success record of <15% in my very early days of tender writing to >70% just by spending the time needed to digest feedback and eliminate silly mistakes.  Mistakes I seemed to be making all the time without evening realising I was doing it.”

The thing you need to realise very early on is that feedback is the route to success.

No one really likes reading the feedback of how they’ve missed the point of the tender document, the response didn’t hit the mark – at all, or you’ve forgotten to proofread and your response to a question is littered with mistakes. Queue – kick yourself under the table and put the kettle on. It’s important to get back to the ‘Tender Basics’ every time you’re writing a bid.

Tender Basics
Tender Basics

However, without this feedback, you will continue to make these mistakes. The most common mistake you will make is not understanding the time it takes to respond to a bid correctly. Assuming you’ll write a winning submission in 2-hours is unrealistic, whilst ABC Ltd. are throwing all their resource at this competitive contract to ensure they will win it.

You need to quickly realise that the only way you will start to win is to get back to the Tender Basics:

  1. Believe you can win it – ensuring you have the right credentials.
  2. Do your homework – research is key.
  3. Spend the time needed to write a winning submission.
  4. Don’t leave it until the last minute – this is how mistakes happen.
  5. Ensure you understand the point scoring mechanisms to ensure you are maximising your answers to the questions asked.
  6. Answer the question with the information they have requested, not the information you believe they should know about your business.

We’re sure you’ve established that our main piece of advice over the many blogs we have written, is to be sensible with your expectations.  If you turnover around £100,000 per annum, you’re not going to win a £2,000,000 contract. Nor should you want to put all your eggs in one basket like that. So, if this is the course of action you’re taking you will continue to receive the rejection letters.

Tender writing is an art form, it isn’t for everyone but you will reap the rewards if you spend the time learning, building knowledge and correctly assessing what you need to do to allow you to win.

Jill states “I’m a firm believer that the only person you should ever be in competition with is yourself. That way you will always get better.”

Eliminate the noise and … focus!

If all else fails, give our Tender Consultants a call, we’re here to help you discover, succeed, procure and invest!

“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

Posted on by John Hudson

“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

We’ve all heard stories about backhanded business deals and brown paper envelopes passed under the table for the decision making to go in favour of a specific business on a particular contract/opportunity.

This is drastically changing for the better, having analysed tender processes now compared to where they were 10 years ago.  We’re not saying this doesn’t happen! We do still live in a world of human interaction (for now).  However, things are getting better and we’re super confident that this will continue.

Here at Hudson Procurement Group we are focused on creating a fair bidding process for all. We’re working hard to make headway with government organisations. Especially into how and why decisions are made when marking tender documents. And also, how buyers issue tender notifications and how to produce a fair Invitation to Tender and Specification document.

"THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!" - The Tendering Process
“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

We like to advise our customers on how they can question the result of a tender notification and the tendering process if they believe they have been incorrectly scored. This does not mean that we’re going to back sore losers and encourage those who think they should have won when in actual fact the right company was awarded the contract.  On occasion, we’re simply pipped at the post and the best man won and we need to take it on the chin and learn from it.

If you truly believe you were not given a good shot, there are a couple of things you can do:

  1. Ask for thorough feedback, and if they don’t provide it then you can question ‘why not?’. If they’re spending public purse, they should spend the time needed to give you feedback against the winning submission.
  2. If they will not provide feedback ask the process for putting in a freedom of information request, this should prompt them into giving you feedback.
  3. If you are still feeling like you’re getting no response, you can contest the decision based on lack of feedback. This means that spending public-purse will be required to complete a thorough internal investigation into how they have purchased the required services/products.

The most important aspect of any ‘rejection letter’ is to look at it logically and ask for feedback, learn from it and make sensible decisions on how to move forward.

Things truly are changing in the world of procurement. We’re going to be central to making sure our customers are given a fair shot when investing the time needed to respond to an ITT.

We’re only ever a phone call away, and we would welcome your feedback on how you believe the procurement process should change to suit SMEs.  If we hear your feedback, we can help shape policy for the better.

See our ‘Rules & Regulations when Tendering’ Blog for additional regulations that buyers must adhere to.

 Want to learn more about the tendering process? We’re here to help you Discover, Succeed, Procure and Invest.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT DISTANCE: We live in a Digital World! – International Tendering!

Posted on by John Hudson

DON’T WORRY ABOUT DISTANCE: We live in a Digital World! – International Tendering!

This is an age-old debate here at Hudson Procurement Group. We’re constantly telling our customers to spread their wings when it comes to bidding for new business and succumb to International Tendering.

Historically, we used to take as much business as we could from our doorstep. It was, after all, deemed easier to deliver logistically and support with brand recognition. It was a major achievement to be a leading regional vendor.

But, things have changed drastically over the years and the government throws hundreds of millions into helping us SMEs to trade internationally. The world and its major cities are so much more accessible and connected with daily direct flights from the UK to the US, Dubai, Australia, China etc., especially for service and product-based enterprises.

We encourage our clients to eliminate any geographical fear when looking for business. We advise you to look at where the work is and look at the logistics of delivery. If it deems possible, then don’t put in place unnecessary barriers that will hinder your company growth.  An international business development strategy should be a core activity for your executive/director team until you’ve established there isn’t any profit in trading overseas.

Here at Hudson Procurement Group, we have over 1,000 clients all over the world. None of which we’ve met face to face, but it’s not important to meet them. We speak with them daily over the telephone, Skype and email. We still deliver the same value-added service regardless if they’re UK based, operate in the US or have their headquarters in India. We too revel in International Tendering!

Our advice when looking at which tendering opportunities are right for you is:

  1. Don’t eliminate any opportunity until you’ve assessed it properly.
  2. Ensure you can make a profit, taking into consideration traveling and shipping costs if this is a required part of the work.
  3. Take a risk! Sometimes these risks pay huge dividends. Just because you’re not based on their doorstep, doesn’t mean you’re not the right provider.
  4. Don’t assume you won’t be chosen just because you can’t pop to their office for a cup of tea. You’ll find that more and more people try to eliminate the number of meetings they have, not increase them.
  5. Seek advice and guidance from your local Department of International Trade. We’ve found them super useful during our research phase of opening our US office.
  6. Give us a call, we’re happy to help and to answer any questions you may have about bidding for work overseas.

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

Common Trends in Public Sector Tendering!

Posted on by John Hudson

Common Trends in Public Sector Tendering!

We think it’s safe to say that every year, something new happens in the world of procurement. This is due to the ever-changing landscape that buyers and suppliers constantly find themselves in. Here are, in our opinion, a small collection of common trends across UK Public Sector Tendering as of late:

1. BREXIT

The word coined to fill the hearts of many with either progressiveness or ultimate decline. The word in our opinion is met with uncertainty, especially in the way procurement will be running long-term. It has been recorded that “since Brexit, the total value of tenders has risen”.  This implies that there is more work than ever before up for grabs. However, how long will it last? Well, there are no immediate changes due to the EU regulations being merged with primary UK legislation. However, we can expect a lot more focus on cost-effective supply chains that are held locally, given our potential departures from European partners. Risk assessments and the holistic management of contracts will surely be examined a lot more in technical questions based on the happenings of BREXIT.

2. Modern Slavery

Have you come across it yet? The question on an increasing amount of PQQs which ask if you abide by Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015? What you may not know is that the act contains a clause on ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’, which addresses the role of businesses and what they do to prevent modern slavery from occurring in their supply chains and organisation[s]. As per Section 54, it states that if your organisation has a turnover of over £36 million or more you must confirm adherence. You will then have to publish a ‘slavery and human trafficking’ statement annually on your company’s website. Mainly, to state what you are doing to prevent this. We find that SME’s tend not to worry about this, as it remains non-applicable 99% of the time, but still, it is something that is commonly being asked across the board.

3. Social Value

What are you doing for your community? what environmental aims does your company have? do you work with apprentices? – these are just a few of the questions that are becoming increasingly asked in public-sector tenders. Even if you are the smallest company around, we advise you to think of your corporate and social responsibility and how this is positively changing the world … or at least your local area. Every little helps! – we advise you do liaise with charities, apprenticeship providers, assess long-term goals and ensure that social value (aligned with a local authority and government initiatives) crops up one way or another, as this is becoming a key contribution to finalising scores in ongoing tenders.

4. SME Focus

By 2020, the UK government has promised “big opportunities for small firms” as they are set to spend £1 in every £3 with small businesses/SMEs. One thing a lot of SMEs DO NOT have that bigger companies DO HAVE is experienced and well-educated internal Bid Writing professionals. This means SMEs will see a surge of utilising external support functions to ensure their tenders are of the highest quality. We are one of those companies! Our aim is not to just write high-quality bids, but support you with understanding the procurement world. We’ll support you with:

  •  opportunity tracking (using our elite and secure Hudson Discover platforms, related to each UK industry) tender training (using our upcoming FREE virtual learning environment with regular VLOGs) eventually
  • maintaining/developing your ongoing content for tendering (using Tender Bank).

The increased use of Framework Agreements and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and getting onto these, require rapid and high-quality responses to ensure longstanding work is won and sustained.

These are just a small list of current trends that are recognised as of late. If you need help with writing bids or anything further feel free to get in touch!

We are Hudson Procurement Group and we are here to help you grow, develop and standout!

Understanding & Implementing Tender Feedback

Posted on by John Hudson

Understanding & Implementing Tender Feedback

Understanding and Implementing Tender Feedback – we all dread it, don’t we?

When the doomed ‘Contract Award’ notification hits our inbox with an attached letter titled ‘unsuccessful’ or ‘regret letter’. This can be one of the very few things that make our business-fueled hearts completely shatter!

To put it simply- we have never met a company who hasn’t had some sort of failure whilst tendering. It is very unlikely that you will win every tender you bid for – in fact – around 98% of well-established companies will tell you about a time they failed at tendering.

This could be down to a whole range of things that contribute to the evaluation of a typical tender. Bidding for a job is not just about putting your fingers on a keyboard and writing some profound content (or getting specialist support to do this for you)- there are other key factors that could let you down which you need to take control of and act upon, ready for the next tender!

Buying organisations (especially in the public sector) are now obliged to provide a decent amount of tender feedback as part of their evaluations. This is to support the supplier organisations better their chances next time.

How we approach it…

We are always advising clients to use this to their advantage and encourage them to receive as much detailed feedback as possible. If you only receive scores out of 100, ask for qualitative feedback to how the winner was successful and you weren’t. As mentioned, this is becoming increasingly provided as part of the Contract Award process.

Below is an example of what you should do when receiving the feedback and using this to your advantage towards future efforts.

EXAMPLE Maximum Score Available Your Score Winners Score
Quality 60% 32% 52%
Costing 40% 40% 30%
Total 100% 72% 82%

Our 4 steps:

  1. Understand the key area[s] to why you were unsuccessful- this will be translated clearly in numerical scores using a ratio of Quality & Pricing (and in some added cases, Interview/Presentation)- this will be your main focus to implement improvements;
    e.g. if you score 32% out of 60% for quality but 40% out of 40% for cost – this shows you were the cheapest supplier but lacked in your technical responses. It turns out you were only 11% away from beating the winner in total.
  1. Once quantitative data is identified, source the qualitative feedback provided (if none has been provided- ask for further detail)- this should be broken down clearly on the contract award notification to enable stringent focus on where to improve;
    e.g. out of the 60% maximum score for quality, a major section of this was a ‘Contract Management’ question, which accounts for 30%- the score and feedback provided suggests your contract management arrangements lack innovation and fundamental traits compared to those of the winner (incl. lack of efficient MI system etc.)
  1. Make sure an internal meeting is held with key members of your staff, in order to collaborate and discuss improvements where necessary;
    e.g. Assess all traits regarding Contract Management that was provided as feedback – research best practice – due to the lack of an effective management information (MI) system, it is best to find out which is the most affordable systems on the market- ask yourselves what are your competitors using? What was the winner using? – Companywide Idea generation sessions help massively to ensure a firm approach and wider understanding of what’s needed.
  1. Undergo regular sustainability reviews to ensure improvements are fully established across your organisation;
    e.g. ask yourselves – do we have an effective MI system now? Have we implemented innovative approaches? How do we compare to our competitors? Can we write a better response to Contract management now?

One of the biggest things you SHOULD NOT do is operate a ‘blame culture’ within your organisation when trying to understand tender feedback. Not only will that upset staff and ignite resentment but will likely damage your efforts of improvements going forward. We are strict believers that when tendering, if you win together, you have to lose together also. One of the most important things about tendering is making sure your colleagues are proofreading and checking EVERYTHING before submission. The more eyes, the better! If you find that a mistake was made by a member of your team which had huge effects on your succession of the work, then this should be an issue that was missed by the whole team and treated with solidarity, to effectively improve.

Remember- we offer a Tender Consultancy service to support the development and even review your work prior to submission.
Get in touch if you need further support with managing those all-important opportunities!

The importance of RELEVANT Case Studies!

Posted on by John Hudson

The importance of RELEVANT Case Studies!

Tenders these days (especially in the Public sector) are extremely structured in that they all feature the same legality clauses and requests, based upon EU legislation and procurement law. One other majorly structured trait to a tender and something the buyer definitely wants to know is how you’ve delivered your services in the past!

The age-old question of – “Please provide 3 examples which demonstrate your technical capability in the market” – is now something of common-request in national tenders. And rightly so! Of course, buyers want to know who you currently work with, how much work you’ve done and what great results your company boasts.

They need to make sure you have undergone scopes of work, similar to what they are procuring. Experience is key to winning every contract and as part of our writing tutorials at Tender Consultants. We always state that evidence is needed to back up the majority of the responses. Usually, this evidence comes from your experience. This makes the buyer/evaluator feel at complete ease, knowing you have completed something similar before.

We are not saying that you shouldn’t bid for work you haven’t delivered before (especially if you’re a new business). You may have better tools, better ideas and more cost-effective solutions at your disposal that other businesses (with experience) lack. It’s all about assessing the relevancy of your experience and using this to benefit the contract at hand. This is where Case Studies will support your tendering efforts going forward.

A few Do’s and Don’ts to building case studies include:

  • DO – get in touch with your current clients and ask for testimonials. These can be added to support a strong case for why the buyer should choose you.
    E.g. The CEO of ‘Company X’ has stated we are “an impeccable & efficient company, who has not only delivered the most engaging content with brochures but has supported our marketing efforts overall”;
  • DON’T – just pick a client and submit ‘static’ material already developed. Always make sure you adapt your content and client to align with the specified requirements of the buyer. Ensure similar scope, nature and size is used every time, where possible.
    E.g. if you need to supply 500 brochures to a hospital, the buyer probably won’t care if you supplied 5 to a retail store previously- this is way different in size AND scope;
  • DO – use the STAR format when developing your Case Studies to clearly outline the Situation (brief context), Task (the work you faced), Action (what you’ve done) and Results (what were the results etc.).
    E.g. this helps to break down each case study. You may do this several times depending on the requirements within the tender. However, it is a very good start to show the buyer/evaluator what needed to be done, what & how it was done, along with success rates and statistics outlining benefits/improvements to the client;

So now you’re up-to-date…

This will be one of the most important elements you use as part of your tender submission and almost 99% of Stage 1/PQQ submissions nowadays have the experience and/or contract example requests embedded.

We encourage you to start working on your case studies as soon as your contract with a client begins. Therefore, you can at least get the basic information gathered using the STAR format and then adapt these case studies to align with future buyer’s requirements as part of tenders!

Need further help? Get in touch and let us help you grow, develop and standout!

GDPR – Understanding what’s expected!

Posted on by John Hudson

GDPR – Understanding what’s expected!

As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, May 25th sees the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR for short). This will be the new term used for the storing, processing and management of personal data. Basically, DPA and confidentiality processes have a new broader term to ensure all data is withheld in the most secure ways possible. GDPR is a vital update on what you currently do. We are assuming that what you currently do is best practice and of course abides by current DPA law.

I know what you’re thinking ‘we always operate confidentially – what’s new?’

What’s new are the heightened processes every organisation must undergo when handling data. With GDPR, there are more serious consequences if you are found to be using data incorrectly. With the majority of our subscribed clients on our various platforms, they all handle customer and/or public data in some form or another. It’s vital to understand the key points to this national legislation change and ensure this is adhered to fully.

Some of the key aspects your company must focus on is ensuring that all data is identified and assessed in line with new and specific protocols. Processes are structured, data is mapped and constantly improved upon, as well as being stored electronically and in traditional filing systems.

With implementing data governance best practices, you’ll not only comply with the GDPR but you’ll now be able to create more business value with confidence. This will ensure success when contracting with future parties.

We have now found many public and private tenders are increasingly asking suppliers if they are GDPR compliant via the multiple processes above.

Such questions have become apparent in a recent public tender within the creative sector (for e.g.):

  • Please confirm that you are GDPR compliant (detail relevant technical & organisational security measures)?
  • Are you maintaining Data Processing Records?
  • Do your standard contract terms include the new GDPR mandatory provisions?
  • Do you have a documented Breach Notification Process? Etc.

To maximise your scores, you would need to answer more than a simple YES!

Please see ICO’s brochure which provides further helpful information on preparing for and applying GDPR principles in your organisation[s].

We encourage all clients to take this information provided. Mainly to ensure any future tendering efforts aren’t spread thin merely by the lack of compliance against GDPR. Going forward, it is becoming quite clear that GDPR may soon become part of the normal questions asked in PQQs and ITTs.

Over the next few months, we will be analysing common requirements (as above) that are starting to come into effect with the changes and updates that GDPR will pose. Watch this space and remember to take a look at the brochure attached to begin what is needed for you to excel with upcoming tenders.

We’re here to help you grow, develop and standout!

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!

SMEs – Catapult wants YOU at the ‘Engage 2018’ event!

Posted on by John Hudson

SMEs – Catapult wants YOU at the ‘Engage 2018’ event!

An exciting opportunity has arisen for SMEs that will potentially bring FANTASTIC opportunities and recognition to your company!

The Satellite Applications Catapult will be attending Engage 2018 by Digital Globe on 10–11 April 2018.  They published an opportunity stating they are on the lookout for innovative SMEs with products/services to showcase cutting-edge developments in the use of satellite data.

Engage 2018

This is a two-day event designed for senior-level executives from government and private organisations leveraging geographical information to enable smarter decisions. It takes place at Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London.

By attending alongside SA Catapult, you will have your own exhibition stand with your company and logo on full display in this highly desired event. On top of this, dedicated spaces for marketing materials to promote your business.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get your product/service heard, along with promoting your business to your target audience!

If this applies to you – then CLICK HERE for more information and to complete a few questions in order to apply.

If you are struggling to put this across in a concise and effective manner, then GET IN TOUCH – we can help with your bid writing efforts!

Digital Catapult are one of the sites that our administration team manually scrape every day and include the following creative contract opportunities:

BEST OF LUCK!

THE ALL-NEW TENDER CONSULTANTS!

Posted on by John Hudson

THE ALL-NEW TENDER CONSULTANTS!

We feel that the time has come to restructure our current provision and are proud to offer you some brand-new services. These will not only make tendering a whole lot easier in your sector but will help maximise your success at securing those all-important contract opportunities. This is the all-new and improved TENDER CONSULTANTS service.

Our Growth Director/Founder, Jill Hudson, stated “since inception we have been continually assessing our customer’s needs and have developed various platforms where customers receive daily contract opportunity bulletins that are specific to their service sector. As a forward thinking and rapidly-growing company, we don’t ONLY want to support our customers with sourcing relevant and interesting opportunities, but help them through the next stages in order to turn that interest into a WIN!”

Jill has over 16-years’ experience managing a range of tenders across a whole load of industries. She is joined by our new Procurement/Content Manager, Dan, who has built his early career helping multiple SMEs and large corporations with ongoing tender writing and procurement support.

dan&jill

Dan said “after carefully analysing the core customers across our industry-platforms, we have created multiple services that are beneficial to all. No matter the work. No matter the sector. We have got you covered!”

Our NEW provision includes:

TCons-Services3

TENDER READY – HELPING YOU PREPARE

Our 4 WEEK programme allows us to cover all the basics of procurement and create tender-specific content for your business in order to prepare you for the world of tendering.

 

TCons-Services9

TENDER IMPROVEMENT – HELPING YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Our 2 WEEK programme is all about focusing on what you’re currently doing and making sure we implement the necessary improvements that will allow your tendering approach to become more refined and successful!

 

TCons-Services6

TENDER WRITING – HELPING YOU FILL THE SKILLS GAP

Due to common requests we’ve had from customers, we’ve launched a Tender Writing service. Mainly for those businesses who are incredibly busy but understand the importance of constant development, as well as those who simply can’t seem to make any progress and see any success from their efforts.

 

TCons-Services12

TENDER MENTOR – HELPING YOU TO THE FINISH LINE

Our Tender Mentor service will allow you to tackle that all-important tender and receive professional and constructive feedback from our procurement specialists. This is a bespoke service starting at incredibly low rates to guide and review them all-important tenders prior to submission.

 

TENDER VLE – HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND

COMING SOON IN MAY 2018
This will include a video-based e-learning platform that allows YOU to get up to speed with how tendering works. And how YOU can maximise contract opportunities by developing knowledge further in this field. It’s more important now than ever to develop a skillset around procurement-based products and approaches. TENDER VLE is here to help you do just that!

TENDER BANK – HELPING YOU ORGANISE

COMING SOON IN 2019
Those who tender will know how time-consuming it can be. TENDER BANK will reduce this time considerably by creating a central place to save tender related information in an organised fashion. This will see an innovative tool which allows for tender documents to be created online. It will ensure you don’t miss any important aspect that could be hindering your tendering success.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

GET IN TOUCH TODAY IF YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR TENDERING EFFORTS!

WE ARE 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. 

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!

Screen Shot 2018-01-16 at 17.02.35

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!