It takes time to run a tender. Buyers want to see suppliers compete strongly for work. The more vibrant the competitive landscape, the better range of options they have to deliver what they need for their organisation. Suppliers must commit to learning how to bid competitively by developing strong responses to tender opportunities. You will not consistently have successful tenders without developing the skills associated with developing strong responses. This post is a high-level summary of key features that strong, successful tenderers consistently present to Buyers in their tender responses.
1. Provide a method or approach that fully addresses all the buyer’s requirements.
There are two kinds of approaches or methods that are sought from tenderers. The first is a project or one-off (standalone) engagement. The second is a portfolio approach where they are awarded a contract for ongoing supply of goods or services. Strong tender responses have one thing in common whether they are standalone or portfolio in nature and that is:
They comprehensively address all stated and implied requirements of tenderer in the fullest sense possible.
This means that if a tenderer has five pages to develop a response to how they will deliver print services for a state agency, they must address all the stated requirements for those print services in five pages. If there are ten aspects mentioned, the stronger responses will have roughly half a page (two good paragraphs) per aspect. This should not be padding. It should simply and clearly explain how each of the ten aspects will be delivered for the buyer. The stronger responses do this well – it is a key feature of successful tenders.
2. Provide insights into and understanding of the buyer’s needs
What lifts successful tenders up a level is when the tenderer provides insights into the buyer’s needs. They may not have had prior contact with the tenderer, but they may have done some of the following to get this insight:
- Spoken to other suppliers or people with knowledge of the organisations.
- Reviewed material like annual reports and strategy statements.
- Considered relevant sectoral, regulatory and/or other potentially relevant trends and how they may impact on the organisation.
- What the key risks are associated with the contract in question.
- How the tenderer both understands the risks and can mitigate them for the Buyer.
- Any cultural considerations that are relevant to the buying organisation that a tenderer will benefit from by demonstrating they understand and can align with their ethos.
3. The team proposed in successful tenders have substantial experience in what is being sought.
A final aspect that has a very strong bearing on how tenderer’s responses are scored are the team / resources proposed. Strong evaluation teams will scrutinise:
- The resource allocation within the teams.
- Who they will expect to do the work.
- Whether the proposed allocation of resources supports what has been outlined in other parts of the tender response.
If a legal tender requires strong experience in marine law and the team proposed is weak in it, it will not score well. This may inconvenience some tenderers. They must identify new resources at short notice to strengthen their resourcing offer. The tenderers that do best, consistently do this if they don’t have all stated requirements and experience in-house already.
For those that do have strong experience in-house, even they should ask themselves whether that experience is rich enough. Can it beat the most specialised experts? The answer to that question is frequently negative. Even very strong large organisations should consider what the buyer wants from the tendering organisation. Focus on what it may take to be certain you are maximising your chances of success.
As the team proposed will be expected to do the work it has a very large bearing on who will be successful.
Additional considerations and follow-ups
Tenderers interested in improving their skills can consider getting a qualification from the Association of Proposal Management professionals. The best long term return on investment comes from building these skills in-house.
You can find opportunities for real bids on https://www.etenders.gov.ie and/or here for opportunities across the EU.
Further information on enhancing bids are available here: https://keystonepg.ie/category/bid-management/.
