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How to Win Construction Tenders

14/11/2011 by · Leave a Comment

In 2011 more than 100,000 tenders, worth over £220 billion, will be published in the UK. That represents a significant opportunity for you to expand your business and increase your turnover by bidding for construction tenders.

Often, the work is right on your doorstep, and opportunities to bid for construction tenders will increase with the implementation of the new localism bill. This aims to force local authorities to seek out local companies to complete their contracts. Of course, there’s also a global market of private companies out there, just waiting for you to claim a slice of the construction contracts that are available.

This world of opportunity means you should consider carefully before writing a construction bid. Is the contract one that you really want to go for? You would be well advised to concentrate your construction bid writing in areas that are the core strengths for your business. There will be other opportunities to open up new markets through word of mouth and other avenues. For construction bid writing, stick to what you know best and gather some great feedback for a job well done. That completed tender is then likely to lead to referrals for more varied work.

Tenders Direct is a useful place to seek out construction bids. This comprehensive database is easy to search in quite focused geographical and work-related areas, so you can easily see where the construction bid opportunities are.

We have partnered with Tenders Direct to offer you a bid management service tightly focused on your areas of expertise. Using our promotional code you can save £150 on your registration fee.

Through our Bid Management Service, we can then manage your construction tender opportunities, assessing how each potential contract fits in with the scope of your business. We will then filter 10 or 20 Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) per annum to you. Thus, our Bid Management service saves you time and energy on hunting down construction bid writing opportunities so you can concentrate on the work you really want to do.

On your behalf, having scoped out your best fit construction bid opportunities, we can help you through all the stages of the bid writing process. From our experience, if you use our full construction bid writing service, you can realistically expect to be short-listed for one in three construction tenders and win sixty per cent of those bids.

We hold a library of your key documents such as insurance and policies, which will need to be submitted for every tender. Using those and in close consultation with you, we can complete the whole bid writing service for you.

You are in charge. Having been presented with the construction tender opportunities we find for you, if you want to take over the bid writing process from there, you can. Alternatively, we can handle the entire process for you.

Our construction bid writers have over 15 years’ experience in procurement and other relevant disciplines. They are familiar with many of the organisations and individuals buying construction services. That means they are well placed to help you through every stage towards winning a construction tender, from the invitation to tender right up to the final presentation.

Knowledge of the buyer is crucial to securing construction contracts. Buyers want to deal with contractors who fit in with their culture and who will follow their policies. As we know these buyers well, we can put you ahead of your competitors, with our team of experienced construction bid writers helping you to present your bid in a way that will score you highly in bid comparisons and which will tell buyers exactly why you are right for their job.

We are the UK’s largest tendering consultancy, which means we have the knowledge and expertise to write compelling construction bids.

For professional bid management, to improve your win ratio, or for a full construction bid writing service, call Win That Bid on 0203 405 1850 or e-mail hello@winthatbid.com.

Filed Under: Bid Management, Bid Writing, Bids, Construction, Home News, PQQ, PQQs, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Tenders, Win Bids · Tagged: , , , ,

How to win UK government bids and tenders

12/10/2011 by · Leave a Comment

The UK coalition government is committed to putting more work out to government tenders. It’s already an enormous market with £7.6bn being spent by central government alone, which means public sector tenders in the UK offer a precious opportunity to grow your business.

More UK government bids than ever ..

Adding to that outsourcing pressure, too, is the new localism bill that aims to force local authorities in the UK to procure more than 25% of its business from local companies through government bids. UK opportunities are good, there are more UK government tenders to go for, and that’s all before we consider tendering in Europe.

Which UK government tenders would you like to win?

Our advice is always: play to your strengths. Use government tenders to bolster your strongest business, not to try to open up new markets.

Finding UK government tenders

For UK government tenders we recommend Tenders Direct. It’s comprehensive, free to search for government tenders, UK based, and shows the last year of tender opportunities so you can get an idea of what’s possible. For a quick calculation, think in terms of getting shortlisted for one in three public sector tenders and then winning 60% of those (assuming we’ve selected and written the tender).

Tenders Direct isn’t free (you can, however, save £150 using our promotion code here ) but they save you time by manually filtering the public sector tender opportunities you receive.

UK government bidding project management

Use our Bid Management service to help you win government tenders in the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Because successfully winning government tenders is partly about selecting the right tenders, we then manage that stream of government tender opportunities on your behalf, usually under a 10 or 20 per annum Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) bid management service.

We maintain a library of your key documents such as insurance and policies, ensuring we only spend time on key points of difference when completing a tender document. Effective bid management is about managing time and resources.

To win UK government tenders, use experienced people

If you just need someone to organise the initial stage of your bidding process, you can take over from here. However, our bid writers have a minimum of 15 years experience and most have come from the procurement world and know many of the buyers and organisations, so we can help with all stages of winning a bid through invitation to tender (ITT) to the final presentation.

In these later stages it’s very important to know the buying organisation .. their culture, policies, and supply chain. Here we have a head start because our experienced team knows the government buyers and their scoring methodologies, so we are able to help you create content that presses the right buttons.

(If you are working on larger or more numerous bids, it’s worth knowing that, as the biggest tendering consultancy in the UK, we can provide extra muscle as and where you need it.)

For professional bid management, to improve your win ratio, or when you need more skilled resource while tackling government tenders, call Win That Bid on 0203 405 1850 or email hello@winthatbid.com

Filed Under: Bid Management, Bid Writing, Bids, Home News, PQQ, PQQs, Proposal, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Tenders, Win Bids · Tagged: , , ,

Tender Writing Insights: Managing Online Tender Portals

06/05/2011 by · Leave a Comment

Recently, some of the Win That Bid team completed a large and complex bid involving the public sector portal ‘Bravo’. There are hundreds of online procurement portals around all with their own language and foibles. However, there are some basic principles that can help you when, with that deadline looming, you find yourself wrestling desperately trying to submit your online tender.

Access

Know your login details and ensure you have the correct level of user access

Having spent weeks or months with your head buried in the tender writing documentation, the time has arrived to upload your submission. And if you’ve forgotten your login details or do not have a sufficient level of access let’s hope you haven’t realised this too late i.e. out of working hours, during busy periods or just prior to the deadline. Online help will only get you so far so if it’s a human being you need to speak to then make sure you do so in advance.

Utilise quieter periods

Early mornings, late nights, weekends and Bank Holidays are ideal

The majority of your competitors will leave their tender writing and submission to the last minute. The risk here is that the portal will time out due to the sheer volume of documents being uploaded. The Win That Bid team who worked on this latest bid submitted documents as they were completed, and in some cases as far as two weeks in advance. They also made use of early mornings, late nights and the Easter holidays.

Upload larger documents first

Larger documents take longer

As larger documents take longer to upload start with them first. This is especially the case with heavy document based tender portals such as Bravo that may not have a limit on the amount of tender documents you are allowed to submit.

Save, save, check, check again and save

Don’t get timed out or caught out

Tender portals will usually time out after 15 minutes of being dormant. Make sure to hit save as soon as you’ve uploaded your latest documents.

Once you have finished uploading go back and check all questions have been answered and all documents have been uploaded. Often you can print the documents list from the portal and more than often you will find there is at least one document missing. Never assume a document has saved.

And if it’s all too much outsource your tender writing, bid and document management to the 2am wrestling experts at Win That Bid.

Filed Under: Bid Management, Opportunities, PQQ, Procurement, Proposal, Proposal Template, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Tenders, Top Tips, Win That Bid · Tagged: , , , ,

How to Successfully Manage a Proposal

11/01/2011 by · Leave a Comment

3) Proposal checklist – Writing your Proposal

Even though you’ve already spent a lot of time in preparation, writing the document is the most important part of the process.  Aside from the more general groundwork, it’s now time to think about the text itself.  Collating all the necessary information into an easy to read document that sells your company and its abilities is a difficult task, this checklist will help to organise your thoughts and guide you while taking on the job.

  • Keep sentences short and use easy to understand, effective language.  You can use bullet points and headings to make the text easier to read.
  • Sum up your bid, explaining succinctly why it meets all the client’s needs and why your company is best to undertake the work, or provide the service.  Write this last and put it into the front of your document.
  • When you talk about yourselves highlight your success stories, especially with similar projects.  Aim to prove you have the skills and experience needed to meet the customer’s brief.

Your tender should include the following sections:

  1. Quotation – The first document should outline the requirements of the job, how you plan to fulfil them and how much this may cost.  If this is an estimate, it is essential the customer understands the final costs may differ.  The quotation needs to contain an overview of what you are providing, the time you expect this to take, contingency and the validity period of the tender.
  2. Terms and conditions – The second section of the tender contains the terms and conditions.  Most bids include a standard version of this.
  3. Letter of Agreement – This will state when the job will start, give targets for completion and payment terms.
  4. You should also include information about your company and staff.  This can come in the form of short CVs or biographies, detailing your skills and relevant experience.
Filed Under: Bid Management · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Five Part Series: How to Successfully Manage a Proposal

11/01/2011 by · Leave a Comment

2) Proposal Checklist – Preparing to write your proposal submission

Now that you have thought about how your company will handle the tendering process, it is time to think about writing the tender itself.  There are things you should consider, and information you should gather, before beginning to write so you create the best document you are capable of.

  • What do you know about your client?  This information can be extremely useful in knowing how to pitch your document.  Perhaps the client is looking for particular benefits, for example price or level of service.
  • Make sure you are not just there to test the market or to make up numbers.  You may even want to think about requesting your customers sign a non-disclosure agreement before presenting.  This will help to ensure any ideas or information you wish to protect remains yours.
  • If you are bidding for something the customer has previously received from someone else, what can you learn from the service provided by the current or previous supplier?  You are allowed to ask the customer about this and it may help lend more insight into how to fit your bid to their needs.
  • Make sure you have all the latest information from your team, are you up to date with all the work your they have been doing on the bid?
  • Have you collected all of the relevant documents and information you will need when writing your bid, in particular, your quotation?
  • Read all the requirements and follow the instructions to the letter.  It may surprise you to learn that lots of bids are rejected simply for not complying with the instructions.  (Or it may not surprise you at all, if yours has been one of them!)
  • Remember you’re in competition.  It may help to think about what you would consider if a company was bidding to you.
Filed Under: Bid Management, Bid Writing, Bids, Business Strategy, Checklist, General, Kick-Off Meeting, Procurement, Proposal, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Tenders, Top Tips · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

How to Successfully Manage a Proposal

09/12/2010 by · Leave a Comment

Each week we will be looking at a different element of how to effectively manage a bid to ensure your proposal submission is prepared in a timely fashion and is as good as it can be. In this first part of our five part series we will be covering the kick-off meeting with your bid team.

1) Proposal Checklist – The Kick-off Meeting.

Kick-off meetings are critical milestones that require careful planning. A good one will inspire your bid team, a poor one can demoralise it.

Prior to the meeting prepare an agenda and comprehensive kick-off package and be sure to invite the right people.

During the meeting encourage everyone to talk through their initial thoughts on the bid.  Read the proposal documentation together then discuss your general approach. Do the decision makers agree that this opportunity if you won it would align with your business strategy? Can you deliver it? Who is likely to be your competition?  When everyone is on the same page, going through this checklist will help make the proposal writing process easier:

  • Identify all of the documents and information you are likely to need when writing your proposal.
  • Allocate different roles to each member of the proposal team and following the meeting distribute the proposal template document including in it who will be responsible for which sections of the document.
  • As your strategy for dealing with the proposal becomes clearer make sure you consider how the bid will fit in with your other work.  Consider the amount of time and the number of personnel that will be devoted to the bid, estimate how much the proposal will cost you and allocate a bid budget. Decide whether you will need to hire consultants or expert bid writers.
  • Create a proposal schedule including deliverables and milestones. Decide the first set of deadlines during this meeting and according to this plan arrange when your second meeting will take place.  Ensure all team members are absolutely clear on when their work needs to be completed.
  • If there are questions about the proposal that can only be answered by the buyer, agree who will be the key contact and how they will manage this and communicate the answers to the team.  Your questions should be answered swiftly and if you have concerns regarding company autonomy you can ask them not to divulge your details especially if the response is likely to be published to all respondents.

Next time on Win That Bid’s blog – ‘Preparing to Write Your Proposal’

Filed Under: Bid Management, Business Strategy, Kick-Off Meeting, PQQs, Procurement, Proposal, Proposal Template, Proposal Writing, Tender Writing, Tenders, Top Tips, Win That Bid ·