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New risks and opportunities for consultants in the public sector.

17/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment

The government wants to cut down on the amount it spends on consultants. In the last year it cut its consultancy spending by almost two thirds. The latest change was announced by the Cabinet Office last month. All consultancy contracts worth over £100,000 will be have to be procured by means of a framework agreement called ConsultancyONE. This will replace any existing framework agreements and last for a duration of 4 years. The government wants to supervise consultancy related public sector tenders more closely.

The change in the framework presents both risks and opportunities for consultancies. Bid writers will find contracts easier to find and pursue – there will be more details provided in the OJEU notice and the PQQ has been simplified. Bid writers will no longer need previous experience of working in the public sector is no longer required. Moreover, the framework will breakdown into much smaller lots for specialist consultancy. This ought to make it much easier for smaller, specialist consultancies (especially SMEs) to meet the requirements of public sector tenders. Larger consultancy companies may be forced to reconsider their existing strategy when faced with these new competitors.

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Framework Agreements ·

Believe in your Corporate Social Responsibility policy!

15/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment
The Carbon Disclosure Project, a non-profit devoted to encouraging more environmentally responsible practices in business has released a report on “supplier management”. In particular, it highlights the increasing willingness of companies to drop suppliers who don’t abide by their CSR policies or environmental promises.

There are several reasons for this. The first is arguably the desire of large companies to “greenwash” their image, particularly now that scandalous practices in offshore manufacturing (notably those effecting Apple in China last year) are becoming much less easier for multinationals to hide.

The other driving force is a growing awareness of the financial benefits of cutting emissions within their supply chains. Many large companies have achieved savings in their own internal systems but according to the UK Carbon Trust fewer than half of multi-nationals (40%) are addressing their “upstream” emissions, i.e those generated by their suppliers. Ultimately, rising energy and commodity prices mean that more efficient, sustainable practices will become ever more important in keeping costs down, and this will become important in private sector tenders.

Businesses writing tenders are being encouraged to optimise their logistical processes, focusing on reducing waste and improving their environmental practices, two activities which almost always complement each other. Private sector tenders will be looking for companies that accept the necessity of environmental corporate social responsibility and more importantly can prove that they have implemented their strategies. Win that Bid can help companies writing tenders make their CSR as relevant and attractive as possible.

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Policies, Waste · Tagged: , , , , ,

Get Tender Ready with The TROC button today

13/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment

What Does It Mean?

Get Tender Ready with the TROC todayCompanies that have passed the TROC (Tender Readiness Online Check) or otherwise prequalified to respond to large private or public sector invitations to tender may display this symbol.

What Does It Mean For Tendering Authorities And Procurement Officers?

Public Sector organisations should look for this symbol on SME company websites, because:
  • An SME company displaying THE TROC TENDER READY symbol is indicating that it has met the minimum criteria qualifying it to respond to a Public Sector tender
  • This means that the tendering body can confidently approach the company and invite them to participate in a procurement exercise.
  • Looking for the TROC TENDER READY button will help tendering authorities to meet the Government’s aspiration that ‘25% of public sector contracts should be awarded to SMEs’.

The TROC Tender Ready symbol is a private sector initiative, with no government funding or taxpayers’ money involved.

Companies who have successfully completed and passed a Public Sector PQQ or won a contract within the last TWELVE months should contact info@procurementconnection.org.uk to get their badge and press pack.

It’s up to the both the Private and Public Sectors, as well as the press and other media organisations, to raise awareness of the TROC Tender Ready symbol: it will help procurement officers to identify ‘Tender Ready’ busineeses and therefore help more SMEs to win Public Sector contracts.

Filed Under: Checklist, Top Tips, Win Bids · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

New tender opportunities in Defence?

13/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment
The Defence white paper released on 1st February 2012 has some important news for bid writers. Notably, it raises the possibility that the MOD will be procuring from a much wider range of sources than they had been previously. The paper states:

“Wherever possible, we will seek to fulfil the UK’s defence and security requirements through open competition in the domestic and global market, buying off-the-shelf where appropriate”

It is debatable how far this aim will be met. It will meet resistance from both vested interests in the defence industry and a number of powerful arguments about the practicalities of defending the nation using equipment sourced from outside. This makes it difficult for bid writers to predict exactly how MOD tenders will work in the future.

The MOD has made some more concrete initiatives of interest to bid writers. The threshold for advertising tendering opportunities has been reduced by 75% to £10,000 and they can now be found on Contracts Finder. Internal guidelines are being changed to ensure that PQQs produced by SMEs are not rejected on the basis of rigid turnover-to-contract value ratios without proper assessment of companies’ actual capacity and potential. This, along with the new Defence Suppliers Forum might present new tendering opportunities for bid writers in the future.

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Opportunities, Tenders · Tagged: , , , , , ,

What should I put into the Executive Summary?

10/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment
For bid writers writing a tender and aiming to make the best possible impression on the client, the Executive Summary is all important. It will almost certainly be used as the starting point of their decision-making discussions. For some of those decision makers, the Executive Summary will be the only part of the tender proposal that they actually read.

Because it will be read by virtually everyone who reads the proposal, the Executive Summary should be concise, readable and avoid technical jargon. Bear in mind that the readers are likely to be impatient and lacking in technical training, if not extremely stressed.

That being the case, bid writers should focus on the win themes that are the focus throughout the tender.  Keep it short and relevant. Resist the urge to simply summarise everything else in the tender proposal: you should already have a table of contents.

Finally, it is worth bid writers taking extra time to ensure that your executive summary is properly presented. It is vital to proof read it carefully, given its importance to the success of the tender proposal.

Filed Under: Bid Writing, Bids, PQQ · Tagged: , , , ,

New procurement rules in Scotland

08/02/2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Sustainable Procurement Bill passing through the Scottish Parliament aims to open up new public sector opportunities by making the public sector tender process more standardised and transparent.

Complaints in the construction industry were a major driving force behind this bill. Industry leaders have been complaining that the existing construction tender rules were unfit for purpose and exacerbating the decline of the sector.

The Scottish government claims that the Sustainable Procurement Bill would ensure that:

  • contract opportunities are advertised or awarded through Public Contracts Scotland;
  • public bodies adopt streamlined procurement processes friendly to Scottish businesses;
  • smaller and medium companies have more opportunities to win public sector tenders.

Alex Neil (MSP) also emphasised that community benefit clauses will be an important part of the new procurement rules. He stated that the “bill will seek to ensure that major public contracts deliver training and employment opportunities”.

If it passes this bill will obviously offer advantages to Scottish businesses aiming for construction tenders. However, the simpler public sector tender processes ought to make it easier for other companies as well, especially those that emphasise their CSR and training programmes.

Filed Under: Bids, Opportunities, Policies · Tagged: , , , ,

Knocked out at PQQ stage? Learn how to get feedback

30/01/2012 by · Leave a Comment

Writing a tender for the vast majority of public tender contracts in the UK will involve filling out a PQQ. There are plenty of suppliers eager to fill those tender contracts and so the contracting authorities use them to keep the number of tenders they look at manageable. This can raise problems for suppliers that we’ve discussed before.

However, even if you do provide everything requested by the PQQ , it’s still possible to get knocked out at this early stage. It isn’t always easy to find out why you’ve missed out on a contract at the tender stage, let alone the PQQs.  For this reason it is important to know what the regulations are.

Regular 29A of the Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2009 states that a contracting authority must notify an applicant of exclusion from the process. Regulation 32 then clarifies that the contracting authority must provide reasons for this decision, including details of why successful candidates progressed.

It is important to ascertain what went wrong in a failed PQQ so you can use that information the next time you find yourself writing a tender. Win that Bid can help you analyse the feedback you received and help you seize the next opportunity.

Filed Under: Bid Writing, Opportunities, PQQ, PQQs, Proposal Writing · Tagged: , , , , , ,

What exactly does the buyer want?

23/01/2012 by · Leave a Comment

When aiming for a tender contract it’s important to consider what the procurer wants from the contract. This is a vital part of winning contract opportunities.

Public and private sector organisations are putting a relentless focus on cost efficiencies. Many companies believe that the main role of their procurement team is to deliver cost savings and this will be a critical aspect of many contract opportunities.

However important these savings are, they may not be the only goal of the organisation. This is particularly true of companies that are looking to expand their business. They may wish to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the long term, by introducing new systems, methods or tools. Equally, they might want a new approach to a critical area of their business which appears to be failing.

The majority of procurement work involves SMEs. These companies do not always have the most effective procurement methods and so it is particularly important to communicate with them about the aims of their tender contract and discover what it they want now, and what they will want in the future.

Filed Under: Bid Writing, Business Strategy, Kick-Off Meeting, Opportunities, Procurement · Tagged: , , , , ,

New financial thresholds for OJEU opportunities

20/01/2012 by · Leave a Comment

Proposal writers may have noticed that on the 1st January 2012 the EU published new public procurement financial thresholds. These will apply to all award procedures under the public contracts regulations 2006. With these recent changes, now is a good time to look at what the financial thresholds are and what they mean for proposal writers looking for opportunities.

The UK thresholds for public sector tenders under the latest regulations are:

  • Supply/Service contracts awarded by central government- £113,057.
  • Supply/Service contracts awarded by other contracting authorities – £173,934.
  • Works contracts – £4,348,350.

If the contracting authority wishes to enter into multiple contracts to fulfil the same requirement, then the value of those contracts will be aggregated together to decide whether it crosses the threshold. The rules are very specific about this: when offering public sector tenders contracting authorities must not enter into separate contracts below the thresholds in order to avoid having to apply the regulations.

If the value of a tender exceeds these values then it must be listed in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), which is a major source of public sector tenders for proposal writers. The OJEU is a very good resource for anyone looking for tender opportunities. Win that Bid can help you navigate through these complicated procedures.

Filed Under: Find Tenders, Opportunities · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Have you been paid yet?

11/01/2012 by · Leave a Comment

Recently an alliance of small business lobbying groups sent a letter to the Business Minister Mark Prisk, highlighting one of the biggest problems facing companies tendering for contracts in the UK today: late payment.

The numbers present a clear picture of the both the scale of the problem and who the mostly likely perpetrators are.

  • Large companies are responsible for 48% of late payments and account for most of the £24 billion owed to small and medium suppliers in the UK.
  • Late payments for UK Government tenders or charity work constitute just 9%, less than public/private concerns.
  • Both the public and the third sector have improved their record in recent years .
  • Prominent excuses given include a lack of payment authorisation and reports that the “cheque is in the post”.

Encouraging Prompt Payment?

Businesses can be scared to “name and shame” large corporations who mess around with their tender contracts, despite the fact that late payments break businesses. In these circumstances, it can be difficult to know exactly who to complain to. A poor UK government tender PQQ structure can be flagged up for the Cabinet Office to look into, but what about a multinational?

You could try encouraging prompt payment by the tender issuer. The letter to the Business Minister suggested a clampdown on “prompt payment discounts”, a strategy in which suppliers offer discounts on products in exchange for guarantees of payment on time. Several business advice websites suggest doing just that to incentivise punctual payments for commercial tenders. A company considering this should ask themselves whether they want to be paying the buyer extra to do what they claimed they were going to do on the tender contracts.

What can businesses do?

The best answer – and unfortunately the most complex to implement – is to make your business more resilient in times of unexpected cash flow problems relating to late payment. We can help you transform the capabilities of your business. Firstly, it’s important to consider how many sources of income the company has. It is dangerous for a company to rely on just one major contract or tender.  Another important safeguard to pursue is a high credit score. Being transparent about the financial state of the company can be helpful in other aspects of winning bids, especially for new companies who may not be able to provide the several years of financial data requested by most UK government tender PQQs. Win that Bid’s Bid Management service can help you assemble the right documents.

Don’t let yourself get pushed around.

Companies should also research the organisation issuing the tender. The sources of information aren’t always immediately obvious. This is an area in which a consultancy like Win that Bid can really help you in assessing whether to pursue an opportunity. Carrying out credit checks on potential customers is a good start. Communication between the supplier and the customer is always important: You should be clear about what the payment terms of the tender contract are and request clarification if they aren’t clear. And if the customer does try to change the terms of the contract, a supplier should make it clear that it expects something in return.

Filed Under: General, PQQ, PQQs, Procurement, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Top Tips, Win Bids, Win That Bid · Tagged: , , ,
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